Funny, she doesnt look Jewish?.....

[dabonca]

Can anyone please tell me where this phrase came from, its killing me...

[dabonca]

I was watching Spaceballs and one of my favorite lines ("Funny, she doesn't look Druish...") caught my ear. All of a sudden I begin peeling my brain for the origen of the joke. Unfortunately, after about 4 hours of begging my brain to give me an answer (a lie would have worked), I decided that i would turn to one of the few things that actually knows more than me... a combination of the teeming millions and of course his majesty Uncle Cecil... please someone help me, before the walls start closing in and i am forced to actually leave my apartment and go on a killing spree... and we all know that such things are considered morally wrong... and illegal... no matter how fun and dirty... ok... time for me to stop...

[BwanaBob]

There was some old-school joke where someone keeps asking the other person if they're Jewish. The person denies it. The other person persists with the "Come on, you're Jewish right?". The other keeps denying it. After a few rounds, the
person finally relents in order to stop the questions and says, "Ok, yeah I'm Jewish".

The punchline is "Funny, you don't look it."

[DrFidelius]

I do not have a specific cite, but that is one of those ancient, generic punchlines which seem to have been around forever.

Off the top of my head, I remember a variant of it being used in "Cabaret" and I know it is more than thirty-five years old.

And I've heard it in the masculine far more than the feminine, but that's only because of the types of jokes I usually listen to and the bit of cosmetic surgery all Jewish men share.

[samclem]

I can find it used in a story from 1934. Not quite as comic-ironic as we think of today, but close. From the context, it must have been a well-known line in the Jewish community. One mother talking to another about her son/daughter's friend----"he/she doesn't look Jewish.

[RealityChuck]

As a variation, in Yellow Submarine one of the Blue Meanies says to one of the Beatles. "Are you bluish? You don't look bluish."

[Cliffy]

A young man is on the train from New York to Chicago. A few minutes after they pull out of Penn Station, an old lady sitting a few rows behind him waddles up and asks "Are you Jewish?"

"No," the young man replies, "I'm not.

"Oh," says the lady, and waddles back to her seat. About half an hour later, she waddles back over. "Are you sure you're not Jewish?"

"Yes, madam. Quite sure. I'm not Jewish."

"Oh." And agin, she goes back to her seat. About fifteen minutes later, she comes back. "Are you sure you're not Jewish?"

"All right madam! If it will get you to stop pestering me, yes! Yes, I'm Jewish! Are you satisfied?"

"Funny. You don't look Jewish."

--Cliffy

[Bryan Ekers]

The Royal Canadian Air Farce, a radio (now television) comedy troupe had a variant. They were telling the story of how the troupe formed, including a bit where John Morgan and Don Fergusen were in a strip club when one of the dancers (Luba Goy) fell off the chandelier and crashed at their feet.

Goy: Hi, I'm Goy.
Morgan: Funny, she didn't look gentile.

[dabonca]

Thanks, guys, you just saved countless lives... and i can return to my hermit like existance...

[Measure for Measure]

"Do you feel like an ice cream cone?"


"Sure".



"Funny, you don't look like an ice cream cone".

[TheLoadedDog]

Now that the question's been answered to the OP's satisfaction, I guess I can safely hijack this thread. What about the punchline, "I don't know, I've never eaten one"? Is this just a general and obvious response to "do you like Jews (etc)?" which has probably been thought up independently over and over, or does it belong to some old joke?

[Rhubarb]

The version of this joke that I have seen involves a man with very tight pants. Two stereotypically Jewish women look at his crotch as he passes by and then one remarks to the other, "Gosh, he doesn't look Jewish". The joke being that his pants were so tight they could tell that he was uncircumcised, but didn't have any other physical characteristics often attributed to Jews, e.g., skin tone, nose shape, etc.

[Rhubarb]

I meant circumcised, damnit! ;j

[Earl Snake-Hips Tucker]

OK, I hope I don't get into too much trouble for this, but I have a slightly earlier cite than those mentioned: The 1965 classic "John Goldfarb, Please Come Home", starring Richard Crenna as downed U2 pilot John Goldfarb. This line is said to him (thru interpreter Wilfrid Hyde-White) by Peter Ustinov, playing a wacky (but harmless) Middle Eastern ruler of some sort.

