Celebrating the great Jewish comedians: Myron Cohen on the IRS
Published May 6, 2021
In the 1982 film, “My Favorite Year,” the lead character, Bengie Stone, a Jewish comedy writer who worked on a fictional version of Sid Caesar’s “Your Show of Show’s” is on a date, and trying to explain to his non-Jewish date, that “Jews know three things, suffering, where to find great Chinese food, and funny.”
That line is sort of a punchline within a stereotype that so many of the great early comedians through present-day are Jewish. Well, I guess we like to laugh and make people laugh. What’s wrong with that?
And that sentiment is alive and well and celebrated daily on the website Jewish Humor Central. Each day, the masterminds at this website send out a daily email, reminding us all to remember to laugh, at least once a day.
On Thursday’s the site publishes, their Throwback Thursday, which features a funny clip from the past. Check it out here on The Jewish Light every Thursday, or visit their site to sign up for their daily newsletter.
Today’s Chuckle
The last Throwback Thursday we posted an old Myron Cohen routine that got a lot of likes, so today we’re posting another one of his routines that we found in the same treasure trove of video clips from The Ed Sullivan Show.
Let’s turn the clock back 51 years to 1970 for a few minutes with this legendary comedian masking his perfect English diction with a Yiddish accent.
With the tax filing deadline extended this year to May 17, it’s a good time for laughs as Cohen tells jokes about tax encounters with the Internal Revenue Service. They may be 51 years old, but they’re just as funny today.
Enjoy!