The Great Jewish Comedians: Freddie Roman, King of the Catskills

Freddie Roman has had a long successful career as a stand-up comedian in the Catskills and in Las Vegas. He has been the Dean of the Friars Club for more than 20 years.

Roman was born Fred Kirschenbaum in Jamaica Queens, New York in 1937. He got his start in the Borscht Belt after working in his father's shoe store and then sold life insurance for a few years before making comedy his full-time job.

Starting out as social director at the Homowack Lodge in Spring Glen, New York, worked his way through the Catskill mountain resorts and got to know all of the comedians who performed in the hundreds of hotels situated 90 miles from New York City.

We met Freddie last June at the finals for The Jewish Week's Funniest Comedian contest and had a delightful conversation about his stand-up routines and his role in the recent documentary Welcome to Kutsher's.

He is still active and is now appearing in the Amazon Prime sitcom series Red Oaks, together with Jennifer Grey, Paul Reiser, and Richard Kind.

Here's a great example of the stand-up comedy that Freddie Roman has been performing for more than 55 years.

Enjoy!


(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.)