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More Old Jewish Comedians: A BLAB! Storybook

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In the subset of cartooning known as caricature, there have been very few modern masters. The short list includes Mort Drucker, Jack Davis, David Levine and Al Hirschfeld. Another name must now be added to that list: Drew Friedman.

Drew specializes in that elusive art of the likeness, not something that every artist can achieve, and a talent even more rare among cartoonists (as opposed to formal portrait painters). In many ways Drew's exaggerated portraits capture more than a photograph ever could, giving lie to the notion that a photo is the most accurate visual representation of a person. Drew's caricatures go beyond photographs. He somehow sees what the camera doesn't.

Drew's approach is unique among his peers. Where Hirschfeld distills everything down to a few simple pen strokes - a line for a nose, a dot for an eye, a squiggle for a mouth, and a head of hair with hidden NINA's - Drew goes the other way, adding every freckle, dimple and age spot. Forget NINA - Friedman could hide the Declaration of Independence in just the wrinkles around the eye! Drew Friedman is the anti-Hirschfeld, or the Bizarro Hirschfeld, if you will. His paintings draw you in to a world of intimate details while still presenting an astounding likeness of his subject.

In this, his second volume of Old Jewish Comedians, Drew again takes on the challenge of portraying famous people not as we remember them, but as they look today (or as they did just before they left us). Yet beneath that patina of age... that connect-the-dots maze of liver spots... those layers of wrinkled skin... (and in the case of Joan Rivers, beneath her brand new face)... we can still recognize the familiar faces of the funnymen and funnywomen that we know and love. That makes More Old Jewish Comedians a joy to behold. It's more of the same, and I can't get enough!

The introduction by Larry Gelbart adds extra Jewish-ness and humor to the 35 wonderful drawings (Drewings?) in this book. Highly recommended.

Two years after his initial tribute to elderly Jewish comedians, master caricaturist Drew Friedman returns to the scene of the crime to offer up more of his appealing, insightful portraits. MORE OLD JEWISH COMEDIANS takes on 30-odd famous and not-so-famous funnymen and women and the results are even better than the 2006 volume.

Friedman's subjects this time around include Joe E. Lewis, Georgie Jessel, Larry Storch, Bill Dana, Joan Rivers, Molly Picon, Jack Gilford, Gummo and Zeppo Marx, Soupy Sales, Bert Lahr, Sid Caesar, Carl Reiner, Herbie Faye, Sid Melton and lesser-knowns Bert Gordon and B. S. Pulley. All of Freidman's work is spot-on. As with the earlier volume, it is not only accurate but often captures the essence of the individual.

In short, MORE OLD JEWISH COMEDIANS is a treat for comedy fans. Recommended.

Lovely work; the author has quite the gift with graphite. I could look at those faces forever- or at least until I am as old as these wonderful wonderful Jews. I'll probably just want to look out the window at that point.
Gave me quite a boost. Put zing in my step.The perfect wedding or bar mitzvah gift.

A voyage back into yesteryear is where author Drew Friedman is going to take his readers in "More Old Jewish Comedians". Going over known and forgotten voices back in comedy's golden era of the 1950s and 1960s, Friedman will show his readers everything there is to know about these comedians and what makes them truly great. This is a book for anyone seeking greater appreciation for the art form of stand up comedy as a whole, "More Old Jewish Comedians" is a must for all humor collections with a cross over to Judaic studies.

As Rodney Dangerfield might have quipped, "Drew Friedman has the Midas touch. Everything he touches turns into a muffler."

But seriously folks, can you believe he found MORE old Jewish comedians to paint so lovingly weird? MORE?! Who does he think he is? Oliver Twisted?

Buy this book....please!