one great leap for manny klein

Barnett Hoffman on Old Jews Telling Jokes

Mr. Hoo and I have a running Monday date with Simon Schama and his show the Power of Art where Schama conjures up the stories of the lives of great artists and never leaves me without believing that making art is as hard as it is worthwhile. (And also is very likely to get you laid.)

Come to find out that Schama also applies his quintessential head bob to the telling of Jewish Jokes: he'll be appearing at the Spertus Center during the Chicago Humanities Festival in November doing precisely that.

Simon Schama Tells Jewish Jokes
Sunday, November 8 from 12 noon to 1 pm

Simon Schama Tells Jewish JokesWorld-renowned historian and cultural critic Simon Schama is best known as the droll, erudite host of the BBC’s A History of Britain and Simon Schama’s Power of Art. But he also indulges in a secret passion: collecting and recounting Jewish jokes. Schama joins Chicago Humanities Festival artistic director Lawrence Weschler to share some of his jokes and unpack their complex cultural resonances in a sort of klezmer slapdown.

Simon Schama is professor of history and art history at Columbia University and the author of over a dozen books. His articles have appeared in The New Yorker and the New York Review of Books.

Tickets are $10 in advance, on sale September 21. $15 cash at the door. Students and teachers eligible for free tickets. For tickets, call the Chicago Humanities Festival at 312.494.9509 or visit www.chfestival.org.

John Hodgman will be there too. Different venue.

I love Fall in Chicago.
See you there.