Rex Bloomstein
A Tribute to American Jewish Humour
Summary
The Jews of America virtually created show business and so many of the greatest comedians, cartoonists, comic writers, producers, and directors have been Jews. So how do we begin to explain this phenomenon? Film producer Rex Bloomstein explores the rich world and history of American-Jewish humor.
Rex Bloomstein
Rex Bloomstein has produced films on human rights, crime and punishment, and the Holocaust. He pioneered the modern prison documentary with films such as Lifers (1983) and Strangeways (1980), which won two British Academy Awards. As well as other television productions such as Auschwitz and the Allies, and his three-part history of anti-Semitism, The Longest Hatred, he produced KZ, described as one of the first post-modern Holocaust documentaries. Other feature documentaries include An Independent Mind (2008), on freedom of expression, This Prison Where I Live (2010), on imprisoned Burmese comedian, Zarganar, and The World of Jewish Humor (1990), which traces the evolution of Jewish humor from New York’s turn-of-the-century Lower East Side to the present.
Well I thought Milton Berle and Jackie Mason were just fantastic, of course Jackie Mason passed away recently. Just extraordinary timing, brilliant characterizations, using the stereotypes, but using them cleverly and funny, very, very funny. Today, I think Larry David is terrific, and Seinfeld. So I probably, like so many others, I think they’re very, very good.
I think there’s British-Jewish humor, David Baddiel, and others, there are. There are people around, of course there are. And I think it’s there, but of course it’s not, it hasn’t had the impact that it has in America, which is phenomenal, which I tried to talk about tonight. Simply phenomenal. I mean the range of contributions that the Jews have made of America, in a sense almost reflecting what America is, or wants to be. And it is that outside of them, the being an outsider, and always looking in, always wanting to be part of it, yet not quite part of it, and that’s a perhaps a deeper question that emerges. But there is British-Jewish humor, and I’m sure it’s there.
I haven’t the faintest idea what Canadian-Jewish humor is like. It’s surely pretty much the same, I would’ve thought, but perhaps our caller can tell us what that is.