{"id":23876,"date":"2017-04-21T03:51:11","date_gmt":"2017-04-21T10:51:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=23876"},"modified":"2017-04-20T21:56:46","modified_gmt":"2017-04-21T04:56:46","slug":"the-reach-of-humour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2017\/04\/21\/the-reach-of-humour\/","title":{"rendered":"The reach of humour"},"content":{"rendered":"

Director Ferne Pearlstein with Mel Brooks. (photo from Tangerine Entertainment)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Woody Allen\u2019s Crimes and Misdemeanours<\/em> marked the first time that many people heard the philosophical proposition, expressed by Alan Alda\u2019s character, that \u201ccomedy is tragedy plus time.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve always cited \u201cthe Woodman\u201d as the source of the insight, probably because it\u2019s consistent with a Jewish worldview. In fact, another Allen, the late, great comedian, composer and TV host Steve Allen, described the phenomenon in a 1957 magazine interview. Maybe he picked it up from somebody else; in any event, this is what he had to say: \u201cWhen I explained to a friend recently that the subject matter of most comedy is tragic (drunkenness, overweight, financial problems, accidents, etc.), he said, \u2018Do you mean to tell me that the dreadful events of the day are a fit subject for humorous comment?\u2019 The answer is \u2018No, but they will be pretty soon.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Ferne Pearlstein\u2019s wonderfully entertaining and provocative documentary The Last Laugh<\/em> asks a gaggle of comedians, as well as the viewer, if there might be one subject that defies Allen\u2019s thesis. Seventy years on, is the Holocaust still off limits for purveyors of punchlines? Are there subjects that cannot and should not be the subject of jokes? Or are some of the functions of humour \u2013 healing, confronting uncomfortable truths from oblique angles, challenging stereotypes \u2013 applicable even in the case of targeted genocide? Finally, as the great wit Hillel famously asked his students at a late-night yeshivah improv set, \u201cIf not now, when?\u201d<\/p>\n

Pearlstein puts the question to a group of sharp Jewish humourists, interspersing their incisive comments with a parade of clips from films and TV shows that comprise a kind of Rorschach test for the viewer. The expert witnesses include Rob Reiner, Harry Shearer, Gilbert Gottfried and Larry Charles, who grapple with the topic with both hilarious and discomfiting results. As you\u2019d imagine, given their ethnic backgrounds and line of work, they\u2019ve given the matter considerable thought over the years.<\/p>\n

Mel Brooks, who displayed unimaginable chutzpah and courage in conceiving and producing The Producers <\/em>50 years ago, cites Charlie Chaplin\u2019s brilliant The Great Dictator<\/em> to illustrate the power of mockery and ridicule to cut the Nazis down to size. Another interviewee provides a reminder that humour played an important role in the camps, providing a brief escape from bleak reality and a way of maintaining one\u2019s humanity and dignity.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s another matter altogether to mine the camps or victims for laughs. (Here\u2019s where the late Joan Rivers makes an appearance with a jaw-dropping one-liner from some archived late-night show.)<\/p>\n

Of course, one of the jobs of comedians is to step over the line, in order to impel us to consider where the line is. (Come on down, Sarah Silverman.) And, given the prominence of the Holocaust in shaping the identity of at least two generations of American Jews, it is a taboo that needs to be examined.<\/p>\n

Too soon (to use the catchphrase du jour)? About time, I\u2019d say.<\/p>\n

Pearlstein implicitly acknowledges two important caveats, however. The reality of the Holocaust can\u2019t be ignored or subsumed in a theoretical discussion of contemporary attitudes, and those who endured the camps should be allowed to comment on what\u2019s funny.<\/p>\n

Stalwart survivor Renee Firestone acts as a thread and guidepost throughout The Last Laugh<\/em>, reminding us of the deadly toll of the Holocaust as well as the determination and, yes, good humour required to create a satisfying life after the darkness of Europe.<\/p>\n

Firestone inspires us to consider the highest and best use of memory and, in the context of the film, to see humour as a constructive way of remembering and revisiting tragedy that instils strength. Over and over, The Last Laugh<\/em> eschews glib analysis in pursuit of deeper truths. And those are always the best punchlines.<\/p>\n

The Last Laugh<\/em> airs on PBS April 24 (check local listings).<\/p>\n

Michael Fox<\/strong> is a writer and film critic living in San Francisco.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Director Ferne Pearlstein with Mel Brooks. (photo from Tangerine Entertainment) Woody Allen\u2019s Crimes and Misdemeanours marked the first time that many people heard the philosophical proposition, expressed by Alan Alda\u2019s character, that \u201ccomedy is tragedy plus time.\u201d I\u2019ve always cited \u201cthe Woodman\u201d as the source of the insight, probably because it\u2019s consistent with a Jewish […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23851,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[787],"tags":[5278,6974,53],"class_list":["post-23876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tv-film","tag-comedy","tag-ferne-pearlstein","tag-holocaust"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23876","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23876"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23876\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}