Hurts to laugh – comedienne blazes trail in Israel

As one of the few female comedy writers in Israel today, Michal Zoran has succeeded to the point where she now writes for satirical Israeli TV show The Jews are Coming. As the only woman in the writing room, she brings a unique perspective to what she describes as her dream job.

Speaking at Limmud in Cape Town, she shared a photo of herself as a young child, complete with thick glasses. “I was small, I was weak, I had glasses, I was bullied in high school. So I really needed humour growing up as a tool to survive.”

And she has made a career of it, as a writer and cultural entrepreneur. Her work on The Jews are Coming will soon be aired. She’s also the founder of “Write Club”, an evening of literary duels between pairs of sparring writers. She writes standup comedy for a number of female comedians in Israel, and co-hosts the weekly podcast, That’s My Opinion Anyway. Her debut novel will be published this year.

“Humour is the weapon of unarmed people,” she said, quoting late Nazi hunter and Holocaust survivor Simon Wiesenthal. Some of the funniest comedians in history have been Jewish, she said, and this comes from our history. “Humour is a coping mechanism: it helps to lighten the hard stuff, which is healthy. It’s also a tool for criticism – if you soften things with a joke, people hear you better. It can be a disarming strategy to break the ice, and it helps you get what you want in life, especially with landlords! Finally it’s a communication skill. For example, I started this lecture with a joke, which helped us connect.”

Therefore, humour has always been used by Jews in difficult situations, “in the weaker position”, said Zoran, as Jews have been through most of history. “The distance between sad and funny aren’t that far apart, especially in Jewish and Israeli humour.”

She demonstrated this point with a number of clips from The Jews are Coming and other sources. The first showed two Jewish parents begging their daughter to blend in and assimilate in America after the Holocaust, even buying her a Barbie and a doll’s house to emphasise the point. “You look as Jewish as a kneidel,” her hysterical mother cries, while her father says that the Barbie house is great because no Barbie would “hide in the attic”, like Anne Frank.

Another clip showed two Israelis approaching a German official at an athletics meet, asking him to let the Jewish runner have a head start. “Haven’t the Jewish people suffered enough?” wails the one official when the German officer is reluctant.

Both scenes use Holocaust trauma for humour in a way that allows Israelis to laugh at themselves. The sketches are clearly written for Jewish audiences. “Context is everything in comedy,” said Zoran. “Haven’t the Jews suffered enough?” is a line that’s often used in Israeli comedy.

She said Israeli humour in particular has changed now that Jews have their own country and are no longer in a weak position. But this also brings trauma, also often used in comedy. For example, another clip from The Jews are Coming ties into the story of Purim. A celebrated soldier who helped take down Haman tries to describe his symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, but is ignored by the audience, which only wants to hear about victory. The scene is a brutal reflection of the realties that Israeli soldiers face, and puts a mirror up to Israeli society. “It shows the price we pay for being in a stronger position,” said Zoran.

Another scene shows Israeli officials speaking about waves of immigration to the newly-established Jewish state. “Don’t be silly, the Americans will never come here,” says one official, who then says that they will bring African Jews to Israel. The ensuing racist discussion is shocking, but again holds a mirror up to the changing nature of Israeli society and the divisions that have long existed.

Zoran said being a comedy writer is intense and frustrating at times, and one has to have a strong voice and a thick skin to pursue such a career – especially in Israel, where the industry is so small.

However, Israeli society provides constant material for humour as it’s in such a state of flux, its politics are dynamic and complex, and “Jews can never agree on anything.”

Looking back, she realises that just like the Jewish people, she’s no longer in a weak position and is no longer the little girl with the thick glasses. “I’m in a position where I can write something that makes an impact,” she said. And though many of her Israeli friends are talking about emigration because of the political climate, she’ll never leave Israel. It’s the only place she knows how to write comedy, so she’ll continue to blaze a trail for female comedians in the Jewish state.