Improv and SNL and Antisemitism, Oh My!
I know it’s a tired refrain to say “SNL is no longer funny.” Still, as someone who digests copious amounts of news, I make a point of watching its recurring segment on current events, the Weekend Update. Periodically, the Update’s two cohosts—Colin Jost and Michael Che—swap jokes with each other, with each’s goal generally to write jokes that will make the other cross as many lines as possible, saying things that are exceedingly inappropriate.
This last Saturday, during their joke swap, they invited on someone they called an “actual practicing rabbi.” (For what it’s worth, it wasn’t just a stunt: the woman they invited on, Jill Hausman, practices as a rabbi in Manhattan.) Hausman’s job on the show was implicit but clear: to sit stone-faced as Jost and Che uttered one cringeworthy joke after another. That’s precisely what happened, as they shared jokes about Harvey Weinstein, Jost’s wife, and even made use of a Hasid puppet.
To me and Jeremy (assistant director of the JCRC), the timing of this bit represented an interesting coincidence. Just the next day, we joined Improv Cincinnati to discuss how humor can sometimes reinforce or spread antisemitic tropes. I promise, unlike Hausman in SNL, it wasn’t all cringe and grimace—after all, how often do we get to use clips of South Park in our sessions on antisemitism, as we did with Improv Cincinnati? But I digress….
Two of the most important questions we brought to the comedians for self-assessing the appropriateness of their humor were: 1) Who are you as a speaker? And 2) Who is your audience?
These might seem like patently obvious considerations, but they are important, and we should all be asking ourselves them as we communicate with others, whether comically or seriously. We are not always the right messengers for every particular message, and not every audience is positioned to listen to us. Of course, this is exactly what the Weekend Update plays with: Acknowledging that they are decidedly not the right speakers to be delivering the humorous messages written for them by their co-host, they each consign themselves to saying things which sound—shall we say inapt?—coming out of their mouths.
Whether or not SNL fits your sense of humor, I actually think there’s something to be learned from their comedy here. Obviously, there are types of humor that work best in smaller groups or amongst only those of like minds. Likewise, when misused, humor is also often liable to play a role in spreading antisemitic ideas and attitudes—even sometimes on SNL itself. However, it also can play a key role in enabling levity during difficult times. Thankfully, Jost and Che “passed” the rest of the litmus test we offered Improv Cincinnati for avoiding antisemitism, so, perhaps, they may still be in the clear for now!
[Originally published at: https://blog.jewishcincinnati.org/a-rabbi-a-priest-and-a-minister-walk-into-a-bar/]