Has your definition of what’s funny changed? Are there some things that are not funny anymore?

I’ll answer this first question in light of the events of Oct 7 2023. As someone who lives in Israel, I can confidently say that my definition of what’s funny has not changed. Israeli humor tends to be dark anyway – so if anything, I’m seeing that my definition of humor and its scope has actually expanded. I didn’t think it was possible to have jokes about hostages, injured soldiers, and the like…but my fellow Israeli comedians are, in fact, performing just these kinds of jokes, and I’ve now begun writing some of my own too. That said, this kind of comedy would never fly in America. That’s the big difference – in Israel, it’s never too soon, whereas in America it always is.

Do you believe humor can be a form of resilience?

Absolutely. I was on a comedy tour in the US when Oct 7 happened, and I found that my Jewish audiences wanted comedy more than ever in the months that followed. Not because they didn’t care about Israel, but because they cared so much and therefore needed a break. And they needed to be reminded that there’s more to Israel, and to being Jewish, than just the tragic side of the story. The bottom line is, if you can laugh at it, you can own it – and that’s why humor has been such a central aspect of the Jewish experience.

Is there a piece of work—a joke, a meme—that’s inspired you during this period?

I remember the first piece of humor I saw after Oct 7. It was a social media post by an IDF soldier serving in Golani, which is known, traditionally, as a unit with many Sephardic and Mizrachi soldiers. The post said, “To all the Ashkenazi mothers who are sending us food before we head into Gaza, I ask that you please stop — this war is already hard enough.”  It’s a great example of how humor about a tragic situation doesn’t need to be about the tragedy itself. Almost all post-Oct 7 humor in Israel has been like that – close to the tragedy, but not on-the-nose about it.

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