I think we got the @#(*ing point, Adam...

WARNING:

You may found the following article to seem very offensive. Rest assured, this article, which briefly mentions Judaism, is NOT meant as an assault or even a slant against Jewish people, either from a Religious or Ethnic stand-point. I expect that you'll understand that by READING this article carefully. It's entirely meant to point out how that shouldn't NEED to have anything to do with the other focus of this article, which is comedy in movies. If you can not approach what I am about to say with an open, understanding mind, please leave and come back in a month or so when this article is no longer on the home page or in the quick links... in the mean time...

I'd like to ask a very serious question on a very serious topic (comedy - yes, it can be serious). Since when is it funny to make a joke about your own ethnicity / religion, when it doesn't really make a difference to the nature of the joke you're trying to present?

I'm going to present a few examples here:

1. Mel Brooks' Spaceballs - in a scene staring John Candy and Bill Pullman, they've just rescued Princess Vespa from the planet Druidia and she immediately begins to berate them by saying "I will NOT be rescued in such filth. I am Vespa, daughter of Roland, King of Druidia." Pullman rolls his eyes and says "That's all we need... a druish princess." Candy, in an example of breaking through the fourth wall, turns to the camera and says "Funny... she doesn't look Druish." This is a classic example of a joke about the line "Funny, she doesn't look Jewish." It's not funny because it's about Judaism. It's not funny because it's insulting someone's ethnicity or looks. It's funny because it was delivered at an appropriate time, and it speaks to how a person can't always be identified with their ethnicity or religious background by how they look. And it's funnier because it proves that humor comes from the unexpected quip that is a very clever play on words.


2. Larry David' Curb Your Enthusiasm - in a fairly funny scene, Larry David and his friend Richard come to visit Richard's girlfriend, who has gotten sick from an allergic reaction to (I believe) peanut oil, just before she's supposed to go with Richard to an award's show in Hollywood. The result is that she looks horrible from the puffiness and bloating resulting from the reaction. She refuses to take medication for it because she is a member of Christian Science and believes that by praying God will grant her a healing. Larry and Richard, meanwhile, are trying to convince her to just take some Aspirin which should reduce the swelling in no time, but she keeps on refusing. Larry replies (approximately) "So when your stereo doesn't work, do you pray to God to fix that too, or do you call a technician to look at it?" The delivery of the line was excellent and while it poked a bit of fun at the religion of Christian Science, it was done in a way that keeps within the general rule of thumb for an acceptable joke about any religion - every religion looks silly when viewed by someone from the outside, and everything you do involving it is something you take on Faith, because of your experiences.


3. Adam Sandler in I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry - After arranging to have a ceremony in Niagara Falls to have the paperwork proving they have a legally binding gay marriage to cover up for insurance fraud, Kevin James and Adam Sandler are getting ready, and in the process, they're discussing what they're going to do in the ceremony, Adam Sandler mentions that he wants Kevin's character to wear a yarmulke because "I'm Jewish. I don't want to piss my mother off." to which Kevin James replies: "Yeah? Well, I'm Catholic. I don't want to piss Mel Gibson off."

What do the first two examples have that number 3 doesn't? A way to enhance the humor of the show. As I said - this is not about Judaism, it's not about religion at all, and it's not really about ethnicity either. The question I have is, "Why is it that EVERY Adam Sandler movie, song, skit, etc in the past 5 years has NEEDED to include at least 1 reference every 10 minutes to the fact that Adam is Jewish?"

Does Adam Sandler think there's anyone who hasn't figured this out? Is he saying it because he needs validation for his ethnicity or religion? Is he saying it because he thinks that if he doesn't we might suddenly forget? Is he doing it because people thought the Hanukkah song was kinda funny and that every time he does anything he can bring up his heritage and that will automatically make whatever he's doing funny as well?

Here's an answer: he's doing it because it's the only thing in his identity that he can use to promote himself. And that's only because for a Comedian (and understand that I mean this sincerely, and honestly, and that I am only stating my opinion which just happens to be held by the majority of the Western world... and all of the Eastern one now that I think of it)...

ADAM SANDLER ISN'T ALL THAT FUNNY!

It's not because of his ethnicity, it's not his religion... Mel Brooks is Jewish. So is Larry David. I'm not a huge fan of Larry David, but he can be funny sometimes, with or without use of Jewish humor. But Adam? He seems to have a need to stick it in every 5 minutes, thinking it'll make a difference. The fact is, it doesn't. And in the above example, it doesn't make a difference to the enhancement of the story in any way. Neither does Kevin James' line, in all reality, which goes to prove a subsidiary point to this: if some actor went trying to throw into every one of his movies "Hey, it's because I'm Episcopalian" would it be funny? In all likelihood, unless there is a GOOD contextual reason for it, probably it won't do anything at all.

So my point is this, Adam Sandler can let go of making that joke and maybe take the time to develop some comedy that will be funny. Because I sure as hell don't want to see an Adam Sandler movie like this:



We understand Adam... you're Jewish... when you can actually tell us what's funny about being Jewish, I'm sure we'll all break into spontaneous laughter... in the mean time, how's about some jokes that are funny?