Customer Reviews

The Big book of Jewish humor

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This book came out a while ago yet it remains the best collection available. The various Jewish joke and humor anthologies published recently don't even come close and some are quite shoddy. This definitive, well-illustrated and definitely very "big" volume covers all types of humor from literary to stand-up to historical and more, with jokes, literary excerpts, yiddish curses, and representative selections from famous humorists and comedians as well as from obscure ones. You will find all your favorites here and you will discover some new favorites too. Perhaps the time has come for these authors to do a sequel? No one since them seems to be up to the task.

Addendum: I posted the paragraph above a decade ago for the original edition of this book. There's a new 25th Anniversary edition now. While the humor is just as good as before, I must say that this new edition is possibly a missed opportunity. There has been quite a lot of excellent new Jewish humor in the past 25 years, some of it worthy of inclusion here, but the editors have chosen just to reprint the old edition with a different colored cover and an updated preface. Maybe they didn't want to tinker with a classic, but it may be time for a "New" Big Book of Jewish humor that acknowledges new humorists and new targets for satire.

The Big Book of Jewish Humor is a great collection of articles, one-liners, and cartoons. It's the kind of book you can pick up anywhere and start reading, the perfect book to leaf through when you've only got a few minutes and need a quick laugh. The book contains selections from authors you'd expect, such as Woody Allen and Sholom Aleichem, as well as contributions from Saul Bellow and Bernard Malamud. Many of the classics are here, such as Lenny Bruce's comparison of Jews and non-Jews and the Sanity Clause routine between Groucho and Chico written by Kaufman and Ryskind, but there also are many gems you may never have read before.

The Big Book of Jewish Humor is a must-own for Jews of all races, creeds and... well, OK, just for Jews. Anyway, it's loaded with so many brilliant pieces -- from one-liners to standard jokes to essays -- and covers such a wide body of work and of historical subjects, that finding a flaw ain't easy. If I have any complaint (and who among us doesn't?), it's that this book is so thick with outstanding humor, I don't think I've ever read half of its works.

By the way, it's a good gift for goyim, as well. If you don't have it yet, get it soon!

Boy, if you like to read a book that has everything a Jew could laugh about, this book is it! I couldn't be without a book like this, so get yourself a copy! You won't be ashamed you did.

And that's what this book is! A definitive sampler of among the best of Jewish humor in all styles and eras. Loved it. Also a great reference work. I also recommend strongly A Little Joy, A Little Oy, as this small but mighty paperback, deals with humor plus, also in a sampler format, but goes further into literature, anecdotes, trivia etc. Loved both of these!!!!!!

This is a very interesting and humorous book. Most of the greats that I am familiar with are represented here so you get a truly all encompassing across the board variety of wit. It takes sources of from the written word, plays, film, stand up comics, word of mouth jokes through various periods of history. It's all here or at least what can be held in one gigantic volume. A must have.

This is a rich anthology with many fine pieces in it. But it does not always contain the best selections , the funniest things of the writer's in question. I suspect part of this is that the writers- anthologizers could not for instance get permission to use a selection from Philip Roth's Portnoy, or Bellow's 'Herzog' or 'Henderson' or 'Seize the Day'. Interestingly they have two selections from Woody Allen but not a single one from Bellow. I also would have liked to have seen a selection from 'The Catcher in the Rye' ( though I understand that Salinger though Halachically Jewish does not self- identify as Jewish). There are so much else that could have been in the anthology including samples of the work of the long list of great American Jewish comedians.
Nonetheless there are many very enjoyable pieces in this very fine anthology.

If you're Jewish, were raised around Jewish friends, or are familiar with Jewish humor, get this book.

It's brilliant and has humor in it for every one, from the dry to the witty, from the political to the familial.

In a way, we don't ask much of books that tell us they're going to be funny. We want them to make us laugh. But a book of Jewish humor has to do more than that. We have to think. We have to feel the anguish and the joys of Jewish life. We have to smell the pickles and see the relatives. This book is an absolutely fabulous collection of wonderful jokes. I think in some ways a book like this is a fascinating introduction to Jewish life.

--Lawrence J. Epstein, author of The Haunted Smile: The Story of Jewish Comedians in America

I purchased this book as a gift for my brother. Before I repackaged it to send, I scanned several pages and found the stories, jokes and side bars very funny so, I ordered a second copy for myself.

If you're looking for a place to discover the history of Jewish humor, the very early comedians who developed this medium, quotes to use in any speach you may make or are just looking for good laughs, this is the book for you.