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Let There Be Laughter: A Treasury of Great Jewish Humor and What It All Means
Let There Be Laughter: A Treasury of Great Jewish Humor and What It All Means
Let There Be Laughter: A Treasury of Great Jewish Humor and What It All Means
Audiobook5 hours

Let There Be Laughter: A Treasury of Great Jewish Humor and What It All Means

Written by Michael Krasny

Narrated by Michael Krasny

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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About this audiobook

Michael Krasny has been telling Jewish jokes since his bar mitzvah, and it's been said that he knows more of them than anyone on the planet. He certainly states his case in this wise, enlightening, and hilarious book that not only collects the best of Jewish humor passed down from generation to generation, but explains the cultural expressions and anxieties behind the laughs.
With his background as a scholar and public-radio host, Krasny delves deeply into the themes, topics, and form of Jewish humor: chauvinism undercut by irony and self-mockery, the fear of losing cultural identity through assimilation, the importance of vocal inflection in joke-telling, and calls to communal memory, including the use of Yiddish.
Borrowing from traditional humor and such Jewish comedy legends as Jackie Mason, Mel Brooks, and Joan Rivers, Larry David, Sarah Silverman, Jerry Seinfeld, and Amy Schumer, Let There Be Laughter is an absolute pleasure for the chosen and goyim alike.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateSep 27, 2016
ISBN9781681683867
Author

Michael Krasny

Michael Krasny, Ph.D., is a scholar and professor of English and American literature, an award-winning broadcast journalist, and the author of two acclaimed books, Off Mike: A Memoir of Talk Radio and Literary Life and Spiritual Envy: An Agnostic’s Quest. He released a twenty-four-lecture series in two volumes called Masterpieces of Short Fiction for The Teaching Company, which is also available in audio and DVD format. Since 1993 he has been the host of Forum with Michael Krasny, a news and public affairs interview program produced at KQED Radio, the National Public Radio affiliate in San Francisco, California. The program is the most-listened-to locally produced public radio program in the United States, and the number one program in its morning time slot in the San Francisco Bay Area market. Forum can also be heard on SiriusXM, Comcast, iTunes, and across the internet.

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Reviews for Let There Be Laughter

