{"id":8652,"date":"2026-02-03T15:43:51","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T21:43:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/jewish-studies\/?post_type=tribe_events&p=8652"},"modified":"2026-02-03T15:43:51","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T21:43:51","slug":"jennifer-caplan-funny-you-dont-look-funny-jews-comedy-and-gender","status":"publish","type":"tribe_events","link":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/jewish-studies\/event\/jennifer-caplan-funny-you-dont-look-funny-jews-comedy-and-gender\/","title":{"rendered":"Jennifer Caplan, “Funny, You Don’t Look Funny: Jews, Comedy, and Gender”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Faye Greenberg Sigman “Woman of Valor” Lecture\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Golda Meir Library, 4th Floor or via Zoom (Register at https:\/\/bit.ly\/3VmLcxE)<\/p>\n

This talk examines trends in the way Jewish institutions have typically \u201ccounted\u201d Jewish engagement in the late 20th and 21st centuries and uses those trends to argue that American Judaism looks healthier and more robust if we think differently about engagement. Humor, it turns out, is not only a valid way to approach this revisioning, but also one of the best ways to highlight positive trends in American Jewish identification. Rather than relying on older \u201ccontinuity-based\u201d models of what Judaism needs to do to survive that put disproportionate pressure (and blame) on Jewish women, acontemporary Jewish humor reimagines many aspects of Jewish life\u2014including Jewish gender tropes\u2014and offers younger generations a vision of Jewishness they want to embrace.<\/p>\n

Jennifer Caplan<\/strong> is The Jewish Foundation Chair of Cincinnati Chair in Judaic Studies at University of Cincinnati. She is the author of Funny, You Don\u2019t Look Funny: Judaism and Comedy from the Silent Generation to Millennials<\/em> (2023) and co-editor of Wit Happens: Global Jewish Humor <\/em>(2026). She publishes broadly on Judaism and popular culture with a focus on gender and representation and is currently working on Unmasked: Jewish Characters in DC and Marvel.<\/em><\/p>\n

Made by possible by the generosity of the Taxman and Temkin families.
\nCosponsored by UWM’s Departments of English and Women’s and Gender Studies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Faye Greenberg Sigman “Woman of Valor” Lecture\u00a0 Golda Meir Library, 4th Floor or via Zoom (Register at https:\/\/bit.ly\/3VmLcxE) This talk examines trends in the way Jewish institutions have typically \u201ccounted\u201d Jewish engagement in the late 20th and 21st centuries and …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8286,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_tribe_events_status":"","_tribe_events_status_reason":"","_tribe_events_is_hybrid":"","_tribe_events_is_virtual":"yes","_tribe_events_virtual_video_source":"video","_tribe_events_virtual_embed_video":"yes","_tribe_events_virtual_linked_button_text":"Watch","_tribe_events_virtual_linked_button":"yes","_tribe_events_virtual_show_embed_at":"immediately","_tribe_events_virtual_show_embed_to":["all"],"_tribe_events_virtual_show_on_event":"yes","_tribe_events_virtual_show_on_views":"yes","_tribe_events_virtual_url":"https:\/\/bit.ly\/3VmLcxE","footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"tags":[],"tribe_events_cat":[],"class_list":["post-8652","tribe_events","type-tribe_events","status-publish","hentry","tribe-events-virtual-event","tribe-events-hybrid-event"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Sam and Helen Stahl Center for Jewish Studies<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/jewish-studies\/event\/jennifer-caplan-funny-you-dont-look-funny-jews-comedy-and-gender\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Jennifer Caplan, "Funny, You Don't Look Funny: Jews, Comedy, and Gender"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Faye Greenberg Sigman “Woman of Valor” Lecture\u00a0 Golda Meir Library, 4th Floor or via Zoom (Register at https:\/\/bit.ly\/3VmLcxE) This talk examines trends in the way Jewish institutions have typically \u201ccounted\u201d Jewish engagement in the late 20th and 21st centuries and …\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/jewish-studies\/event\/jennifer-caplan-funny-you-dont-look-funny-jews-comedy-and-gender\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Sam and Helen Stahl Center for Jewish Studies\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/jewish-studies\\\/event\\\/jennifer-caplan-funny-you-dont-look-funny-jews-comedy-and-gender\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/jewish-studies\\\/event\\\/jennifer-caplan-funny-you-dont-look-funny-jews-comedy-and-gender\\\/\",\"name\":\"Jennifer Caplan, \\\"Funny, You Don't Look Funny: Jews, Comedy, and Gender\\\" - 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