The Great Jewish Comedians: Dick Shawn Performs Standup Comedy on the Johnny Carson Show

Dick Shawn was born Richard Schulefand in Buffalo, New York and raised in adjacent Lackawanna. 

The best remembered roles of his career are the hot-headed Sylvester Marcus, son of Mrs. Marcus (Ethel Merman), in Stanley Kramer's It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) and easygoing Lorenzo St. DuBois/Adolf Hitler in the musical Springtime for Hitler, the play within Mel Brooks's movie The Producers (1968).

He had continued success with his stand-up comedy act that he successfully performed for over 35 years in nightclubs around the world. His award-winning one-man stage show, The Second Greatest Entertainer in the Whole Wide World, was sometimes performed with a unique opening. When the audience entered the theater, they saw a bare stage with a pile of bricks in stage center. When the play began, Shawn emerged from the pile of bricks. The startling effect of this required complete concentration and breath control because the slightest movement of the bricks could ruin the surprise appearance.

In addition to roles in more than 30 movies and seven Broadway productions, Shawn made numerous television appearances, toured often, and periodically performed a one-man show that mixed songs, sketches, and pantomime. 

In this video clip of his appearance on The Johnny Carson Show (hosted by Joan Rivers), Shawn does a monologue on Jews in athletics, announcing, and religion followed by a session on the interview couch with Rivers.

Enjoy!
 
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YidLife Crisis in Tel Aviv: A Visit to Beit Hatfutsot, Museum of the Jewish People

We've been following the Canadian comedy duo of Jamie Elman and Eli Batalion as they travel the world in search of funny situtations involving Yiddish culture, language, and food.

Their web series, YidLife Crisis, was recently nominated for a Canadian Screen Award for best original digital media series.
They have taken their act on the road, performing a live version of their show in Krakow, Tel Aviv, Toronto, Montreal, Los Angeles and Birmingham, England.

The pair has also received a prestigious grant from the Natan Fund and have created a series of travelogues featuring their impressions of Tel Aviv. We previously posted their funny Valentine’s Day episode guest staring Mayim Bialik and two of their Tel Aviv episodes, Canadians in Cabs Getting Kishkas, and Searching for Yiddish Speakers and Second Hand Items in Old Jaffa

There's a lot of Yiddish in some of the episodes and some of the English includes coarse language that we avoid in our family-friendly posts, so we pick the episodes that we share with you very carefully.

Today we're posting another one of their Tel Aviv episodes . In it, they visit Beit Hatfutsot, Tel Aviv's Museum of the Jewish People.
Enjoy!
 
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A Joke to Start the Week - "Blue Ribbon Bull"

It's Monday again and time for another joke to start the week. This week we found another joke from the archives of Old Jews Telling Jokes. Today's joke teller is clinical drug study printer Richard Levine. 

Here's the setup: A Jewish guy has a ranch in Texas and he has a prize bull. Every year this prize bull wins another blue ribbon. And then...

Enjoy!


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Monica Piper's "Not That Jewish" Brings New Comedy to Off-Broadway

Comedian Monica Piper, the Emmy Award-winning and Golden Globe nominated writer and actress who we've featured doing stand-up comedy earlier this year, is starring in Not So Jewish, a hilarious and heartfelt autobiographical ride of a Jew-“ish” woman’s life. 

It's the one-woman show she wrote and performed for the Jewish Women's Theatre in Santa Monica, California.  It's playing now at the New World Stages on West 50th Street in New York City.

From her show business family in the Bronx, to a WASP wedding, to her first step on a comedy club stage and life as a single mom, Piper shares the milestones and moments that shaped her life with the same signature wit found in her writing on Roseanne, Mad About You, and Rugrats. 

The show is reminiscent of Billy Crystal's 700 Sundays with a peppering of Neil Simon's Lost In Yonkers, Reviewers have called it 90 lightning fast minutes of funny, moving, intimate and inspirational theater.

Here's a video clip from the show. Enjoy!

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Jewish Traces in Unexpected Places: Belgian Tenor Helmut Lotti Sings Hevenu Shalom Aleichem

Hevenu Shalom Aleichem is one of the most widely played and sung Hebrew songs around the world, probably second only to Hava Nagila. We have been sharing versions of this song as performed in India, Guatemala, Australia, Korea, Belarus, and in an Irish pub.

