Standup Comedy with Zalman Velvel and Rabbi Shmoyle

Stu Silver, a real estate broker and author of books on investing in mobile homes and mobile home parks, is using his Hebrew name, Zalman Velvel, to host a series of standup comedy routines. The videos, titled Laugh and Learn with Rabbi Shmoyle and Uncle Zally, feature standup comedian David Sayh as the white bearded rabbi, "one of the great mohels of our generation," being interviewed by Silver in his Zalman Velvel persona.

Watching the video, we have to believe that this duo was inspired by Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner doing their 2000 Year-old-man shtick.

Today we'll share with you the first video of this series, and we'll include some of the others over the next few weeks as part of our eclectic humor mix.

On one of his websites, Silver explains how his family name went from Yussalovich to Silver. It's a story that many of us whose ancestors passed through Ellis Island can relate to.

The Velvel comes from my Great Grandfather. He was born in Russia, and was an orthodox Rabbi. We’re pretty sure he was Hasidic, because he had a long beard, wore dark clothes, and smiled a lot, even when he wasn’t drinking Vodka. Velvel left Russia 100 years ago because his family was getting too much education. By day, he pounded wisdom into his children’s heads. By night, the Cossacks did the same thing, only with clubs. So Velvel traveled to America with his three sons and wife.

At Ellis Island, under the shadow of the Statue of Liberty, the Immigration official asked my great Grampa his last name. "Yussalovitch," Velvel replied. "Sounds like Silver," the official concluded. The man next to him, Rushevsky, became Diamond. Poppavitch became Goldberg. The logic? Who knows?

Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah, the last of the September-October holidays, begin tonight, so we will not be posting again until Sunday. Until then, enjoy this bit of humor!

(A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO IS NOT VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.)