Upcoming Shows
Museum Entry
Private Museum Tour
  • Saturday July 27th 10:00AM - Borscht Belt Museum
  • Private Museum Tour
  • Join curator Debra Schmidt Bach for an intimate tour of the museum's new exhibition, "And Such Small Portions!," which explores the intersection of food and comedy in the Catskills Resort era. A veteran curator at the New-York Historical Society, Schmidt Bach and her curatorial team have crafted an entertaining and delicious journey through the foodways and comedic culture of the Borscht Belt.Limited to 20 people.
  • Buy Tickets
Festival Kickoff Starring Julia Scotti
Museum Entry
My Daddy the Comedian
  • Saturday July 27th 11:30AM - Market Street Studios
  • My Daddy the Comedian
  • What’s it like growing up in a comedic household? The children of four iconic Borscht Belt comedians share personal stories about the delights and downsides of sharing a roof with a professional funnyman. Emmy and Tony Award-winning comedy writer Alan Zweibel moderates this fascinating discussion with Sheryl Gunty Seiferas & Lori Gunty Becker (daughters of Morty Gunty), Judi Kirschenbaum-Levin (daughter of Freddie Roman), Peter Lord (son of Dick Lord) and David Barbanell (son of Vic Arnell).
  • Buy Tickets
Museum Entry
Borscht Belt Story Hour
  • Saturday July 27th 12:30PM - Borscht Belt Cabaret
  • Borscht Belt Story Hour
  • Come share your favorite Catskill memories at a Borscht Belt-themed "Story Slam." Sign up for a chance to tell a true, personal 5-minute story about your time in the Catskills. Inspired by The Moth Story Hour, story-teller names will be drawn at random for a chance to pay tribute to those wonderful bygone days and nights. Whether your story is funny, poignant, or wistful, we're sure the audience will love our story-slam trip through time as they vote for the best story. The winning storyteller will receive a prize. Following ticket purchase, email [email protected] to enter the storytelling contest.
  • Buy Tickets
Borscht Belt Classics
Museum Entry
Breaking Barriers: Sports & Race in the Catskills
  • Saturday July 27th 01:30PM - Market Street Studios
  • Breaking Barriers: Sports & Race in the Catskills
  • In Catskills' heyday, giants like Wilt Chamberlain, Rocky Marciano and Red Auerbach trained at the region’s hotels and entertained throngs of adoring guests and journalists. At a time of de facto segregation, Borscht Belt hotel owners helped chip away at prevailing racial barriers. Panelists include Joe Dorinson, author of “The Black Athlete as Hero,” boxing historian and Liberty boxing club owner Jose Toledo, and legendary tennis coach and professor Barry Goldsmith. Moderated by film and TV producer Evan Haiman.
  • Buy Tickets
Private Museum Tour
  • Saturday July 27th 01:30PM - Borscht Belt Museum
  • Private Museum Tour
  • Join curator Debra Schmidt Bach for an intimate tour of the museum's new exhibition, "And Such Small Portions!," which explores the intersection of food and comedy in the Catskills Resort era. A veteran curator at the New-York Historical Society, Schmidt Bach and her curatorial team have crafted an entertaining and delicious journey through the foodways and comedic culture of the Borscht Belt.Limited to 20 people.
  • Buy Tickets
Forverts to the Catskills!
  • Saturday July 27th 02:00PM - Borscht Belt Talks
  • Forverts to the Catskills!
  • Summer in the Catskills made a big impression on readers of the Forverts, the Jewish immigrant community's Yiddish paper of record, with subscribers jamming the newspaper's switchboards, in a desperate scramble to switch addresses so that their beloved daily would be delivered to their Borscht Belt boarding houses, bungalow colonies and resorts upon arrival and for the duration of their stay.Loaded with classified Yiddish ads for Catskills farmland, boarding houses, hotels and even Yiddish summer camps, Forverts readers and writers found a home in the Borscht Belt for well over a century. Join archivist Chana Pollack on a journey through the historic Forward's archives, hear some of what they reported on the Catskills, and see what the tumult was all about.
  • Buy Tickets
Museum Entry
Immigrant Jam
  • Saturday July 27th 03:00PM - Shadowland Stages
  • Immigrant Jam
  • Lucie Pohl’s Immigrant Jam Comedy features NYC’s funniest immigrant and 1st gen comics, who will make you laugh so hard you’ll wish you were born somewhere else. Guaranteed not to have stolen any of your jobs, Immigrant Jam celebrates the beauty of everything cross cultural, deliciously different and not from here. Hosted by Lucie Pohl, with performances by Ayanna Dookie, Leclerc Andre, Naomi Karavani, Pat Burtscher, and Alex Carabaño.
  • Buy Tickets
Museum Entry
The Shtetl Kitchen: The Roots of New York Jewish Foods
  • Saturday July 27th 03:30PM - Market Street Studios
  • The Shtetl Kitchen: The Roots of New York Jewish Foods
  • Jeffrey Yoskowitz, award-winning author and founder of The Gefilteria, explores the history and context for some of today's most beloved dishes – including latkes, matzo ball soup, blintzes, pastrami sandwiches, pickles, and much more – and how they evolved and adapted in the New World. He'll also share exciting discoveries about seasonal Jewish eating, holiday cooking, and culinary wisdom that will transform everything you thought about Ashkenazi Jewish gastronomy.
  • Buy Tickets
Catskills Kleptomaniacs and More Borscht Belt Memorabilia
  • Saturday July 27th 04:00PM - Borscht Belt Talks
  • Catskills Kleptomaniacs and More Borscht Belt Memorabilia
  • Humorist, Borscht Belt Museum archivist and lifelong Catskills resident Allen Frishman returns to share more behind-the-scenes stories about his family's bungalow colonies, his plumbing experiences, and his extensive collection of rare and interesting artifacts.For example the hotel coat hangers that your grandmother stole. "They charge way too much for this room. Take a hanger!" Well, it's in his collection now. And when you see some of the other items, they'll make you say, "Boy, I remember that." He'll also be sharing some new stories from his forthcoming book, "Gefilte Fish for the Soul." So be prepared to have a memorable hour of comedy and reminiscing.Frishman will be signing copies of his first two books, "Tales of a Catskills Mountain Plumber" and "More Borscht from a Catskills Mountain Plumber."
  • Buy Tickets
Museum Entry
Borscht Belted
  • Saturday July 27th 05:00PM - Borscht Belt Cabaret
  • Borscht Belted
  • Catskills native Warren Epstein brings his hilarious and heart-warming one-man show to Borscht Belt Fest! You’ll smell the gefilte fish and laugh out a lung as you journey through the quirky bungalow colonies, smoky cocktail lounges, and majestic resorts of yore.Epstein channels Rodney Dangerfield, Woody Allen, Jack Benny, and other humor pioneers as he recreates his childhood memories from the Catskill era. 
  • Buy Tickets
Borscht Buddies
The Birth of Blue Comedy
  • Saturday July 27th 05:30PM - Market Street Studios
  • The Birth of Blue Comedy
  • What happened in the 1950’s, 60’s and 70’s that so dramatically shifted the world of humor from family-friendly icons like Jack Benny, George Burns and Milton Berle to the salty, sexually explicit and politically incorrect comedy of Lenny Bruce, Buddy Hackett and Joan Rivers?  Comedy historian Lenny Dave takes us on an instructive and entertaining survey of the rebellious and controversial comedians whose careers were nourished in the Catskills before they catapulted to national fame.
  • Buy Tickets
See Full Calendar