Jump to content

Self-deprecating Jewish Humor: Ill Effects?


Recommended Posts

  • Replies 268
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Does everyone know the decidely un-self deprecating story about Berle? Reportedly he was among the best, well, ENDOWED men in show biz. A bet was made that this was so and Mr. Television was approached by the bettor for proof. 'How much do you want me to show him' 'Just enough to win'...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

---and we'd know what the mohel knows :g

What evil lurks in the foreskin of baby boys?

Maybe part of the self-deprecation and a built in sexual low-self esteem based on, um, dimensions, begins with the removal of said foreskin. It's a hell of a way to start life a week in---a little 'short'--compared to, say, our Sicilian brothers whose mothers in the first days after birthing male children are rumored to.....well don't make me say it! I'd say they they may just view life as way more fun getting that kind of, um, 'head' start. :party: Edited by fasstrack
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Saw Stardust Memories yesterday on DVD. Not bad at all. I think he used the Fellini elements in a good, absurd way: weird, ugly people horning in wanting things from this guy who can barely figure out his own life. He nails the shallowness of the Bates character and the idiocies of the harpies.

What I didn't like or appreciate was that fake-out 'ending', where he's shot and killed by a fan, but not really. When he's 'dead' he realizes that he had a good life with Dorrie despite all his tribulations. The film should've ended there, with his little epiphany. Instead he wakes up from what was merely a faint and goes off with the Isabelle character.

But it was a good send up of stars and hangers-on, explored again later in Celebrity.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was in South Fla. W/tine to kill, so I grabbed a stack of DVDs from the library (FYI the W Palm Beach Pub. Lib. on Clamatis St. is one of this country's best IMO). One was the Errand Boy which came as a 2-fer w/Lewis's better-known Nutty Professor. It was a scream-about a kid a Hollywood studio exec makes a gofer/spy b/c they're losing money and a mole could find out why/who. So who does he pick? Naturally- into the toilet, the Lewis character muffs everything, annoys everyone. But, w/o giving it away, he wins after all. Funniest scene: he asks some boys if they want to learn basketball. Naturally they turn out to be pros and kick his ass around the court! The thing that I finally got: Jerry Lewis is not just the king of physical comedy, he's the ultimate self-deprecator too, a bumbling monkey (HIS word, BTW) who ruins all, doesn't get the girl (at first...), etc. But he MEANS well-and the difference between he and Woody Allen, besides his films not being cerebral and talky is that sweetness-and his world view is sunnier. And he gets that girl in the end. What better pet than a monkey?

Edited by fasstrack
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

×
×
  • Create New...