Hardy was a goy who pitched ‘insider’ jokes perfectly, says Naomi Wayne . Philip Clayton wonders why comedians’ deaths seem to touch us more than other famous people, Sarah Cemlyn remembers Hardy as laugh-out-loud funny, and challenging too, while Nancy Krois recalls his News Quiz appearances, L Johnston his Guardian dismissal, and George McLean a King Canute joke

Jeremy Hardy’s life (Obituary, 2 February) was lived by the Jewish principle of tikkun olam – repairing the world. High on his repair list were the occupied and refugee Palestinians who he supported in benefit after benefit, including doing gigs for Jewish anti-occupation groups.

By these last, he was viewed as an honorary Jew, one of the few goyim who could tell pitch-perfect “insider” Jewish jokes.

He was rather proud of this designation, writing: “I am widely believed to be Jewish, by Jews, by neo-Nazis and by dispassionate observers. I should be Jewish. I’m in showbusiness, I can’t do DIY and I prefer cheesecake to Victoria sponge … My [Jewish comedian] friend Arnold Brown … has always insisted that I am Jewish, which I take as a compliment.”

Jeremy knew that even ancient Palestinian olive trees are oppressed: entire groves regularly uprooted, chopped down, burned to charcoal by the Israeli army and settlers. So in the spirit of tikkun olam, our tiny Jewish charity, the British Shalom-Salaam Trust, plans to celebrate life, renewal and hope for a just peace by planting trees in Jeremy’s memory: if we can raise enough to replace an entire devastated olive grove, a little piece of Palestine will, for ever, be Jeremy Hardy.

Naomi Wayne

Secretary, British Shalom-Salaam Trust

• I am so sad to hear of Jeremy Hardy’s death, and at such a young age. I am 64 and recall the complete sadness and tears I have shed for the deaths of Eric Morecambe, Ronnie Barker, Les Dawson, Victoria Wood, Linda Smith and a few more.

Why is it that comedians seem to be able to touch us more than other famous people, even including musicians and some world leaders?

Philip Clayton

London

• I don’t know how I am going to cope without Jeremy Hardy. In unjust situations, his piercing, compassionate – and passionate – wit, often delivered through brilliant speed lectures on colonial and other inequities, was challenging, fortifying and laugh-out-loud funny, in equal measure.

Sarah Cemlyn

St Andrews, Bristol

• Miles Jupp tells us that Jeremy Hardy worked with four “chairmen” of the News Quiz. I think Jeremy would be the first to point out that one of the four was a woman.

Nancy Krois

Mileham, Norfolk

• I may have overlooked it in all the plaudits you have published after Jeremy Hardy’s death, but there seems to have been no reference to his having been sacked by (you guessed it) the Guardian in 2001. Apparently he wasn’t funny enough.

L Johnston

Modrydd, Brecon, Powys

• Geraldine Blake (Letters, 1 February) says King Canute died thousands of years ago. It was 1035 – or twenty-five to eleven, as dear departed Jeremy Hardy might have said.

George McLean

Didsbury, Manchester

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