Mel Brooks Kicks Larry David’s Skinny Ass

American Jewish humor at its best asserted the neurotic glory of Jewishness against the white-bread norms of middle-class life. A cookie-cutter existence in the suburbs meant the stifling of any unruly Jewish impulses, in order to swear fealty to goyishe norms of proper behavior and good citizenship. Being calm and neighborly, the gentile ideal, required not getting upset or anxious, two traits that have been closely allied to Jewishness from the start.