LA JOLLA, California (Press Release) – The 16th Annual San Diego Jewish Book Fair presents four approaches to Jewish humor with movie producer and writer Sam Hoffman on Fri., Nov. 5 at noon; satirist Gary Shteyngart exchanging witty repartee with Mark Oppenheimer on Sat., Nov. 6 at 7:30 p.m.; and a side-splitting evening of stand-up comedy with Joel Chasnoff on Sun., Nov. 7 at 7:30 p.m.
Here is more detail on these events.
Sam Hoffman – Fri., Nov. 5 at noon
This “lunch and laugh” event will give you the opportunity to take a deeper look at the history and legacy of Jewish humor with Sam Hoffman and his collaborator Eric Spiegelman as they share the best bits from their wildly popular book (and web site) Old Jews Telling Jokes: 5000 Years of Funny Bits and Not-so-Kosher Laughs.
Sam Hoffman and Eric Spiegelman’s “Old Jews Telling Jokes” web site has over 10 million video plays and counting. The site began when Hoffman got his father to gather twenty of his old Jewish friends who then related their favorite joke on camera as an homage to the Jewish art of storytelling.
Hoffman learned the movie trade from some of America’s foremost directors. His credits include stints as an Assistant Director for Woody Allen, Wes Anderson, Tim Robbins, Brian DePalma, Penny Marshall and others. He has produced, directed and assistant-directed movies such as The Royal Tenenbaums, School of Rock, Dead Man Walking, Groundhog Day, and Curse of the Jade Scorpion. He says he loves “Old Jews Telling Jokes” because “it makes people laugh, but it also preserves a fading element of this culture. I’m proud to do both.”
Gary Shteyngart with Mark Oppenheimer – Sat., Nov. 6 at 7:30 p.m.
Two of America’s smartest and oh-so-funny writers ponder and poke fun at what it means to be – or not to be – a well-read, articulate person in America. In his latest novel, A Super Sad True Love Story, Gary Shteyngart (The Russian Debutante’s Handbook, Absurdistan) depicts a completely illiterate America – nobody reads but everyone texts (OMG!).
Joining him will be Mark Oppenheimer whose Wisenheimer: A Childhood Subject to Debate tells his true-life tale of finding an outlet for his precocious hyperarticulation. These two authors will be discussing their equally off-beat views of being wordy in America…be prepared to LOL (Laugh out Loud).
In the world of Gary Shteyngart, reality and absurdity go hand in hand. His whimsical prose and searing satire have been almost universally praised. Born in Leningrad, Russia, during the Cold War, but living the majority of his life in New York, the novelist has experienced life in the two contrasting nations that most influence his work.
Along the way, he earned a degree in politics from Oberlin College in Ohio. Shteyngart’s work has received numerous awards. Absurdistan was chosen as one of the ten best books of the year by The New York Times Book Review and Time Magazine, as well as a book of the year by the Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle and many other publications.
The Russian Debutante’s Handbook won the Stephen Crane Award for First Fiction, the Book-of-the-Month Club First Fiction Award and the National Jewish Book Award for Fiction. It was named a New York Times Notable Book and one of the best debuts of the year by The Guardian (UK). In June 2010, Shteyngart was named as one of The New Yorker magazine’s “20 under 40” luminary fiction writers. Now, in his new novel, A Super Sad True Love Story, he envisions a dark tale of America’s dysfunctional coming years – and the timeless and tender feelings that just might bring us back from the brink. Ultimately, the satire hits bedrock and the story becomes sad, true, and very much a love story.
As a bright, hyper-verbal boy growing up in Springfield, Massachusetts, Mark Oppenheimer, religion columnist for The New York Times and the author of Thirteen and a Day: The Bar and Bat Mitzvah Across America, struggled with his linguistic precociousness and blunt personal style in pubic schools, gifted and talented programs, summer camps, and private schools across New England, frustrating parents everywhere. In Wisenheimer: A Childhood Subject to Debate, he covers his transformation from problem child to elite debater. He went on to win debate tournaments, and even impress girls, all over the English-speaking world. Oppenheimer holds a Ph.D. in American Religious History from Yale University (where he coached the debate team) and is a frequent writer for Slate, The New York Times Magazine, and Nextbook.
Joel Chasnoff – Sun., Nov. 7 at 7:30 p.m.
Chasnoff cut his comedy teeth opening for Jon Stewart and Lewis Black of The Daily Show. But his real education came in his 20s when he joined a tank brigade of 18-year-old Israelis: baby-faced officers, tough-as-nails sergeants, and mama’s boys who feign injury and diarrhea to avoid guard duty and KP. Come hear this gifted stand-up comedian perform his side-splitting comedy act and talk a bit about his hilarious coming-of-age tale, The 188th Crybaby Brigade: A Skinny Jewish Kid from Chicago Fights Hezbollah: A Memoir, in which he brings us face-to-face with the absurdity of life sometimes found in Israel and its army.
Chasnoff boasts stage and screen credits in eight countries and recently returned from a USO Comedy Tour of Japan and Korea entertaining American Marines. He has supplied his voice to numerous cartoons and has performed at more than five hundred colleges, clubs, and Jewish conferences across North America, Israel, and Europe. A. J. Jacobs, New York Times bestselling author of The Year of Living Biblically, calls Crybaby Brigade “A great tale, a Jewish Jarhead. It didn’t make me want to join the Israeli Army, but it made me very glad Joel did, so he could bring us back such a funny, thoughtful, and poignant story.”
A portion of all proceeds from Chasnoff’s book and stand-up performances is donated to the charitable foundation, Project Elijah. Most recently, Project Elijah sent one hundred low-income New York City schoolchildren to the circus.
*
Preceding provided by the San Diego Center for Jewish Culture.