Jewish Comedy
With the passing of Neil Simon on Sunday, a faint reality begins to set in. Eventually, it had to come. That is the frailty of the human condition. Still, Simon’s death hit big in many other regards beyond personal loss. From basically the end of the beginning of talking cinema until its last really strong surge in the 1980s, comedy was cool.
Due in large part to the strong tradition of the Yiddish Theater on Jewish people in New York City, a style of performance, Jewish comedy, through the likes of Neil Simon, Woody Allen, Mel Brooks, to name a few of many, developed that would influence entertainment world for many years to come.
If you knew Suzy like I knew Suzy…
Obviously, there is a galaxy full of names to include: Eddie Cantor, George Burns, Mike Nichols, Al Jolson, Billy Wilder and, of course, the Marx Brothers. All played major roles in crafting the comedy nuances that are so familiar today. Chief among them is the language.
Comedy is a very structure genre, especially Jewish comedy. Most people find it hard to believe that the Marx Brothers rarely ad-libbed in their films. Troupes would work until they found what looked like spontaneity. Immaculate conception, a fickle wench.
None of it came from “How To” books or classes.
Woody Allen, for instance:
“…began writing jokes and selling them to a local paper. Within a couple of years he was earning more than both his parents combined, and after being introduced by an agent to top comics like Phil Silvers and Sid Caesar, began writing for TV.
Word got around that Allen (who’d officially changed his name by this stage) was a bit of genius, a one-man comedy machine who could be relied upon to come up with reams of new and original jokes overnight. And he really hit his stride writing for Sid Caesar, a Jewish comic who became a huge TV star during the 1950s”.
A study in 1980 by Time found:
“Although Jews constitute only 3% of the U.S. population, 80% of the nation’s professional comedians are Jewish.”
Take my wife. Please!!!
This style of comedy reached its zenith in the 1960s and came crashing to earth in the CG era. Woody Allen remains on the job. However, his uninspiring Amazon series makes one worry. Funny people do not die. They just start telling bad jokes.
Neil Simon’s passing remains just another reminder as if we needed anymore that time continues its march. Comedy still flails away trying its best to entertain. We just aren’t as amused by it as we once were.
