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Laughing at the Absurd

Self-Mockery

Holding a mirror up to the community

Biting irony is used to diagnose the flaws within the community. Self-mockery is a comedic tool used to confront conventions. It holds a mirror up to the community by using deprecatory humour to critique traditional customs and behaviours.

Clips

  • Saturday Night Live, 'Chanukah Hymns' (1998)

    Creator: Lorne Michaels.

    In this skit, traditional Chanukkah songs are performed as funeral dirges, contrasting them against the cheerful nature of Christmas carols. The satire focuses on the Jewish cultural tendency to inject gravity and historical weight into even the most celebratory moments.

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  • Maccabi Games (2016)

    Performer: Nik Rabinowitz.

    Rabinowitz brings a specifically South African dimension to Jewish self-mockery, by exposing the particularities inherent in belonging to the small Jewish community in post-apartheid South Africa. In this clip, he specifically mocks the Maccabi Games as the Jews' own version of the Olympics.

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  • Sallah Shabati (1964)

    Director: Ephraim Kishon.

    Kishon is widely considered Israel's greatest satirist. His film Sallah Shabati, starring Chaim Topol and which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, satirises Israeli bureaucracy, housing policy, and the treatment of new immigrants. The film mocks from inside, with affection and frustration in equal measure.

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