Rating: 3.805555444444445 out of 5 stars
4/5

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  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Krasny could have saved his own time and effort, and better served his readers, by just giving us a compilation of Jewish jokes, without the so-called analysis in between. His writing is very choppy, moving from one thought to another without much in the way of connectivity, and his analysis is shallow. We all understand that humor is in the eye of the beholder, and that the same ethnic joke when told by a non-(insert ethnic group here) is, or can be seen as, racist, but might be considered hilarious when told by a member of that ethnic group, especially if being told to another member. That certainly doesn't need to be repeated at least half a dozen times in the space of 300 pages. But that's what most of the analysis seems to boil down to, whether he's talking about Jews as outsiders, Jewish stereotypes, or even the way Jews experience joy.Overall, Krasny seems more interested in name-dropping (he told so-and-so a joke when he interviewed him on his radio program, his close friend so-and-so, etc.) than giving us any new or interesting material.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    My father would have loved this book, both for the jokes and for the background information. I appreciated seeing the connections the author made between the jokes, categories, and how it illuminates Jewish culture. As the older generation passes, it will be more and more difficult to understand Jewish humor. This book serves as a way to both preserve and explain who we were and perhaps are as a people.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    just okay. i was prett disappointed towards the end, but s a great collection of humor overall.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I both loved and was disappointed in this book. I loved the jokes and stories. They were more than worth "the price of admission" But the why of it fell flat -- I learned very little more than what I already knew.Maybe that's because I've worked as one of the only Gentiles in a Bronx Jewish agency for over 25 years and have in the process met people who were stereotypes and others who were the antithesis of the stereotypes. Maybe I have, as one of my colleagues, told me become "honorary" and so have little left to learn (I kinda doubt this, but maybe) Or maybe its what my White Anglo Saxon Catholic mother told me years ago if you have to explain a joke its maybe not so funny.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Interesting commentary, but there were times I found myself using the "Playboy Technique": reading it just for the jokes. There are definite characteristics of Jewish humor that the author explores, both scholastically and, of course, with humor and examples. Though not all of the jokes stem from the Ashkenazi and immigrant experience, many do, so it was a bit like revisiting my mother's Uncle Izzy at his candy store on the corner, or sitting in Tante Sophie's kitchen hearing the women of the family chatter and sip tea through sugar cubes held in their mouths. Many of the jokes and stories only confirmed my wish that I knew/remembered more Yiddish. Such a wonderful language that risks disappearing, even though many of its colorful words and expressions have become part of our everyday lexicon. It is one of the biggest regrets of my life that I haven't retained the language I heard my mother and her siblings speak during my childhood. And, for the record, I actually got to use one of the jokes, appropriately, the very day I read it.Thank you to librarything early reviewers for sending this my way.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A splendid survey of jokes, simple and complicated. California readers will probably reconstruct Michael Krasny's voice. All readers will appreciate his gift to us as we amuse our family and friends.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Full disclosure: Not only did I win this book through LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers program in exchange for an honest review but in fall 1972 I took a college class, Modern American Novel, and the author was the professor. (I rarely feel old but between this book and my next book, about the Altamont concert, I'm feeling kind of old, or at the least long-lived.)I read a not for sale uncorrected proof paperback advance edition that has 280 pages. I read it over 14 days, taking my time because I was reading it concurrently with a novel and other materials. I'm thinking I should have waited for a library copy edition, the finished hardcover, but I might not have borrowed it in the very near future, and I do enjoy advance copies. I have reserved a copy at the library to read any content changed from or not included in my unfinished edition. First the good because overall I enjoyed this very much: I love the storytelling that goes on all the way through and that frames the jokes. The author’s personal stories and the historical accounts are interesting. I appreciated the writing style, the chattiness of it, and felt as though I was with the author being told stories, and that was fun. Very engaging and entertaining! I loved most of the jokes. I was surprised by how many of the jokes I knew. I’d heard most of them. While I rarely actually laughed as I read, I was highly amused and found the book extremely enjoyable. I equally enjoyed the jokes I already knew and those I was hearing for the first time. The negatives for me were enough to deduct slightly more than one star from a book I might otherwise have rated 5 stars. While the personal stories were a plus, especially of the author’s early years but more current ones as well, I found the incessant name-dropping annoying. I was almost literally rolling my eyes, frequently. Many of the names will be known to most as they are very famous people and others are locally well known. I suspect that the publisher thought that mentioning all these people, friends and interviewees of the author, would be a plus in the book’s sales. I would have preferred much less content about famous people. I felt that most of the time doing so was completely unnecessary for presenting the jokes and stories about their backgrounds. I’m not saying that sometimes it wasn’t a fun presentation technique, but there was way too much of it for me. I’m not sure that I always notice name-dropping but here it was impossible to not notice. That is the main negative for me. The second negative is that I wish it had delved even deeper, especially with general history and with psychological meanings and how they pertain to Jewish humor and to specific jokes. There is some of that but not as much as I’d expected, and most of it was common sense. There was no analysis I found earth shattering or that