The Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Jewish life at UConn is participating in a series on Jewish humor this Fall as part of a new collaborative project with the Maurice Greenberg Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Hartford and in support of a course, "Funny Jews: On Jewish Humor," that is being simultaneously piloted on both campuses and being taught at UConn by Center director, Jeffrey Shoulson, and at UHart by Professor Avinoam Patt. These events are free and open to the public!
Josh Lambert, academic director of the Yiddish Book Center and author of award-winning book, Unclean Lips: Obscenity, Jews, and American Culture, will launch the series on September 14 at the University of Hartford's Wilde Auditorium at 7:30pm with a public talk entitled, "The Roots of Jewish Humor." Visit the event page on Facebook! View Josh Lambert's website
On October 19, at 7pm, noted stand-up comic Jessica Kirson will perform her comedy show in the Wilde Auditorium as part of the Greenberg Center's annual Lillian Singer Jewish Humor Lecture. To reserve your free tickets, please call the Greenberg Center at (860) 768-5018 or e-mail: mgcjs@hartford.edu. Visit Jessica Kirson's website.
The final event of the Jewish Humor Series, which is in part sponsored by the Asian and Asian American Studies Institute, will take place on UConn's Storrs campus in Laurel Hall, room 102, on November 16 at 7pm when Fulbright scholar and comedian Jesse Appell will present his unique brand of intercultural comedy which mixes Jewish humor with the traditional art of xiangsheng, a 150-year-old Chinese comedy folk art.