The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

.Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

A few years back I saw one of the most startling documentaries I had ever seen. It was called AN EMPIRE OF THEIR OWN- HOW THE JEWS INVENTED Hollywood, and it was based on a bestseller.It was brilliant. It not only showed how Hollywood was started by Jews, literally, but also showed how, the more successful Hollywood became, the less Jewish everyone wanted to be. The message seemed to be that assimilation and success went hand in hand. The writers even used Superman as an example -- invented by two Jews, Superman actually used a "secret identity" to keep the world from learning that he was "different." Wow.Zweig's film here is successful entertainment but FOR ALL THE WRONG REASONS.I cannot easily recall another film where the film-maker is such an annoying presence and the viewer so wishes he would just take an extended lunch so we could spend more time with some the greatest comics of the last century, many of whom we have not seen for so long.(Age is now and always will be scarier than any Hollywood villain. Shelley Berman, for example, sounds like himself and is sharp as a tack, but at 90 he looks nothing like the imposing comic presence he was on the Ed Sullivan show where by sheer force of will he dragged a whole generation into an appreciation of his "phone call" comedy.)Zwieg meanwhile presents, ironically, the least comic moments in the film as he harasses and annoys these professionals into trying to get them to admit that the world is not as funny as it was because Jews are not as Jewish as they were...Ignore Zweig and you will actually enjoy this.

You'll see a lot of great old Jewish comics, from back in the day when "Jewish" was almost understood in the word "comic". Also loads of great old Borscht Belt jokes. Zweig's interview style is genius: he presents himself as a schlemiel asking dumb questions, and gets some priceless responses. He gets people who have cultivated a goyisher stage presence to revert to their native culture, and those who have been "Hollywood Jewish" to revert to the real thing, with brilliant results. The great Shelley Berman even sings a whole song in Yiddish, after mentioning his son who died at the age of 12 and finding himself at a loss for (English) words. See it. You'll laugh, you'll cry.

I grew up watching these comedians and a lot of others not mentioned including My favorite Woody Allen. I never even thought about them being Jewish, I just liked their humor and the way they told their stories and jokes. I couldn't wait for Ed Sullivan each week or Johnny Carson each night to see who would be on. If the majority of the comedians of those times happened to be Jewish, so be it. I could have cared less as long as they made me laugh. I don't find any of today's so called comedians funny. That's why I love these shows about the real comedians of our past. Keep more of these shows coming and I'll keep watching. FUNNY SMUNNY!!!

Surveys the history of Jewish comedy...Is there such a thing as Jewish comedy, or a Jewish-style comedy? For me, if I were to describe it, my first thought would be Woody Allen, who was not even mentioned on here. His delivery and obsession with psychoanalysis is, to me, the cornerstone of modern Jewish humor. (Add on Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David for a trifecta.) There is some attempt to connect the topic to immigrant culture -- they mention how Italians and Irish (the other two big immigrant groups of the time) had their own humor. Oppression breeds humor, perhaps, while assimilation kills it. There is probably some truth in that humor comes from pain, and Jews have known pain like few other groups of the last century.Many of the bits on here are odd interviews, including "Super Dave", who I would not have suspected as self-identifying as a Jewish comic. There is nothing about his act that screams "Jewish" to me, but maybe I am ignorant to what it really means.One person (I missed their name) argued that 20th century comedy history is the same as Jewish comedy history. Obviously, there are exceptions like George Carlin and Steve Martin, but the number of prominent Jewish comedians and comedy writers is overwhelming... it is difficult to discuss ethnicity without the risk of making what could be racist comments, but indeed, there may be such a thing as Jewish comedy... although whether or not this documentary found it, I am not so sure.