Is it possible there’s a connection between Jews and comedy? The answer is: What are you, meshuga? The Jewish sensibility seems part of comedy’s DNA, or maybe it’s comedy that’s got Jewish DNA.
But why? Some say it’s due to Jewish history, though that history is hardly the stuff of merry-making. Still, comedy is one of the best ways to deal with tragedy; Nobel Prizewinning novelist Saul Bellow said “Oppressed people tend to be witty.”
In this multimedia talk, David Misch looks at how Jewish humor comes from a fatalistic sensibility that sees irony everywhere, often expressed by sarcasm. (If a Jew says “Good thinking, Einstein,” it’s not a compliment.) In fact, Jewishness is defined not only by having suffered but by a propensity to continue suffering (How many Jewish grandmothers does it take to change a light-bulb? None: “Don’t bother, I’ll sit in the dark”), as well as the ability to mock their own stereotypes (What’s a Jewish dilemma? Half-price pork).