Ruth R. Wisse > Quotes

“Both mystic and comedian aspire to get the better of a world they are powerless to reform.”
― Ruth R. Wisse, No Joke: Making Jewish Humor

“The Borsht Belt became to stand-up comedy what New Orleans was to jazz -- an incubator of a new form of entertainment that gradually emerged from its formative center into the U.S. mainstream and beyond.

Not that this comparison of Jewish comedy with jazz should obscure the contributions of Jews to the development of jazz itself, or black Americans to the growth of native comedy. The two forms of entertainment were similarly informal and improvisational. But the value placed by each community on its special cultural pastime dictated the opportunities for talented individuals within that community. Comedy and jazz depend on patronage, which rewards what it craves.”
― Ruth R. Wisse, No Joke: Making Jewish Humor

“Stand-up comedy is all about nerve--a battle between aggressor and victims with wit as the weapon and laughter as the prize. Different from prizefights that pit people against one another in the presence of paying spectators, comedy pits the fighter against the paying customers, with silence as the killer, and the detonation of laughter as the victory.”
― Ruth R. Wisse, No Joke: Making Jewish Humor

“Language is a dialect with an army and navy”
― Ruth R. Wisse, Jews and Power

“Jews forced to convert under political pressure could hardly bring credit to a religion whose savior was martyred in defiance of political pressure.”
― Ruth R. Wisse, Jews and Power

“Since the disputed territories were Israel's as a result of Arab aggression, they could not retroactively have become its cause.”
― Ruth R. Wisse, Jews and Power