For some reason, it\’s rare that anyone sets me up. You would think being a thin, employed, Jewish heterosexual with a full head of hair, long eyelashes and a great sense of humor would be a gimmie.
Like Budd Schulberg\’s \”What Makes Sammy Run?\” Phillip Roth\’s \”Portnoy\’s Complaint\” and other milestones of Jewish American literature, Will Eisner\’s \”Name of the Game\” explores the depths of Jewish self-loathing and assimilation. But what separates \”Name\” — a tale chronicling two immigrant families that merge through marriage for social advancement and then suffer destructive consequences — from the others, is that Eisner\’s work is a comic book.\n\n
Joe [incredulous]: Jewish superheroes?\nSammy: What, they\’re all Jewish, superheroes. Superman, you don\’t think he\’s Jewish? Coming from the old country, changing his name like that. Clark Kent, only a Jew would pick up a name like that for himself.
The Marx Brothers, The Three Stooges, Jack Benny, Milton Berle, Carl Reiner, Mel Brooks, Lenny Bruce, Jackie Mason, Woody Allen and, of course, Seinfeld. The history of American comedy is the history of America\’s funniest Jews. But while being Jewish and funny has never been mutually exclusive, comedians in days of yore mostly kept their Jewishness offstage. Times are changing, and with multiculturalism comes a new brand of Jewish comedian.
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