This is way more than a movie about old Jewish Comedians, this is a movie about the Jewish soul. You have to be a Jew to give this film 5 stars because it hits on all 8 Jewish cylinders. Only 4 stars if you're a Goy because frankly you will be only able to connect intellectually with this and not emotionally. The Shelly Berman end when he sings alone is worth watching this film. Two kosher Pickles up!

Interesting, but a bit slow. Expected more jokes.

A nice little look into the legacy of Jewish comedians. It's not quite sure of it's point, and it might not even have one outside of the impossible task of defining Jewishness. Fortunately director Alan Zweig has a great rapore with his subjects who are themselves interesting characters. That's enough to make an enjoyable talking heads doc.

Excellent documentary on Jewish culture and humor. Some great jokes and profound observations, as well as some excellent clips of classic Jewish humor.

This documentary reminded me of the first time I watched Love and Death from Woody Allen with a bunch of Gentiles. They didn't get it and I would have expected they wouldn't get this either.There is something about growing up Jewish, even if very loosely and liberally like I did that just allows you to get it. This It, is indescribable to most people, particularly if you've never seen your Bubbe and her friends eat soup or brutally complain about having run out of soda water.When Jews Were Funny is supposed to be a documentary about comedy but it's really a reflection on modern Judaism. It's excellently made, it has amazing interviews and the conclusions are hilarious. Obviously this is not a film for everyone or for that matter, anyone. However if you are part of the tribe, you should watch it.

This documentary showed interviews with different Jewish comedians about why Jews dominated comedy in America more in the past than in the current day (whether I agree with that premise is a separate issue). The theory was that the more you suffer, the funnier you are, and modern-day American Jews have it too good to be too funny. I mostly just enjoyed the movie, because everyone made jokes like my Zadie.

Zweig couldn't defer to a more insightful batch of interviewees.

Zweig's movie is equal parts witty and provocative ...

It's fun viewing.

On the whole, I think When Jews Were Funny is a strong testament to a lost age, a kind of elegy to the self-deprecation and introspection that certainly shaped in a major way modern comedy.