Professor David Peimer
The Marx Brothers and Jewish Humour: Genius and Outsider
Summary
This talk will explore the comic genius of the Marx Brothers and Jewish humour. Although the word ‘Jewish’ is not mentioned once in any of their films, the root of their brilliant wit is clear. Beyond notions of outsider, irony, parvenu and pariah, we will look at how their humour is distinctly Jewish.
Professor David Peimer
David Peimer is a Professor of Literature, Film and Theatre in the UK. He has worked for the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, New York University (Global Division) and was a Fulbright Scholar at Columbia University. Born in South Africa, David has won numerous awards for playwriting and directing in New York, UK, Berlin, EU Parliament (Brussels), Athens, Budapest, Zululand and more. He has most recently directed Dame Janet Suzman in his own play, Joanna’s Story, at London Jewish Book Week. He has published widely with books including: Armed Response: Plays from South Africa, the digital book, Theatre in the Camps. He is on the board of the Pinter Centre (London), and has been involved with the Mandela Foundation, Vaclav Havel Foundation and directed a range of plays at Mr Havel’s Prague theatre.
No, no, no, they were their stage names. Groucho was Julius Henry Marx.
Well to be frank, I know many universities where you now have to give a trigger warning if you teach “Macbeth” or “Richard III”, ‘cause Richard III has a hunchback, so it can be seen as anti disabled people. If you’re teaching “Macbeth”, trigger warning, because there are lots of gruesome killings, especially of little children in “Macbeth”. A trigger warning for “Hamlet”, there’s an attack on the mother. A trigger warning, I can go on and on, but I’m serious about this is happening, universities not only in the UK, but globally. And as a result, the choice of what people are teaching is becoming less and less culturally expansive, and challenging, to put it mildly.