BOOKFEST: Judy Gold Will Light Up the MJCCA
Known for her fight for free speech and the right to use “triggers” about her own experiences, Gold will do an “off color” stand up performance on Saturday, Nov. 11, as part of the MJCCA Book Festival.
After 37 years with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and now with the AJT, , Jaffe’s focus is lifestyle, art, dining, fashion, and community events with emphasis on Jewish movers and shakers.
Countless comedians channel their edginess from a base of pain and their own life experiences with or without a grievous or even well-meaning Jewish mother. On Nov. 11, stand-up comic Judy Gold will appear at the Book Festival of the Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta in the unusual format of a live stand-up show, “An Evening with Judy Gold,” with the backdrop of her book, “Yes I Can Say That…When They Come for the Comedians, We Are All in Trouble.”
Interwoven with the book’s foul language, Gold unfurls her troubled childhood as a 6’ 2” tall girl whose New Jersey mother asked the pediatrician, “When will it stop?” (her growing that is). With a size 12 shoe, Gold suffered “Big Bird” nicknames and the like until, later in life, she found her niche in comedy and how to insult people back. Now 60 and the mother of two young adult children, Gold’s resume includes winning two daytime Emmy Awards (writing and producing the “Rosie O’Donnell Show”), and her long running Off Broadway show, other books, and podcasts.
The book is relevant and timely because Gold hits head on with today’s “over sensitivities” in a too far reaching/offending cancel culture — people needing to be coddled in order not to be triggered. From her book, “It would behoove people to stop labeling things as ‘triggers’ on someone else’s behalf. Who the hell are you? You haven’t lived my life. There are certain words [and jokes] I can say because I’m part of the communities. I call my agent ‘gay-gent.’
She laments about finally getting on the “Jay Leno Show,” then having to follow a down beat serious segment with John McCain.
Gold’s upcoming Atlanta (adult) experience is bound to be side splitting and relatable. Just don’t come wearing your “prude hat.” Remember Gold is part of a lot of “communities” and Judaism is certainly a prominent one. Known for blazing the trail for free speech, Gold mixes that with being gay and outrageous. Come expecting a lot of “contemporary borscht beltish” language, tales, and jokes with maybe the Holocaust thrown in that would make George Carlin and Lenny Bruce appear reserved.
Mark Twain said, “Comedy is tragedy plus time.” No tellin’ what Judy Gold is going to say on the Dunwoody stage.
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