Raphael Bob-Waksberg knows how to tell a joke. This comes as no surprise: the 40-year-old American writer was the creator of BoJack Horseman, one of the funniest TV shows in recent memory. The Emmy-nominated Netflix animation ran for six seasons between 2014 and 2020, and was crammed with jokes – visual gags, Hollywood satire, ornate wordplay – and cut with raw, human pathos. His favourite joke, however, Bob-Waksberg inherited from his father.
A Nazi, he begins, is driving down the street. “And when I say Nazi, I mean an actual, classic, German Nazi. The whole shtick. The sort of guy who would murder me for saying the word ‘shtick’.” Bob-Waksberg, dressed casually in a checked shirt and baseball cap, is getting into the setup, gesticulating. “Anyway, this Nazi is driving down the street and he sees a Jew with a long beard and the hat. He rolls down his window and says: ‘You, Jew! Who is the enemy of the German people?’ And the Jew knows the answer, so he goes: ‘The Jews and the bicycle riders.’” He pulls a puzzled expression. “The Nazi says: ‘Why the bicycle riders?’ And the Jew says: ‘WHY THE JEWS?’”
