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Old Jewish Comedians #1
Old Jewish Comedians: A BLAB! Storybook
This illustrated encyclopedia of comedians born before 1930 includes the famous (Milton Berle, Groucho Marx, Jerry Lewis, Mel Brooks, Jack Benny), the not-so-famous (Benny Rubin, Shelly Berman) and the largely unknown (Al Kelly, Menasha Skulnik). Old Jewish Comedians is an illustrated collection of Jewish comedians born before 1930. The Reuben Award-winning Friedman presents 28 full-page portraits of the greatest Borscht-Belt comedians. Oy vey!
32 pages, Hardcover
First published October 18, 2006
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About the author
Drew Friedman
42 books19 followersAlthough in recent years Friedman has mostly worked doing caricature illustrations for mainstream publications, he first attracted public attention in the 1980s producing morbid alternative comics stories, sometimes working solo but often with his brother Josh Alan Friedman writing the scripts. These stories portrayed celebrities and character actors of yesteryear in seedy, absurd, tragi-comic situations. One memorable story followed Bud Abbott and Lou Costello wandering the urban jungle at night, encountering whores, junkies and other lowlifes. Friedman created strips featuring actor/wrestler Tor Johnson in his iconic hulking moron persona from Ed Wood, Jr. films. The brothers also wrote stories about talk-show host Joe Franklin, including one strip, written by Drew, for Heavy Metal magazine, The Incredible Shrinking Joe Franklin, that prompted Franklin to sue for $40 million. The suit was later dismissed. These stories were generally meant to be amusing, although they were extremely dark and a few were tragic. Drew Friedman's work won high praise from such notable figures as Kurt Vonnegut, who compared him to Goya, and R. Crumb, who wrote, "I wish I had this guy's talent".
The Friedman brothers were first published in RAW Magazine. Working with and without his brother, Drew's comics were published in Heavy Metal, Weirdo, High Times, National Lampoon, and other comics anthologies from the '80s into the early '90s. The brothers published two collections, Any Similarity to Persons Living or Dead is Purely Coincidental and Warts and All. In a Comics Journal interview, Drew Friedman lamented that he and his brother had failed to earn a living creating work that was time- and labor-intensive yet earned little. Josh no longer works in comics, but continues to write, and he performs music as Josh Alan.
Beginning in 1986, Drew illustrated a monthly feature, "Private Lives of Public Figures," for (the now-defunct) SPY magazine; these illustrations were compiled in a book published by St. Martin's Press in 1992. He also provided illustrations for Howard Stern's two best-selling books, Private Parts and Miss America. Friedman served as comics editor for the National Lampoon in 1991,[citation needed] introducing the works of (among others) Daniel Clowes and Chris Ware to a wider audience. Since 1994 he has provided regular front-page illustrations for the New York Observer.
In 2006, Friedman published Old Jewish Comedians (Fantagraphics Books), a collection of portraits of famous and forgotten Jewish comics of film and TV in their old age, about which Steven Heller, in the New York Times Book Review, wrote: "A festival of drawing virtuosity and fabulous craggy faces, . . . Friedman might very well be the Vermeer of the Borscht Belt."[2] A sequel, More Old Jewish Comedians (Fantagraphics Books), was published in 2008. A collection of newer work, The Fun Never Stops! was published by Fantagraphics in 2007, containing many comics co-written by his frequent collaborator and wife, K. Bidus. Booklist listed it as One of the Ten Best Comics Collections of 2007.[citation needed]
He is the son of author/satirist Bruce Jay Friedman.
The Friedman brothers were first published in RAW Magazine. Working with and without his brother, Drew's comics were published in Heavy Metal, Weirdo, High Times, National Lampoon, and other comics anthologies from the '80s into the early '90s. The brothers published two collections, Any Similarity to Persons Living or Dead is Purely Coincidental and Warts and All. In a Comics Journal interview, Drew Friedman lamented that he and his brother had failed to earn a living creating work that was time- and labor-intensive yet earned little. Josh no longer works in comics, but continues to write, and he performs music as Josh Alan.
Beginning in 1986, Drew illustrated a monthly feature, "Private Lives of Public Figures," for (the now-defunct) SPY magazine; these illustrations were compiled in a book published by St. Martin's Press in 1992. He also provided illustrations for Howard Stern's two best-selling books, Private Parts and Miss America. Friedman served as comics editor for the National Lampoon in 1991,[citation needed] introducing the works of (among others) Daniel Clowes and Chris Ware to a wider audience. Since 1994 he has provided regular front-page illustrations for the New York Observer.
