Thursday, May 11, 2023
7 – 8 pm EDT
Scheuer Auditorium

Join Judy Gold and Jeremy Dauber for a conversation about Jewish comedy—what makes us laugh, what doesn’t, and how that has changed throughout the years. A look back and a look forward at the world of Jewish comedy and humor that you don’t want to miss! Moderated by Stephanie Butnick, host of Tablet’s Unorthodox podcast.

Copies of both books will be available for purchase and signing at the event. To purchase an advance copy of Judy Gold’s Yes, I Can Say That, and Jeremy Dauber’s Mel Brooks: Disobedient Jew, please click here.

About the Speakers:

Judy Gold is an Emmy award winning comedian, actor, writer, producer & podcast host. Recent projects include comedy specials on HBO, Comedy Central, and LOGO. See Judy in “Yes I Can Say That” based on her book of the same title, this spring in NYC at 59E59 from March 4 – April 16. Tickets at judygold.com. Off Broadway: The Judy Show - My Life as a Sitcom, 25 Questions for a Jewish Mother, The Taming of The Shrew (Shakespeare in the Park), Clinton! The Musical, Disaster! The Musical. Recent TV credits include Better Things (FX), First Lady & City On A Hill (Showtime), Life and Beth (Hulu), Girls 5 Eva (Peacock), Nora From Queens (Comedy Central) and the podcast Kill Me Now.

Jeremy Dauber is the Atran Professor of Yiddish Language, Literature and Culture and, for a decade, directed the Institute of Israel and Jewish Studies at Columbia University, where he also teaches in the American studies program. His books include Antonio's Devils: Writers of the Jewish Enlightenment and the Birth of Modern Hebrew and Yiddish Literature (Stanford University Press, 2004); In the Demon's Bedroom: Yiddish Literature and the Early Modern (Yale University Press; 2010); The Worlds of Sholem Aleichem (Schocken Books, 2013); and Jewish Comedy: A Serious History (W.W. Norton, 2017). Both The Worlds of Sholem Aleichem and Jewish Comedy were finalists for the National Jewish Book Award. In 2021, Norton published his American Comics: A History, and his Jewish Lives biography of Mel Brooks, Mel Brooks: Disobedient Jew, will be released in March 2023 by Yale University Press.

Stephanie Butnick is deputy editor of Tablet Magazine and a host of the Unorthodox podcast. She is the author, along with her co-hosts, of The Newish Jewish Encyclopedia: From Abraham to Zabar’s and Everything in Between. She has written for The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.

Co-presented by Jewish Book Council, the Jewish Museum, and Tablet Magazine.

Admission to the event is free, and includes an opportunity to visit the Jewish Museum’s galleries on the day of the program. Advance RSVP is required; however, early arrival is suggested as space is limited, and entry is not guaranteed.

The Jewish Museum is committed to making its programs accessible to all. For inquiries and requests for live CART interpretation, ASL interpretation, or additional accommodations please email info@thejm.org or call 212.423.3200 ext. 0.