The Last Laugh Page #5

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Oh

the Rabbi said hes bringing

a survivor tomorrow.

Should I have my father

bring his friend Solly?

- yeah.

Do survivors like

seeing each other?

Well, when I first

saw the outline

for the Survivor episode

you know, theres a

theres a gut reaction that

I have to certain things.

The Holocaust is one of them.

Theres a sensitivity.

Im Jewish, you know.

They could come back and

wipe me and my family out.

And, you know, so

theres always a little

ungh that you feel, this

little thing up your spine.

So? Wheres the other survivor?

So here we are in a

region of Australia

where of the worlds ten

most deadly snakes,

nine of

them inhabit this region.

It was harrowing.

- Thats a very

interesting story.

I was in a concentration camp.

You never even suffered

one minute in your life compared

to what I went through!

All survivors talk like that?

- Mom wait, I cant hear.

Look, Im saying we spent

42 days trying to survive.

We had very little

rations, no snacks

- Snacks?

What are you talking, snacks?

We didnt eat,

sometimes for a week!

Did you guys have a bathroom?

A bathroom?!

We didnt have one.

We had 12 people at a time

Dont aggravate yourself here.

You dont know nothing about

survival. Im a survivor!

- Im a survivor!

- Im a survivor!

- Im a survivor!

- Im a survivor!

-Im a survivor!

I dont think this is funny.

We expect more

from Jews,

a greater sensitivity, and

maybe thats not fair.

What?

I understand why were laughing.

Why are they laughing?

What are they laughing at?

Now come on, your

money or your life!

RAIN:

Jack Benny!

Jack Benny probably

institutionalized

the stereotype of the

cheap Jew in ways

that anti-Semites

couldnt have achieved

because more people watched his

show than watched anything else.

Was that his intention?

Absolutely not.

But every time

he said it,

and because he was Jewish,

he gave it credibility.

I said, your money or your life!

Im thinking it over!

How you do it

makes a difference.

If you do it with care,

with love, with respect,

its more

acceptable

its not comfortable, but

its more acceptable.

APPLAUSE:

This is song called In My

Country There is Problem.

GUITAR:

SINGING:

In my country there is problem

SINGING:

And that problem is transport

If youre laughing at something,

its tapping something

in your subconscious,

some embarrassment you have,

some inhibition you have.

And then the taboo joke

allows you to

kind

of purge, and have a catharsis.

In my country there is problem

And that problem is the Jew

They take everybodys money

They never give it back

People need

thatsubconsciously they need

they have that need to sort

of tap that dark part,

that id-like part

of their psyche.

SINGING:

Throw the Jew down the well

So my country can be free

You must grab him by his horns

Then we have a big party

Sacha Baron Cohen says,

I am exposing, I am

airing prejudice.

The only problem is,

that the people that are

laughing

arent laughing at the prejudice

theyre applauding

the prejudice!

When the joke is Throw

the Jews down the well!

Kill the Jews a)

its not funny.

But even if it was funny,

theyre applauding it!

SINGING:

Throw the Jew down the well

So my country can be free

AUDIENCE SINGING

So my country can be free

You must grab him by his horns

AUDIENCE SINGING

You must grab him by his horns

Then we have a big party

My

dialogue or disagreement

with Sacha Baron Cohen

really goes back to Archie

Bunker.

Oh no, oh no,

Im going to sue that guy.

First thing in the morning

Im going to get myself

a good Jew lawyer.

LAUGHTER:

Archie, do you always

have to label people?

Why cant you just get a lawyer,

why does it have to

be a Jewish lawyer?

Cause if Im going

to sue an Arab,

Im going to get a guy

whos full of hate.

APPLAUSE:

Our feeling was, you have made

Archie Bunker

a hero.

Theyre not laughing at him,

theyre laughing with him.

There were people who

agreed with Archie,

there were people who

agreed with Mike.

And I think thats what

made the show interesting

and what made it good.

Uhm

You know, we always made fun

of Archie, we as liberals,

and so we thought that they

were laughing at that.

But I think even the people

who agreed with Archie

realized he was a

bit of a buffoon,

a bit of an idiot.

You cant control

how your joke will be

inferred.

You know

I had a friend Tom Gianas

who would call it mouth

full of blood laughs.

You know, where theyre

laughing at the wrong thing

And thats hard, but

its just no longer yours.

My nana was a

survivor of the Holocaustor,

Im sorry, alleged Holocaust.

And sheAUDIENCE LAUGHS

she had the tattoo, you know,

the number, and

thank God she was

at one of the better

concentration camps.

She had a vanity number, it said

Bedazzled. Which

is kind of fun.

You know, I talked

about the Holocaust

and I said the

alleged Holocaust

and thats a joke about

Holocaust deniers.

And uhm

you know, a

sophisticated audience

would understand that

and

maybe a less

sophisticated audience

may not. Im not saying

that Im sophisticated.

But uhm,

what are the dangers of that?

That maybe a group of people

will think that the Holocaust

didnt happen?

I think thats worth the risk

I think its worth the risk.

DRUM ROLL:

- Oh my goodness, Joan.

- I am so sorry Im late,

and I apologize.

- Why were you late?

- Yeah, this is, I waited for

you too long.

- I beg your pardon.

They sent this big stretch

Mercedes limo for us and

it got stuck, it wouldnt move

for two and a half hours,

and Im thinking, you know, the

Germans killed six million Jews,

you cant fix a f***ing

carburetor?

AUDIENCE LAUGHING

SIGHS:

You know, its tough,

shes not here to

defend herself, although

she defended herself

strong enough for a long time.

There are some people, including

the Anti- Defamation League,

who said your joke was

offensive.

How do you respond to that?

- Its a joke, number one.

Number two it was

about the Holocaust,

thats the way I remind

people about the Holocaust.

I do it with

humor.

Her defense was nonsense.

Forgive me Joan, but

it was nonsense.

To say this is how you brought

attention to the Holocaust?

My god,

this is how

you made it nothing.

I know that its a

real fear in people

that the Holocaust

would be forgotten.

Has it not been forgotten?

There are genocides all

over the world happening

and were not doing anything.

Theyre just not

happening to Jews.

Might be something

to think about when youre

getting mad at Joan Rivers

for making a joke about

the Holocaust which

at least is keeping it,

for lack of a

better word, alive.

Join me at the sports lodge

where Im going to be unveiling

my very own Holocaust

erection.

Ive got a real person

who was at Auschwitz,

plus we have a dunk tank,

plus weve got a lion

roar!

Dont be fooled by imitation

Holocaust memorials,

come to mine,

Sarah Silvermans

Holocaust Memorial.

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