Got an old Jew in your family? We have. She's 95, as a matter of fact, and so we sat her down in front of the TV and popped in the DVD machine this little disc (only 45 minutes long) entitled OLD JEWS TELLING JOKES. She laughed. And laughed. Not at every joke (many of them are... how might she have put it in her day: dirty?) but those weren't the ones she failed to grasp. Rather, they were the ones after which she laughed the hardest. But some jokes depend on one's knowledge of events, people or things with which our nonagenarian may not have been familiar (or by now have forgotten). In any case, after the show, Great Grandma proclaimed herself very happy to have seen it.
You know what? We were, too.
Many of the jokes are very funny, and the folk who tell them are funny, too -- in their own odd way. I don't believe any of the performers are professional comedians. They're just old jews, enjoying themselves immensely and, as directed by Sam Hoffman, passing that enjoyment on to you.
Old Jews Telling Jokes is available for sale from First Run Features and for rent via Netflix or other online (and maybe even some in-store) video rental establishments.
