From The Internet To A Stage: Old Jews Telling Jokes

We're not old Jews, and we're not going to tell jokes, but we are going to talk about the current Broadway show called Old Jews Telling Jokes, which is just that.

One of the producers of the show is Daniel Okrent — well known author, the founder of New England Monthly, and the first public editor of the New York Times.  Okrent says he wasn't always an old Jew — he turned 60 just five years ago. But he knows a good joke when he hears one — especially a good Jewish joke.

So Okrent took the thriving web series, "Old Jews Telling Jokes" and with pal Peter Gethers, the President of Random House Studio, turned it into an off-Broadway show.

Despite the fact that his father defined a theatrical investor as, a "schmuck with a pen," Okrent jumped at the challenge. Now the show is a hit — and he's in Boston to talk about it tonight at Temple Israel.

Daniel Okrent, co-conceiver and co-producer of the off-Broadway play, "Old Jews Telling Jokes"