In 2006, Friedman published Old Jewish Comedians (Fantagraphics Books), a collection of portraits of famous and forgotten Jewish comics of film and TV in their old age, about which Steven Heller, in the New York Times Book Review, wrote: "A festival of drawing virtuosity and fabulous craggy faces, . . . Friedman might very well be the Vermeer of the Borscht Belt."[2] A sequel, More Old Jewish Comedians (Fantagraphics Books), was published in 2008. A collection of newer work, The Fun Never Stops! was published by Fantagraphics in 2007, containing many comics co-written by his frequent collaborator and wife, K. Bidus. Booklist listed it as One of the Ten Best Comics Collections of 2007.[citation needed]
He is the son of author/satirist Bruce Jay Friedman.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 20, 2008
Drew Friedman is the most merciless caricaturist around: he released a super-gross book of celebrities called "Warts And All". This is more of the same: cartoons of every corny and irritating Yiddish comedian you remember seeing on Ed Sullivan, etcetera. Buddy Hackett, Grandpa Munster, Don Rickles, Phil Silvers, Red Buttons, Shelly Berman, the yarmulke slappers will tickle yr. ribs. A bi gezunt.
December 16, 2018
I know I say this more often than I would like, but I don't know exactly what I was expecting with Old Jewish Comedians: A Blab! Book by cartoonist Drew Friedman. I was marginally familiar with Friedman's Heroes of the Comics, in which Friedman paints portraits of the titular comics legends—very respectfully, from what I've seen—along with brief biographical information, but Old Jewish Comedians lacks the biographical profiles; it's just paintings/caricatures. Perhaps the key to Old Jewish Comedians lies in fellow graphic novelist Daniel Clowes' blurb on the back of the book, that Friedman's caricatures are simultaneously Warts and All, and profoundly respectful. Not for nothing does prominent film critic Leonard Maltin confirm this profound respect on both his and Friedman's part, providing a general background of the cultural place individuals such as the Three Stooges, the Marx Brothers, Buddy Hackett (born Leonard Hacker), or Don Rickles held in American entertainment, whether in vaudeville, on television, or in the Catskills—and not for nothing does Friedman provide a photograph of his father, legendary humorist Bruce Jay Friedman as a child with Catskills legend Jackie Miles, by way of reference.
Likewise, the underlying theme of Old Jewish Comedians, as suggested by the title, is that all thirty-plus of these Jewish comedians are shown in the twilight of their years; what makes Old Jewish Comedians special is that even as Friedman caricatures them, he captures every essence of their personalities, both comedic and real-life, in the details on their faces. Friedman has always been a very expressive artist—I vividly remember how evocative his cartoons in Howard Stern's memoir (of sorts) Private Parts were—and the portraits in this book are equally excellent along those lines. Yes, I wish there were some biographical sketches in the book, but I can gather that the framing of the book doesn't necessarily suit that; likewise, I kind of wish female comedians of the golden era, such as Rusty Warren or Totie Fields, were represented at all, but I equally wonder aloud whether Friedman's style could be as respectful of older women as the men portrayed here—warts and all. According to Goodreads, Old Jewish Comedians is the first volume in a series; while I openly wonder how sustainable the theme is, Drew Friedman has done a unique bit of cartooning here, and as a fan of Jewish comedy, I very much appreciated this book.
Likewise, the underlying theme of Old Jewish Comedians, as suggested by the title, is that all thirty-plus of these Jewish comedians are shown in the twilight of their years; what makes Old Jewish Comedians special is that even as Friedman caricatures them, he captures every essence of their personalities, both comedic and real-life, in the details on their faces. Friedman has always been a very expressive artist—I vividly remember how evocative his cartoons in Howard Stern's memoir (of sorts) Private Parts were—and the portraits in this book are equally excellent along those lines. Yes, I wish there were some biographical sketches in the book, but I can gather that the framing of the book doesn't necessarily suit that; likewise, I kind of wish female comedians of the golden era, such as Rusty Warren or Totie Fields, were represented at all, but I equally wonder aloud whether Friedman's style could be as respectful of older women as the men portrayed here—warts and all. According to Goodreads, Old Jewish Comedians is the first volume in a series; while I openly wonder how sustainable the theme is, Drew Friedman has done a unique bit of cartooning here, and as a fan of Jewish comedy, I very much appreciated this book.
February 25, 2019
All three of these were spectacular. The drawings are spot on and it’s neat to see each performer’s real name. The forewords are also great, especially Larry Gelbart’s.
June 17, 2021
I love Drew Friedman's work. This is basically just a a graphic novel full of his grotesque caricatures of elderly Jewish comedians. Hilarious.
October 10, 2023
Beautiful book, crafted with love by s genius cartoonist.
July 24, 2016
Fascinating caricatures by the master pointillist that captures the comic spirit of these vaudevillians in the twilight of their lives.
Dan Clowes sums it up perfectly in his back cover quote:
"To me, the key to Drew Friedman's works is the deft mixture of brutal near-sadistic honesty, and deeply felt affection for his chosen people."
Dan Clowes sums it up perfectly in his back cover quote:
"To me, the key to Drew Friedman's works is the deft mixture of brutal near-sadistic honesty, and deeply felt affection for his chosen people."
September 21, 2008
Affectionate caricatures of the great and good (Phil Silvers, Sid Caesar, Marx bros etc.) by Drew Friedman from Fantagraphics. Oy vey indeed.
August 24, 2016
Amazing collection of drawings from Drew Friedman, definitely worth checking out if you are interested in obscure comedians.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews