Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Caryl It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

Larry Silverstein OK-so the filmmaker Alan Zweig's interview skills are terribly annoying, yet despite that I laughed a lot at the jokes, anecdotes, and schtick from the many comedians and writers that appeared in this film. As Zweig probes whether old style Jewish humor is dead, he unfortunately loses focus quite often and even, at times, gets some of the interviewees uncomfortable, confused, and even irritated, which, in my opinion, is not great viewing.The consensus ends up being that as the Jewish people are more and more assimilated into society the type of Jewish humor of the past, kindled by pain, suffering, and frustration, takes a new form today. Aside from the interviews from many of the top Jewish comics and writers today, there are a number of film clips of Jewish comedians, many of whom are no longer with us, performing on television.Overall, despite Zweig's style, I found this documentary to be quite entertaining and, as mentioned I found myself laughing whole heartedly quite often.

rick mccarthy I grew up watching these comedians and a lot of others not mentioned including My favorite Woody Allen. I never even thought about them being Jewish, I just liked their humor and the way they told their stories and jokes. I couldn't wait for Ed Sullivan each week or Johnny Carson each night to see who would be on. If the majority of the comedians of those times happened to be Jewish, so be it. I could have cared less as long as they made me laugh. I don't find any of today's so called comedians funny. That's why I love these shows about the real comedians of our past. Keep more of these shows coming and I'll keep watching. FUNNY SMUNNY!!!

jayraskin I am around the age of the director Alan Zweig, 60, and I come from a Jewish New York background, so I got exactly what Zweig was saying. We had very funny Jewish relatives and we watched Jewish comics on television almost every night of the week. We grew up at a very special time and only now are beginning to realize how special it was. Many Jews like myself and Zweig stopped observing all religious practices, married non-Jews and only had one or two child. I had about 15 or aunts and uncles and other funny Jewish relatives. My daughter only has three or four and they certainly aren't as funny. About every third comic/comedian on television was Jewish including many of the top ones like Jerry Lewis, Milton Berle and Jack Benny. Today, only about one out of ten are Jewish. For example, I think Vanessa Bayer is only one of the 15 comedians currently on SNL that is Jewish. Compare that to SNL in its first season where Lorraine Newman, Gilda Rahdna, Al Franken were all Jewish and the first three guest hosts George Carlin, Paul Simon and Rob Reiner were all Jewish, not to mention the show's creator Lorne Michaels and half the writing staff.What I loved about seeing the movie was getting to see some old Jewish comics whom I haven't seen in decades. I was really glad to know that they're still alive and kicking, these include Norm Cosby, Shelley Berman, Jack Carter, David Steinberg ("Boolah, Boolah"), David Brenner, and Bob Einstein (whom I still remember best as Officer Judy on the Smothers Brothers Show). Seeing these and others brought back a flood of memories. It was like seeing childhood friends again. The second great thing is that they all tell great old Jewish jokes in the movie. I had forgotten these wonderful jokes. My only criticism of the movie is that I wish there were more clips of deceased Jewish comedians. Alan King, Rodney Dangerfield and Henny Youngman clips are shown, but there were dozens more that I would have loved to have seen, Irwin Corey, Joe E. Lewis, Molly Pecon, Bert Lahr, Red Buttons, Jan Murray, etc. Still, it was a sweet and funny and beautiful little movie and it made me think about aspects of my life I haven't thought about in many, many years. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, Alan Zweig.

gavin6942 Surveys the history of Jewish comedy...Is there such a thing as Jewish comedy, or a Jewish-style comedy? For me, if I were to describe it, my first thought would be Woody Allen, who was not even mentioned on here. His delivery and obsession with psychoanalysis is, to me, the cornerstone of modern Jewish humor. (Add on Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David for a trifecta.) There is some attempt to connect the topic to immigrant culture -- they mention how Italians and Irish (the other two big immigrant groups of the time) had their own humor. Oppression breeds humor, perhaps, while assimilation kills it. There is probably some truth in that humor comes from pain, and Jews have known pain like few other groups of the last century.Many of the bits on here are odd interviews, including "Super Dave", who I would not have suspected as self-identifying as a Jewish comic. There is nothing about his act that screams "Jewish" to me, but maybe I am ignorant to what it really means.One person (I missed their name) argued that 20th century comedy history is the same as Jewish comedy history. Obviously, there are exceptions like George Carlin and Steve Martin, but the number of prominent Jewish comedians and comedy writers is overwhelming... it is difficult to discuss ethnicity without the risk of making what could be racist comments, but indeed, there may be such a thing as Jewish comedy... although whether or not this documentary found it, I am not so sure.