Download the Discussion Guide

Alex Edelman’s Just For Us  had an acclaimed Broadway run in a production co-produced and funded by Reboot Studios as a part of our inaugural round of studio investments. The one-man comedy special that got a special Tony Award and an Emmy this year is now streaming on HBO’s MAX! To supplement this hilarious and powerful special, Reboot created a discussion and learning guide to help viewers dig deeper into the themes of the show. We have identified four topics that feature prominently in Just For Us: Jewish humor, empathy, Jews and whiteness, and antisemitism and white nationalism. For each subject, we have provided historical context and discussion questions to help guide a conversation or aid in your personal reflection

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Sources and Supplemental Readings

David Baddiel 

• Jews Don’t Count (2022)

Rabbi Sharon Brous (IKAR): 

• The Bug in the Software of the West: Some Thoughts on Recent Antisemitic Incidents on the Anniversary of the Tree of Life Massacre

CANVAS:

• Art and Activism: Visual Responses to Antisemitism 

Jennifer Caplan

• Funny, You Don’t Look Funny (2023)

Eric L Goldstein

• The Price of Whiteness: Jews, Race, and American Identity by Eric L. Goldstein

Dara Horn

• People Love Dead Jews (2021)

Jews for Racial & Economic Justice

• Unraveling Antisemitism 

Jews of Color Initiative: 

• Beyond the Count: Perspectives and Lived Experiences of Jews of Color  

Pew Research Center

• Jewish Americans in 2020 

Starts with Us: Overcoming Extreme Division Starts With Us

Eric Ward: 

• Skin in the Game: How Antisemitism Animates White Nationalism 

Jason Zinoman

• Is It Funny for the Jews? (NYTimes, 2022) 

About Us:

Reboot is an arts and culture non-profit that reimagines and reinforces Jewish thought and traditions. As a premier research and development platform for the Jewish world, we catalyze our Reboot Network of preeminent creators, artists, entrepreneurs and activists to produce experiences and products that evolve the Jewish conversation and transform society.

In the wake of a string of antisemitic threats pointed in his direction online, standup comic Alex Edelman decides to go straight to the source; specifically, Queens, where he covertly attends a meeting of White Nationalists and comes face-to-face with the people behind the keyboards. What happens next forms the backbone of the shockingly relevant, utterly hilarious, and only moderately perspirant stories that comprise Just For Us. HBO and Max will premiere the New York Times Critic’s Pick as a comedy special on April 6.