Now take my wife…..PLEASE!

If you’re a fan of the kind of jokes that were told by comedians like Buddy Hackett and Alan King for decades in the Catskill Mountains, more commonly called the Borscht Belt, then you will love OLD JEWS TELLING JOKES. 

The show was created by Peter Gethers and Daniel Okrent and fluidly directed by Marc Bruni

There is no real plot and virtually no set but there are 5 talented performers telling jokes and singing a few funny songs for a very fast 90 minutes.  The title is a bit misleading as there are really only 3 Old Jews telling jokes (Arthur S. Brown, Wendy Hammers, Jeffrey Lesser doubling as Musical Director) who are joined by 2 younger Jews telling jokes (Adam Chisnall, Emily Freeman).  Some of the jokes are so old, they were told at Moses’ Bar Mitzvah. But you know what?  They’ve hung around because they are really very funny.  Some are more like stories and others are classic one liners in the style of the king of the one-liners, Henny Youngman.  If you don’t know who that is, do a google search.  He was one of the greatest joke tellers ever!  And, after all,  that is what this show is about……jokes and the healing power of laughter. There are jokes about sex with just a smattering of 4 letter words which, for the record, did not seem to offend anyone in the audience as those jokes drew loud laughs.  There are jokes about Jewish mothers, getting married, raising kids, retirement and getting old.  You’ll find a very light sprinkling of Yiddish, but don’t have a conniption, they are all words that have long become part of American English such as Oy Vey and Tuchas….see I told you they were words you knew!  Like Rye bread is to a corned beef sandwich, they add an authenticity to some of the jokes which would not have been as funny without them.

So, as I said before, if you like this style of comedy you will really get a kick out of OLD JEWS TELLING JOKES.  I admit that I found myself frequently laughing out loud. If you’re not familiar with this style of humor, I urge you to check out this very funny show and I am sure you will become a fan.  After all, what’s not to like?

OLD JEWS TELLING JOKES is at the Indian Wells Theatre on Cook Street and runs through March 15th, 2020.  To order tickets or for more information call 855-448-7469 or visit their website www.playhouseinfo.com/indianwellstheater