English Jokes, Yiddish Punchlines: American Jewish Humor
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Lecture
Yiddish Civilization 101 Series Admission: Free Registration is required. |
In celebration of YIVO's 101st year, join us for our new Yiddish Civilization 101 series. Each program will highlight key topics in Ashkenazi history and culture, including shtetl life, Jewish humor, and Ashkenazi foodways, amongst others. Guided by expert scholars, each lecture will provide a greater understanding of Jewish life in Eastern Europe and its diasporas.
Jake and Becky were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary and returned to the same hotel, and the same room where they spent the first night of their honeymoon. At 2am, Jake nudges Becky awake and says, “Bekele — derlang mir di tseyner — ikh vil dir a bays gebn.”
There are English-language jokes and there are Yiddish-language jokes, but there also exists a distinctly American Jewish joke telling phenomenon in which the bulk of a joke is told in English, but the punchline is delivered in Yiddish. A well-known product of the Borscht Belt, it has roots in vaudeville and the performance medium of what is known as the “Hebrew comedian,” a character who told such anecdotes as part of his act. This lecture by YIVO Senior Academic Advisor & Director of Exhibitions Eddy Portnoy will elucidate the history of this comic code-switching and will explore some of the reasons for the existence of this comedic phenomenon. We will also provide a number of examples from YIVO’s sound archives and library.
Please note that a number of the jokes to be discussed are considered offensive and risqué. Those with delicate sensibilities should consider avoiding this lecture.
About the Speaker
Eddy Portnoy received his Ph.D. in Modern Jewish History from the Jewish Theological Seminary and holds an M.A in Yiddish Studies from Columbia. His articles on Jewish popular culture phenomena have appeared in The Drama Review, Polin, and Studies in Contemporary Jewry, among others. In addition to speaking on Jewish popular culture throughout Europe and North America, he has consulted on museum exhibits at the Museum of the City of New York, Musée d'art et d'histoire du judaïsme in Paris, and the Joods Historisch Museum in Amsterdam. He is the author of Bad Rabbi and Other Strange but True Stories from the Yiddish Press, published by Stanford University Press, 2017.