This was based on a novel by "Exorcist" author William Peter Blatty. It didn't have the lasting quality as "Exorcist," though. And though there is indeed a coherent plot to this movie, chances are, all you'll remember are the goofy sultan (Ustinov) riding around his palace on his scooter-cars (whatever they were), and the little choo-choo trains that rolled around, always carring something different (a pengquin and a camera stand out in my mind).

[Larry Mudd]

Originally Posted by Bryan Ekers

...in a strip club when one of the dancers (Luba Goy) ...

Dear god. Please don't relate things which might cause one to reflexively visualize Luba Goy in a g-string. She has always had a face (if not the talent) for radio. A(lthough if she started in a strip club, that might explain how she came to have so much influence at the CBC: Blackmail.)

[Earl Snake-Hips Tucker]

D'oh! Didn't see the post by samclem. Nevermind.

[Beware of Doug]

Bud Freeman, jazz saxophonist, wrote a memoir called You Don't Look Like A Musician. (He was Jewish, which is probably where he got the joke from.)

[panache45]

Originally Posted by DrFidelius

Off the top of my head, I remember a variant of it being used in "Cabaret" and I know it is more than thirty-five years old.

If I remember correctly, it was in the song "Meeskite," but only in the original Broadway (read: Jewish audience) version, not in the movie.

[Slithy Tove]

Originally Posted by samclem

I can find it used in a story from 1934. Not quite as comic-ironic as we think of today, but close. From the context, it must have been a well-known line in the Jewish community. One mother talking to another about her son/daughter's friend----"he/she doesn't look Jewish.

I'm sure she didn't coin it from scratch, but I wouldn't doubt that the phrase was put into popular circulation by Minerva Pious as Mrs. Nussbaum soon after she started working on-air with Fred Allen in the 1930's.

[Tess of the Derbyville]

Originally Posted by panache45

If I remember correctly, it was in the song "Meeskite," but only in the original Broadway (read: Jewish audience) version, not in the movie.

It is "If You Could See Her." The MC does a soft shoe routine with a gorillia; the ending lines are: "I understand your objections, I grant you the problem's not small; But if you could see her through my eyes, She wouldn't look Jewish at all."

[Shodan]

FWIW, I first encountered the phrase as the punch line to a different joke.

A Jewish guy goes to Tokyo on business. He is observant, so on the Sabbath he finds the only synagogue in Tokyo. He particpates in the service, and then is chatting with other members of the congregation afterwards. He then wishes the rabbi good-bye and leaves.

And the (Japanese) president of the congregation says to the (Japanese) rabbi, "Nice guy. I hope he comes again."

"Yeah", says the rabbi, "but it's funny - he doesn't look Jewish."

Regards,
Shodan

[Annie-Xmas]

I was once at a presentation when a black guy introduced a long time family friend and Jewish lawyer as "Uncle Shelly." When the person next to me said "Uncle Shelly?" I replied "Yeah. He doesn't look Jewish."

The person I was talking so started laughing so hard he had to leave.

[rowrrbazzle]

The Chipmunks used this with "Irish" instead of "Jewish" in their rendition of "My Wild Irish Rose". Between sections of the song, Alvin asks Dave if he's Irish. The final exchange interrupts the song just before the last line.

[Beware of Doug]

Originally Posted by panache45

Broadway (read: Jewish audience)

Well, you don't exactly have to drop your pants at the door (what would the feminine equivalent be? submit receipts proving you've never paid full retail?)...but yeah, Broadway is the one place you know a good % of your audience will be of the persuasion.

[Hari Seldon]

Originally Posted by TheLoadedDog

Now that the question's been answered to the OP's satisfaction, I guess I can safely hijack this thread. What about the punchline, "I don't know, I've never eaten one"? Is this just a general and obvious response to "do you like Jews (etc)?" which has probably been thought up independently over and over, or does it belong to some old joke?

The way I heard this one (at least 40 years ago) is:

- Do you like Brahms?

- What's a Brahm?

[saoirse]

Originally Posted by TheLoadedDog

Now that the question's been answered to the OP's satisfaction, I guess I can safely hijack this thread. What about the punchline, "I don't know, I've never eaten one"? Is this just a general and obvious response to "do you like Jews (etc)?" which has probably been thought up independently over and over, or does it belong to some old joke?

It's "Chinese." Short for Chinese food, of course.

[rjk]

The way I heard it:

"Do you like Kipling?" - "I don't know, I've never kippled."