Josh Lambert

Josh Lambert (@joshnlambert), a Tablet Magazine contributing editor and comedy columnist, is the academic director of the Yiddish Book Center, Visiting Assistant Professor of English at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and author most recently ofUnclean Lips: Obscenity, Jews, and American Culture.

Pfefferman Family Matters
Why is a Jewish family at the center of a story about a transgender woman, in ‘Transparent’?
byJosh Lambert
Broadway’s First Lesbian Kiss Was Originally in Yiddish. Now It’s in New Haven.
With ‘Indecent,’ Paula Vogel and Rebecca Taichman return to Sholem Asch’s ‘God of Vengeance’ for the throbbing thrills only your grandmother could know
byJosh Lambert
Wet Hot American Jewish Summer Camp
Unlike a lot of classic teen comedies, the original ‘Wet Hot’ and its new Netflix revival series do not wash out the Jews. Is this a good sign or bad?
byJosh Lambert
Comedy Isn’t Kosher, but It Can Be Funny
How observant Jewish funnymen (and -women) navigate the line between irreverence and devotion
byJosh Lambert
Remembering ‘Screw’ Publisher Al Goldstein
The original ‘bad Jewish boy’ has died at 77
byJosh Lambert
Potty-Mouthed Queen of the Jews, Sarah Silverman Does Something Special on HBO
The intimate, obscene, lovable, fearless stand-up of ‘We Are Miracles’ shows the comedian at her sweet, shameless best
byJosh Lambert
How the King of Shmutz Won the World
This award proves, once and for all, that Roth isn’t too obscene. Nor is he too American, or too male, or too Jewish.
byJosh Lambert
Call It Sleep, Henry Roth (1934)
Lower East Side story
byJosh Lambert
Portnoy’s Complaint, Philip Roth (1969)
The bard of Newark’s take on sex, Jewish mothers, and how to prepare liver
byJosh Lambert
Allan Sherman’s Last Laugh
A thorough new biography chronicles the rise and fall of the big, Jewish self-destructive funnyman
byJosh Lambert
Brent Weinbach Is Killing Me
He’s one of the most inventive stand-up comedians around. So, why does he sound like a throwback?
byJosh Lambert
Tel Aviv’s Comics Knock-Out
Israeli Asaf Hanuka crashes the party in Paris, as the comic-strip-obsessed city hosts Spiegelman and Crumb
byJosh Lambert
Non-Jews Telling Jokes
To understand what comedy today reveals about Jews, look at the jokes gentile comedians tell about us
byJosh Lambert
Jewish Comedy Turns Sane
Once an institutionalized mental patient, the comic Moshe Kasher unleashes his psychological self-abuse in the new memoir Kasher in the Rye
byJosh Lambert
Primary Sources
Five Books: Jews in film, Jews and booze, the poisonous sound of children’s voices in Ben Marcus’ novel, Tony Judt’s last conversations, and more
byJosh Lambert
Covered
Five Books, holiday edition: Nine hardbacks—including Philip Schultz’s memoir, a history of the orgasm, and Alfred Kazin’s journals—for the readers on your list
byJosh Lambert
Field Notes
Five Books: A biography of sportscaster Howard Cosell, the life of film critic Pauline Kael, the poets who translated Shakespeare into Hebrew, and more
byJosh Lambert
Tropical Storm
Henry Miller had complicated feelings about Jews, but his works wouldn’t have reached American audiences without them
byJosh Lambert