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Jewish Mother-in-Law Sues Over 'Malicious' Stand-Up Jokes

2009_08_mrscostanza.jpg In a case that seems suspiciously like a win-win for everybody involved, a Midwood grandmother is suing her stand-up comedian daughter-in-law for "defaming her with racist lies" in her comedy routines. Sunda Croonquist of Paterson does pretty standard comedy club material about her husband Mark Zafrin's family, sharing her experiences as a black woman marrying into a Jewish family, joking that "Jews don't know how to whisper" and having "two kids in two years makes her suicidal, having two kids in one year would make her Orthodox." After years of allegedly enjoying the material, now Ruth Zafrin has apparently taken offense to the barbs she finds "malicious" and "based on hatred towards her." Two other in-laws have signed on as co-plaintiffs and to give the whole affair the ultimate whiff of a hack sitcom pilot, the comedian Croonquist is being represented by her lawyer husband, taking on his mother. Croonquist claims that her in-law and family jokes are not mean-spirited (she also "converted to Judaism" and "keeps a kosher house"), but rather, "natural laugh-getters." In case this all isn't enough free publicity for everyone involved, watch Croonquist's act and decide for yourself after the jump.

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Comments [rss]

  • NewYorkCityGoGirl

    Don't usually find comedians very funny but this lady cracked me up and that'sa laugh I needed!

  • sexisicilian

    OH VEY!!

  • Wza

    Lost episode of "Seinfeld"?

  • GOP

    I thought her routine was pretty funny.

  • schizofriendly

    The wet hair joke was pretty funny.

  • tom9d

    This sounds like the premise of a Philip Roth novel.

  • hotstepper

    hype.

  • mrguy

    "Jews don't know how to whisper"

    That's rich.

  • JenChungsBaby

    We whisper all the time, like when we're passing on info about the next secret meeting of the world banking cabal.

  • Mr. Shankly

    Or mentioning that someone has 'cancer' or 'diabetes'.

  • Nyctini11

    I can think of a bunch of races that don't know how to whisper, and she's a fine example of a pot calling the black, no pun intended.

  • Soggy

    She's half Swedish, I think they're pretty quiet.

  • dr zippy

    I just got back from a pleasure trip.

  • seven

    yup, never heard of this person before this. Her comedy is boring and predictable. But now I know her name. Congrats on the publicity stunt.

  • Thespis

    I got through 30 seconds. Apparently this family is far better at getting publicity than at telling jokes -- she's awful. This is a pity-inducing level of unfunny.

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