Let There Be Laughter Book Reviews

Let There Be Laughter by Michael Krasny Book Summary

Let There Be Laughter is a compendium of Jewish jokes that packs the punches with hilarious riff after riff and also offers a window into Jewish culture.

Award–winning broadcast journalist 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, 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.

“Krasny has chosen well, and digs into the jokes, explaining the sometimes not-so-funny histories and emotions that ultimately trigger the laughter. Besides the featured jokes, he provides plentiful additional bits that evoke smiles and nods of recognition.” —San Francisco Chronicle Book Review

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