Answering Hate With a Punchline: The Jewish Comedians Standing Up for Am Yisroel ווען מען ענטפערט שנאה מיט א וויץ: די אידישע קאמעדיאנס וואס שטייען אויף פאר כלל ישראל

It's an old Jewish thing. Times are tough, and somehow a joke still comes out. After October 7 we saw it again. A handful of Jews with a phone and a sharp mind decided: if the world is going to talk nonsense about Jews, we'll laugh right back at them.

The Guy in the Front Seat

Yechiel Jacobs got started a month after October 7. He turned on his phone camera, sat down in the front seat of his car, and talked about Israel in an Instagram video ^[1]. It took off from there. Today he posts short clips on Instagram and TikTok, and he also does live shows, including in New York.

Lyle Culpepper, the "Activist" Who Knows Nothing

L.E. Staiman grew up in Florida and moved to LA, where he worked as an actor, writer and director ^[2]. He found his biggest audience with his creation Lyle Culpepper. Lyle is a made-up character, a young student who suddenly "found a cause" after October 7. Staiman commits to the role all the way. He takes Lyle onto podcasts and into parodies, and he keeps hitting the double standard Israel gets held to every day ^[2]. He's been on NewsNation to explain the idea behind Lyle ^[3]. A tip from us: catch the clip where Culpepper works for the Red Cross ^[2].

Two Brothers-in-Law and an Army Veteran

Jew Crazy are Tommer and Yossi, two brothers-in-law. They started making videos before Covid, back when it wasn't the cool thing yet ^[2]. Their humor is openly Jewish and religious. They take famous trends and pop songs and give them a Jewish twist, like a pop song redone in Yiddish, and they spread Yiddishkeit along the way. They have over 71,000 followers on Instagram ^[2].

And Joel Chasnoff is the "veteran" of the group. He's an American-Israeli stand-up comedian who has performed in eight countries. He also wrote a comic memoir, "The 188th Crybaby Brigade" ^[4], about the year he spent as a tank soldier in the Israeli army. When he talks about Israel, he knows it firsthand.

Four different styles, one message: no need to be ashamed. You can even laugh.