When Comedy Went to School

The Borscht Belt, the Jewish Alps, the Sour Cream Sierras... From the 1940s to the 1960s, the Catskill Mountains in upstate New York (primarily Sullivan and Ulster Counties) were the place to be for the growing Jewish community in the Northeast. Each summer, families would visit one of the 900+ hotels in the region for relaxation, cultural camaraderie, food (endless amounts of food!), and entertainment.

Out of this unique subculture grew what we now know as standup comedy. As audiences grew tired of vaudeville, and their tastes became more sophisticated, comedy had to adapt,and adapt it did. Aspiring comics honed their trade in the Catskills, which soon became a laboratory for modern comedy. Icons such as Jerry Lewis, Mel Brooks, Buddy Hackett, Carl Reiner, Jerry Stiller, Danny Kaye, Lenny Bruce, Sid Caesar all got their start at these legendary resorts, learning from their predecessors what worked -- and what didn't -- and how they could make their own mark.

A new film, When Comedy Went to School , directed by Mevlut Akkaya and Ron Frank,explores the history of the Jewish comic through the lens of the Borscht Belt heyday.Narrated by Robert Klein -- who started out as a busboy in the Catskills, which was an unofficial apprenticeship -- the film also includes interviews with Stiller, Lewis, Caesar,Mickey Freeman, Larry King, Mort Sahl, Jackie Mason and more. Even comedians of today,including Marc Maron and Jerry Seinfeld, reflect on the Catskills' influence on what makes us laugh in the 21st Century.

As the allure of live entertainment was gradually replaced by the ubiquity of television, and children of the 60s and 70s no longer wanted to vacation with their families, the resorts of the Catskills fell out of favor. Only a handful of resorts remain; nostalgia has taken their place. When Comedy Went to School is a loving look at a bygone era, celebrating the legacy left by those who made the Borscht Belt synonymous with laughter.

Think you know all about comedy? This thorough, funny and thoroughly funny chronicle of the Catskills Mountains resorts — that is, the Borscht belt — will still teach you a thing or two.

The archival footage is rich. The interviews — with Jerry Lewis, Sid Caesar, Jackie Mason, Mort Sahl, Jerry Stiller and others — are saucy and spirited, and the history is terrific. Beginning with the Grossinger family's rooming house in the years around World War I, the resorts took up where vaudeville and burlesque left off, becoming a cultural touchstone for most of the 20th century.

The Belt's comedic proving ground, directors Mevlut Akkaya and Ron Frank point out (though they're hardly the first), was massively influential. The film gasses on a bit about comedy's TV heyday and the religious, psychological and anthropological roots of the guffaw, with host Robert Klein (always welcome) reciting the obvious. But hang in there; funny is funny. Hey, if it walks like a duck and acts like a duck . . .

BY MICHELLE ROE

Director Ron Frank is not trying to trick you into staying in your seat by telling you to stick around for the outtakes after “When Comedy Went to School” screens.

You'll definitely have the last laugh, and in a good way.

“They are hysterical,” Frank says of the outtakes.

The film has two tentacles, says Frank, who co-directed the film with Melvut Akkaya. The first follows the heyday of the Catskills, a Jewish farming retreat in upstate New York, and its sad demise. The second tentacle is the influence of Jewish humor in the evolution of American humor.

Frank, a Peabody Award winner and Emmy nominated filmmaker, spoke with Palm Springs Life