The Last Laugh Page #3

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prisoners of war in a stalag.

It was not about genocide,

it was not Jews going

to the gas chambers.

No, of course not! We knew that!

Thats why it was so funny!

No, but a lot of

people always ask me,

How could you have

done Hogans Heroes

after what you went though?

ROBERT CLARY SINGING IN FRENCH

- How did it end?

- We all died!

Now, when youre gonna die,

are you going to

be in a Jewish cemetery?

Are you going to be

buried?

- Next to my husband, I have

a place next to my husband.

Not me. Im not going

next to my wife.

- So where are you going?

In the ocean. Even

though Im a Pisces and

I:

dont know how to swim.

NO! Youre not going

to be cremated.

- Yes I am.

- No youre not.

Dont tell me what

to do with my life.

Now, you see I cannot imagine

a Jew to be cremated.

Now are you going to

stop talking to me?

You want to try my soup?

Here, try my soup, maybe

youll change your mind.

I... I... Yes, absolutely. You

know what I said to Rabbi Hier?

Once, we were

talking about that,

I say... uh...

Im going to be cremated, he

said, You cannot do that.

So I said, What

about my parents?

And that

cut him down.

Im going to be

cremated and then

the fish are going to eat me.

Theyre going to say, Mmm, what

wonderful French food yum, yum!

Little do they know I

have Polish blood in me!

Were gonna hitchhike

up to the Catskills

We call the Highway Route 17

Were going to hitchhike

up to the mountains

Up to the finest resorts

we have ever seen.

When I was a kid

in the mountains,

I would

do

SHOUTING IN MOCK GERMAN

and I would get a lot

of laughs

with Hitler.

And a few Jews, after

the show, would say:

You know, thats not

in such good taste.

You know

And Id say

I dont care.

I really dont give a sh*t

whats in good taste.

No comedian

ever

in the Catskills

would come and tell jokes

about the Holocaust.

They would

string this guy up.

You know what I was

careful about, honestly?

I would do this a lot

but I wouldnt

wear

the swastika.

Not for a while,

not till I did The Producers.

Humor healed us,

especially in the Catskills.

We would go

and my mother would laugh like

I had never seen her laugh.

There was a

release,

because you know it was like a

kind of community

where they felt safe,

and they werent the Other.

I started writing jokes

for stand-up comedians

who played in the

Catskill Mountains.

I was 21,

they were like 50,

I was a generation

removed from that.

Jokes about your

wives in those days,

Terrible! Did you hear

about the man in room 302,

he came back and found his best

friend in bed with his wife.

He said, Morris, I

have to, but you?

I would write

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