“Is anything okay?” (Jewish restaurant joke)

“Is everything okay?” a waiter often asks the diners at a restaurant table. However, in a Jewish restaurant, the diners complain about everything and the waiter asks, “Is anything okay?” The Jewish restaurant joke has been cited in print since at least 1999.
     
“Two Karens are out having dinner. The waiter stopped by their table and said ‘Is anything OK?‘“ is another version of the same joke.
   
             
Google Groups: alt.support.crohns-colitis
jews and crohn’s ..
MARLA GOLDBERG
9/22/99
(Q)What does a waiter say to a table of 3 jewish ladies having lunch ?
(A) Is anything ok?    :  ) 
 
Straight Dope Message Board
tubagirl
09-28-2000, 01:11 PM
Here is one:
 
A waiter walks over to a table of jewish mothers and asks “Was anything OK?”
 
hahahahaha!
 
Free Republic
Q: What did the restaurant waiter ask the table with four Jewish mothers?
A: “Is anything OK?”
13 posted on 12/8/2003, 9:01:44 AM by thesummerwind (like painted kites, those days and nights, they went flyin’ by)
 
Google Books
Oy!:
The Ultimate Book of Jewish Jokes
By David Minkoff
New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press
2005
Pg. 64:
Q: What did the waiter ask the group of Jewish mothers?
A: “Is anything OK?”
 
Google Books
1,003 Great Things About Being Jewish
By Lisa Birnbach, Ann Hodgman and Polly Stone  
Kansas City, MO: Andrews McMeel Publishing
2006
Pg. 134:
Q: What did the waiter ask the group of Jewish mothers?
A: “Is anything okay?”
 
eBaum’s World Forum
Stjonnypopo
04-17-2006, 11:41 AM
there’s four jewish women sitting in a restaurant after they’d finished eating, the waiter goes up to them before handing them the bill and aska “was ANYthing okay??”
 
Google Books
Ultimate Book of Jokes:
The Essential Collection of More Than 1,500 Jokes
By Scott McNeel
San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books
2011
Pg. ?:
What did the waiter ask the group of Jewish mothers?
Is anything okay?
 
The Caterer
The Times
17 December 2011 Giles Coren says the food at Mishkin’s, London WC2, may not be authentic but the place is a hoot and worth a visit
There’s the old joke where the Jewish waiter comes to the table and says, “Was anything okay?” and I knew I would be in the frame for some kvetching.
 
The Jewish Light (St. Louis, MO)
Rabbis’ full comments on “Exodus”
Posted: Wednesday, December 17, 2014 4:51 pm | Updated: 5:01 pm, Wed Dec 17, 2014.
Comments from Rabbi Ze’ev Smason of Nusach Hari B’nai Zion
The answer to the question ‘How historically accurate’ was the story reminds me of the old joke about the waiter in the Jewish restaurant who approaches two customers and says, “Was anything OK?”