Shtick Shift: Jewish Humor in the 21st Century is a book by Rabbi

Rabbi

In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...

 Simcha Weinstein

Simcha Weinstein

Simcha Weinstein is an English author and a rabbi. In 2006, his first book Up Up and Oy Vey : How Jewish History, Culture and Values Shaped the Comic Book Superhero was published...

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The book presents an overview of the approach modern Jewish comedians are taking to their work - brutal, matter-of-fact, and unashamedly Jewish. To contrast the older approach with the newer approach, Weinstein gives examples of the comedy of previous generations of comedians such as Gertrude Berg

Gertrude Berg

Gertrude Berg was an American actress and screenwriter. A pioneer of classic radio, she was one of the first women to create, write, produce and star in a long-running hit when she premiered her serial comedy-drama The Rise of the Goldbergs , later known as The Goldbergs.-Career:Berg was born...

, Woody Allen

Woody Allen

Woody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...

, Sid Caesar

Sid Caesar

Isaac Sidney "Sid" Caesar is an Emmy award winning American comic actor and writer known as the leading man on the 1950s television series Your Show of Shows and Caesar's Hour, and to younger generations as Coach Calhoun in Grease and Grease 2.- Early life :Caesar was born in Yonkers, New York,...

, and Mel Brooks

Mel Brooks

Mel Brooks is an American film director, screenwriter, composer, lyricist, comedian, actor and producer. He is best known as a creator of broad film farces and comic parodies. He began his career as a stand-up comic and as a writer for the early TV variety show Your Show of Shows...

. He then presents in-depth analysis of the modern crop of Jewish comedic performers, including Jerry Seinfeld

Jerry Seinfeld

Jerome Allen "Jerry" Seinfeld is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and television and film producer, known for playing a semi-fictional version of himself in the situation comedy Seinfeld , which he co-created and co-wrote with Larry David, and, in the show's final two seasons,...

, Larry David

Larry David

Lawrence Gene "Larry" David is an American actor, writer, comedian and producer. He is best known as the co-creator , head writer, and executive producer of the television series Seinfeld from 1989 to 1996, and for creating the 1999 HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm, a partially improvised sitcom in...

, Sacha Baron Cohen

Sacha Baron Cohen

Sacha Noam Baron Cohen is an English stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and voice artist. He is most widely known for his portrayal of three unorthodox fictional characters: Ali G, Borat, and Brüno...

 and Sarah Silverman

Sarah Silverman

Sarah Kate Silverman is a Jewish American comedian, writer, actress, singer and musician. Her satirical comedy addresses social taboos and controversial topics such as racism, sexism, and religion....

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Table of contents

Put on Your Yarmulke

Something from Nothing : Jewish Comedy in a New Century

Jew Gold : Self-fulfilling Stereotypes and Unfulfilling Wealth

Raising the Bar : Bling Mitzvah

Beyond Bubbe : The 21st Century Jewish Family

Fake News, Real Impact

Seriously Funny : Anti-Semitism and Self-Hatred

Cool Jew?