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Loading... Let There Be Laughter: A Treasury of Great Jewish Humor and What It All Meansby Michael Krasny
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers. 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. This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers. Let There Be Laughter: A Treasury of Great Jewish Humor and What It All Means was a very enjoyable read. Michael Krasny has a true talent for telling and retelling Jewish jokes that parallels his passion for it. I was able to spend a good chunk of my Yom Kippur fast reading this book and it had me laughing alone while my attempts to explain the jokes to my "Gentile" fiancé failed miserably. Only after allowing him to read the jokes himself followed by the explanation by Mr. Krasny in this book were we able to enjoy this book together. The chapter that resonated with me the most was Jewish Mothers and Jewish Grandmothers. Some of his jokes were just that, jokes. However, there were some pages that I could not turn without recalling a similar situation in my own life, as I too was raised by a Jewish mother. The joke about the woman who wanted to bring her kids over to her mother's house while she want on a date after divorcing their father comes to mind. Her simple request was followed by endless circular questions from her mother about why she is even going out with this "Loser" but that if she doesn't go out how will she meet anybody, brought me back to many conversations I've heard and had at the dinner table. This book is a must read if you are Jewish or not! It's like My Big Fat Jewish Wedding on paper. Reading it will bring to light many cultural differences and similarities from various demographics across the nation. This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers. Let There Be Laughter: A Treasury of Great Jewish Humor and What It All Means by Michael Krasny tells of the great Jewish jokes, the origins, and commentary. Mr. Krasny is a successful radio talk show host and a teacher.I really enjoyed Let There Be Laughter: A Treasury of Great Jewish Humor and What It All Means by Michael Krasny, I read the whole book in about two days laughing along with the author. I found the commentary interesting, but not necessarily enlightening, but I’m familiar with much of the material. I love the sarcastic, bitter, dark Jewish humor which, to be fair, is shared with many cultures but with a twist of guilt and spice. The author does some storytelling himself, dropping names and telling tales of the famous and not-so-famous among others. You don’t have to be Jewish to laugh at the jokes or to understand them. You just need a healthy sense of humor and twinkle in your eye. For more reviews and bookish posts please visit: http://www.ManOfLaBook.com This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers. just okay. i was prett disappointed towards the end, but s a great collection of humor overall. no reviews | add a review
From the host of NPR affiliate's Forum with Michael Krasny, a compendium of Jewish jokes that packs the punches with hilarious riff after riff and also offers a window into Jewish culture. 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. "What's Jewish Alzheimer's?" "You forget everything but the grudges." "You must be so proud. Your daughter is the President of the United States!" "Yes. But her brother is a doctor!" "Isn't Jewish humor masochistic?" "No. And if I hear that one more time I am going to kill myself." 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. No library descriptions found. |
LibraryThing Early Reviewers AlumMichael Krasny's book Let There Be Laughter was available from LibraryThing Early Reviewers. Current DiscussionsNonePopular covers
Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)818.602Literature English (North America) Authors, American and American miscellany 21st CenturyLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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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. ( )