Welcome Back, Kotter and Woody Allen don’t have much in common, other than the outdated humor that I’m personally not a fan of. On one hand, Woody Allen makes a point of projecting his disillusionment with many aspects of his Jewish heritage. As for Kotter, he doesn’t seem to be terribly bothered by his. In fact, I wouldn’t have known he was Jewish if I hadn’t come across it on Welcome Back, Kotter’s Wikipedia page and seen Ebrahim mention it in his blog. He definitely seems to identify himself more as a Sweathog than as a Jewish man.
First I’ll deal with my dear old friend Woody Allen. I honestly don’t have a problem with his representation of his Jewish heritage. I know there are definitely people who don’t like it, but even though I’m not Jewish myself, I think that if he were a Catholic talking about his Catholicism I would at least understand where he was coming from, if not agree with some of his points. I respect his creative license to portray his culture in Radio Days as he remembers it and not necessarily as people would like him to remember it. Of course, that’s not to say that I’m a Woody Allen fan by any means. I find his quirkiness to be a lot more irritating than funny.
Which brings me to Welcome Back, Kotter. Oh dear, what a comedic mess. I think I was so underwhelmed because by this point I’ve already seen most of the jokes done better on The Simpsons and other more modern comedies—which actually isn’t the show’s fault, to be fair. But anyway, back to Kotter’s ethnic identity. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that Kotter’s Jewish heritage doesn’t seem to be as much of a part of his daily life as his status as a Sweathog is. Kotter and his students all bond over the fact that they are Sweathogs, which is what ties all of their varying ethnicities together. Being Sweathogs is kind of like the radio for Joe’s family in Radio Days; it’s a significant unifying force.
