Born out of director Allan Zweig’s curiosity for the prevalence of Jewish comedians in the 1950s and 60s—a surprising trend since the Jewish community was largely marginalized and encouraged to assimilate during these decades—this doc investigates America’s fascination with Jewish comics. Through interviews with some of the industry’s greats, including Shelly Berman, Shecky Greene, David Steinberg and Bob Einstein (a.k.a. Super Dave Osbourne), When Jews Were Funny examines how they succeeded against odds in a homogenized market, illuminating not only the roots of Jewish humour, but ultimately what it means to be Jewish.