Comedy

     When people think of Jews they always think of Jews as comedians. The thing is for an Orthodox Jewish audience it is hard to get a comedian that is really funny and its not because so many comedians have rated R material. I think its because the Orthodox crowd is a tough audience. They don't really appreciate traditional Jewish jokes .Or at least this Orthodox Jew does not. I don't appreciate the typical Jewish jokes stereotype of being cheap, women as japs , or the over bearing Jewish mother jokes. When a comedian who is trying to entertain a frum crowd starts with the Jewish jokes they often bomb. We don't really care. Those jokes don't really touch us.
     There are a few comedians who do well at entertaining the Jewish Orthodox crowd. The brothers Stone and Stone are such comedians. They are foremost just very funny. They are not frum but they are just great with word play and get the crowd enough to do well .
     Another good comic for the frum crowd is Bill Lubel. He is not observant as far as I know, but he does well performing at Orthodox Jewish functions.  Though his act does have traditional Jewish jokes in it, its more self deprecating than Jewish.
     The foremost comedian in the Jewish Orthodox comedy circuit is Modi. Not only is he funny, but he gets where the audience is coming from. He is Israeli and went to orthodox yeshivas in the United States. I am not clear whether or not he grew up frum but he grew up in the hood and knows what jokes will work. Comedian Jackie Hoffman describes Modi as the Jimmy Hendrix of the synagogue comedy circuit. I have heard Modi perform. He is really funny. Modi was even in a short film at the Jewish film festival  a few years back called Waiting for Woody Allen .
       Jackie Hoffman was a comedian featured in the documentary film Making Trouble that was shown at the Jewish film festival in New York City a few years ago.It was not the same year as Modi's film. She actually went to yeshiva but is not frum now.  She does not usually do the Orthodox Jewish Comedy Circuit, then again the Orthodox groups don't usually let women perform. She had performed after Modi at a shul comedy night somewhere and she mentioned in an interview that she bombed because she performed after him since he was the Jimmy Hendrix of the synagogue comedy circuit. After hearing her say this it really made me think. The Orthodox Jewish comedy circuit is a really hard audience to please no matter how you slice it.