The Big Book of Jewish Humor

by Moshe Waldoks and William Novak

Book Overview

A fantastic collection of Jewish and Jewish-inspired humor with contributions from Woody Allen, Max Apple, Gary Epstein, Lenny Bruce, Joseph Heller, David Levine, Sam Levenson, G.B. Trudeau, Judith... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 006090917X
• ISBN13: 9780060909178
• Release Date: December 1981
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Length: 308 Pages
• Weight: 2.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 8.4" x 10.9"

Customer Reviews

Examines Jewish Humor from every Angle

This is a very interesting and humorous book. Most of the greats that I am familiar with are represented here so you get a truly all encompassing across the board variety of wit. It takes sources of from the written word, plays, film, stand up comics, word of mouth jokes through various periods of history. It's all here or at least what can be held in one gigantic volume. A must have.

If you like jokes, stories, and having a good laugh...

Boy, if you like to read a book that has everything a Jew could laugh about, this book is it! I couldn't be without a book like this, so get yourself a copy! You won't be ashamed you did.

Still Unsurpassed

This book came out a while ago yet it remains the best collection available. The various Jewish joke and humor anthologies published recently don't even come close and some are quite shoddy. This definitive, well-illustrated and definitely very "big" volume covers all types of humor from literary to stand-up to historical and more, with jokes, literary excerpts, yiddish curses, and representative selections from famous humorists and comedians as well as from obscure ones. You will find all your favorites here and you will discover some new favorites too. Perhaps the time has come for these authors to do a sequel? No one since them seems to be up to the task.

Definitive Sampler

And that's what this book is! A definitive sampler of among the best of Jewish humor in all styles and eras. Loved it. Also a great reference work. I also recommend strongly A Little Joy, A Little Oy, as this small but mighty paperback, deals with humor plus, also in a sampler format, but goes further into literature, anecdotes, trivia etc. Loved both of these!!!!!!

What a classic!

The Big Book of Jewish Humor is a must-own for Jews of all races, creeds and... well, OK, just for Jews. Anyway, it's loaded with so many brilliant pieces -- from one-liners to standard jokes to essays -- and covers such a wide body of work and of historical subjects, that finding a flaw ain't easy. If I have any complaint (and who among us doesn't?), it's that this book is so thick with outstanding humor, I don't think I've ever read half of its works.By the way, it's a good gift for goyim, as well. If you don't have it yet, get it soon!