♪♪ Marilyn: What's known as the Borscht Belt comedy started where all of the punch lines were in Yiddish, and the big joke was we could follow it up to a certain point, but then the punch lines were in Yiddish, and you learn to appreciate it.

I go to comedy clubs now, and you can see the influence.

You can see the pacing.

We've waited a long time for a museum, and it's wonderful for people to relive it, and, hopefully, for the younger people to see Jewish history in a really positive way.

♪♪ The jokes were clean, the acts were clean, and they were funny and they were hilarious.

Many of these comedians went on to do "Catskills on Broadway," and it was in great demand, and people were flocking to the theaters to see the people that they saw in the '50s and '60s at the Borscht Belt, and it was fantastic.

Whitefish -- a side.

Just a side of whitefish.

Just bring the side of Moby Dick out here.

Comedy traces back to the Borscht Belt today more so than it did, oh, let's say, even 30, 40 years ago.

I think that there is a sign of respect and a comfort as to where we come from.

"We're Jewish."

And I said, "What does that mean?"

And with a totally straight face, he just said, "It means you'll never be happy."

[ Laughter ] I think about the Borscht Belt a lot because it's this extremely influential comedy movement.

I wonder, where are the sort of, like, young Jewish comedians talking about what it means to be Jewish?

There are a couple, and they're fantastic.

And, hopefully, this museum and, hopefully, this festival will start to change that a little bit.

You can't just say, "Are you kosher?"

You have to try to speak Hebrew.

Again, I'm just standing there, like, um... [ Speaking Hebrew ] The Catskills, it's nostalgic and it's -- it's amazing.

You feel like you're a part of this brotherhood that started generations ago.

All those guys that started out there, I mean, you're talking about legends.

It's, like, one of the most important training grounds was lost for stand-up comedians and a lot of entertainers when the Catskills went away.

I just started doing comedy in the past five years, and if it was that era, I would have had a lot more opportunity 'cause of all the hotels, and I could have been doing late shows.

The comedians back then, you know, especially the Jewish comedians, they had a shtick that nobody else had, you know, so people loved it.

And slowly and surely, it decayed.

And, you know, I was here at the end, late '70s and early '80s.

Didn't last much long after that.

David: At the time, you didn't think about it, that it's going to be over at one time, but looking back, it's great having something like this today.

The Internet really made people just tell their story and saying, "I worked here.

I worked here.

It was the greatest time of my life."

And they remember that from 50 years ago, no matter how old they are.

So that was just a wonderful thing.

The era that this was here in the Catskill Mountains, it lasted for so long, and it's part of our DNA, in a way, and it's also part of the DNA of the whole culture.

And I mean the whole culture, the American culture of comedy.

If you're a stand-up comic, go to the Comedy Cellar, go to some of the other places and fail, bomb.

You'll learn more from it, and, eventually, you develop your own voice, and that's what you're going to put out into the world.

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