The pervasiveness of Jewish humor and performers across America's comedy landscape is unmistakable. Turning on a television, watching a movie, listening to the radio, or seeing a live performance likely means an encounter with Jewish humor. Even if the performers do not identify with the so-called people of the joke, there is a good chance that the writers do. If that claim seems questionable to you, then Joseph Dorinson's Kvetching and Shpritzing ought to change your mind. In the book, Dorinson, a professor of history at Long Island University, references dozens of Jewish humorists drawn from the annals of American popular culture. His history of Jewish merrymakers, though not comprehensive, effectively covers an impressive breadth of performers, authors, and directors. Arguably, Dorinson's ability to draw out examples across media—from the Borscht Belt stage to the literary page—is the volume's greatest strength. The book, for this reason, is most valuable for...
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