even provided much information new to me. I thought I’d learn more than I did. A third issue is the misspellings, but it is an advance copy so I can forgive all, except that the last name of one of the author’s friends is misspelled, and not just in the book proper but also in the Acknowledgements section at the end. I hope all the spelling errors will be corrected in the final for sale edition of the book. I am Jewish but I was raised not only without religion but also without the Jewish culture. Most of what I learned when young about Judaism came from reading about Jews and Jewish history and reading books by Jewish people, and from two friends who were raised in observant Jewish homes. And yet I feel very Jewish. I do miss the application my city’s Jewish Community Center used to have for their gym, the boxes where a religion was chosen. Only about ½ the members are Jewish but there were many choices for what kind of Jewish an applicant was affiliated with, and one of the options which I always chose was “just Jewish” which is how I feel. Given my lack of background I was a bit surprised by how familiar the jokes were to me. I don’t know if that’s because of my many Jewish friends or because Jewish humor has made its way into the mainstream. I’m assuming it’s the latter. I finished the book 6 days prior to its official publication date and am posting this review 5 days before it will be available for sale. I feel lucky to have been able to read it early, and I’m glad that I read it. I can definitely recommend it to readers who are interested in its topic.Contents:IntroductionI. Jewish Mothers & Jewish GrandmothersII. Sex & MarriageIII. Schlemiels & SchmucksIV. Yiddish, Generations, & AssimilationV. CelebrationsVI. SufferingVII. Separate & DistinctConclusion and OuttakesAcknowledgmentsETA: There are also many other books mentioned in this book, and some of them are likely to go on to my bloated to read shelf.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Fun book with some good jokes! Learned some new ones, which my mom and bubbe both appreciated. The text between jokes is interesting, but can be a little rambling and disjointed at times. Overall thoroughly enjoyed it!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Michael Krasny gives both an overview of the themes of Jewish humor and many anecdotes from his career interviewing famous people...populated throughout, of course, with Jewish jokes!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    To enjoy life you need to be able to laugh. Story telling and laughter are linked as a celebration of life. The ability to laugh at ones self despite adversity spells out Jewish humor. Learn how by reading ‘Let There Be Laughter’” a wonderful compilation of Jewish jokes by Michael Krasny.My 91 year old mother told jokes every day to friends and family. She said she hoped her senseof humor would be the last to go and it was. One of her favorites was Henny Youngman's one-liner he made famous, “My doctor says to me:You’re sick. I say: I want another opinion. He says: Okay.You’re ugly too.”You don’t need to be Jewish to understand and enjoy Jewish Mothers and Grandmothers jokes passed down by generations of comedians. Many Yiddish expressions that are used today can be found in your dictionary such as schlep, schlemiel and schmuck. Enjoy this treasury of Jewish humor. You will want to own the book and buy one for all your friends.Sunie Levinauthor and educator
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    LET THERE BE LAUGHTER is more than a book of Jewish jokes. While Michael Krasney does include a lot of jokes in eight different categories, he explains what function the jokes serve and why they can be both funny and insulting, often stereotypical. He also compares the different styles of jokes by various comedians, linking those with similar traits and comparing some of those from the early and mid-twentieth century to those of today.I found the reasoning behind why some subjects, such as money, misogyny, and Jewish customs became fodder for jokes interesting, though it was sometimes a stretch. While I still find some of them offensive, I better understand their purpose from a different perspective. “The fear, of course, is that even joking about such stereotypes can reinforce them or cause pain. But what should be said of the freedom that comes with expressing perhaps even owning and celebrating them, with humor?”Many of his stories are based on actual conversations and explanations. For example, he wrote of how he asked Nobel Prize winning Jewish author Isaac Bashevis Singer if he believed in free will. Singer replied, “I have no choice.” During his career as a NPR’s KQED San Francisco affiliate host, he interviewed many famous Jewish celebrities. He mentions them a lot. He also writes about growing up in Cleveland, Ohio, He writes about name changes, some for people for professional reasons, some because they wanted to sound more American, some because of the misunderstanding of immigration officials. One name change is very similar to my maternal grandmother’s brothers: They wanted to sound more American so, when they came here from Lithuania, they changed their name to Greenberg. It had been Feller. He offers cross-over jokes, that is a joke that can apply to other ethnic groups just as easily as to Jews. It reminded me of when “Fiddler on the Roof” went to Japan. The Japanese people loved it but didn’t understand what it had to do with Jews since it was so obviously about themselves. I’m seventy-five years old and have heard many of them before but there were some new ones as well including a better presentation of one I’ve been telling for about a year. It’s the second paragraph on page 208.Like most joke book, LET THERE BE LAUGHTER is a quick read. It’s also written with care and caring. I received an advance copy of this book from LibraryThing Early Reviewers.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Let There Be Laughter is a study of the sidesplittingly funny humor of Milton Berle, Mel Brooks, Jerry Seinfeld, Billy Crystal, Jackie Mason, Rodney Dangerfield, Jon Stewart, and oh so many more. The jokes are fabulous -- tears were streaming down my face as I read some of them!Yes, there are a lot of great jokes which make it almost impossible to put the book down. However in addition, interspersed between the jokes, there are passages explaining Yiddish expressions. These sections are outstanding – offering not simply definitions of the Yiddish terminology, but rather longer explanations of how meanings of the words or phrases fit into Jewish culture – then and now.I so enjoyed reading Let There Be Laughter. If I were asked for one chapter than I liked even more that the rest, it would have to be "Celebration." I laughed so hard, I recalled friends and family from years gone by – and I learned a lot, too.