'Comedy Warriors': Laughing Through the Pain

You want real humor sharpened by the poignancy and pain of war? Go see “Comedy Warriors: Healing Through Humor,” which occasionally pops up on Showtime.

This documentary features five veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan who take up standup comedy as part of their therapy. They get mentoring from such Jewish comedy circuit veterans as Bob Saget and Lewis Black, and they thrive onstage.

One of the five is Jewish war veteran Joe Kashnow of Baltimore, an amputee who works hilarious observations on Jewish life into his routines.

“Comedy Warriors” is both funnier than “Zero Motivation” and more moving, reminding us that the men and women who have fought our wars since 2001 will be living with the consequences for decades.

(Tickets are available for screenings Feb. 5 at GTC Merchants Walk and Feb. 6 at Regal Avalon; ajff.org.)

— Michael Jacobs