Wit Happens: Global Jewish Humor

by Jennifer Caplan (Editor), Jarrod Tanny (Editor), Avinoam Patt (Editor)

A collection that proves Jewish humor knows no geographic bounds.

Searching for some well-traveled humor? Look no further than this innovative collection, which investigates Jewish humor in television, film, comedy performance, and literature spanning Canada, the US, Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. This wide-ranging compilation of Jewish "humors"—from the fallout of a Holocaust joke told in Japan, to Mel Brooks's invocation of longstanding Jewish satirization in Blazing Saddles, to reevaluations of Jewish comedic themes from Kafka and Seinfeld—highlights the transnationality of Jewish identity and humor while emphasizing how Jewish culture shifts in unexpected ways across time and place. The contributions illustrate the value of studying Jewish humor that decenters the US and Ashkenazi-centered analysis, broadening considerations of the possibilities within Jewish cultural production through humor as it transforms globally.

290 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication February 17, 2026