We came across a version of Hevenu Shalom Aleichem performed at a concert in Belgium by Helmut Lotti, a Belgian tenor and singer-songwriter. He performs in several styles and languages.

Once an Elvis impersonator, he has sung African and Latino hit records, and he crossed over into classical music in the 1990s. Lotti sings fluently in his mother language Dutch, as well as Afrikaans, English, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Latin, Russian, Spanish, and Ukrainian. He has sold over 13 million albums worldwide and received over 90 platinum and 70 gold albums. Lotti does volunteer work as an ambassador for UNICEF.

Enjoy and Shabbat shalom!

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Adam Sandler Sings His Thanksgiving Song

 

Comedian/Actor Adam Sandler struck gold on Saturday Night Live when he sang his Chanukah Song. But less known is his Thanksgiving Song which we're sharing with you today. 

Just like The Chanukah Song, it's made up of silly rhymes, some of which don't make any sense, but which are funny nevertheless. 

Unlike The Chanukah Song, which includes list of people who are one quarter, half, or fully Jewish, the Thanksgiving Song is Sandler's free association of anything that has to do with Thanksgiving and anything that rhymes with it, such as "Turkey with the girls and turkey with the boys; my favorite kind of pants are corduroys."

Enjoy!

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Orlando Jewish Day School Kids Give Thanks on Thanksgiving

The children of the Orlando Jewish Day School and Chai Preschool know that Thanksgiving Day is a time to give thanks. And in this video, they are outspoken in expressing thanks for all the wonderful things in their lives.

They give thanks to their mom and dad, abba and ema, bubby and zaide, teachers and school.

Thanksgiving is an American holiday, but it feels like a Jewish holiday. In many families where Shabbat and Yom Tov restrictions on traveling make large gatherings difficult, Thanksgiving is the one day each year when large families and groups of friends can look forward to feasting together.

From our family to yours, we wish you a Happy Thanksgiving. Enjoy!

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Comedy Showcase: Jerry Seinfeld on Donut Holes, Buffets, and TV Dinners

Comedian Jerry Seinfeld dropped in to the Stephen Colbert show earlier this year to show that he hasn't lost his touch with standup comedy. 

After years of being associated with his Seinfeld TV sitcom series, he picked up the microphone and carried on for seven minutes on food and weight related topics, with funny observations on the state of the nation's girth, donut holes, buffets, and TV dinners.

Enjoy!

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A Joke to Start the Week - "The Sound of Music"

It's going to be a busy week, with Thanksgiving holiday travel and family gatherings and a mixture of anticipation and stress. What a perfect time for a joke to start the week.

Once again we're glad to welcome back Michael Hirsch, who has been featured as a Jewish Humor Central joke teller this year.

 
Today Michael, an investment advisor for individuals and institutions, gives us a shaggy dog story that evokes memories of the Frankenstein novels and movies.

Here's the setup: Igor is sitting in Frankenstein's castle one evening when the front doorbell rings. And then...

Enjoy!

 
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Basketball Giant Shaquille O'Neal Dances the Hora

Shaquille O'Neal, the retired professional basketball player who is currently an analyst on the television program Inside the NBA, showed off his skill at a different sport last week -- dancing the Hora.

Seven feet tall and weighing 350 pounds, he was one of the heaviest players ever to play in the NBA. O'Neal played for six teams throughout his 19-year NBA career.

It happened at the Salter-Markowitz wedding in Miami, where O'Neal was a guest of Jamie Salter's, the father of the groom and his partner at Authentic Brands Group.

As the staff of TMZ reported,

We're told the entire party was poppin' until around 2:30 AM (oy vey) and at one point Shaq took to the dance floor -- but instead of his tried-and-true pop-locking routine, he got cultural ... and Horah'd it up.

BTW -- we're also told efforts were actually made to lift Shaq up in a chair (part of the dance) but they were predictably unsuccessful.

Which means we'll never know the answer to the question -- how many Jews does it take to lift Shaquille O'Neal?

Enjoy!

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Adon Olam Around the World: "Crazy Freilach" Band and Sand Artist Ilana Yahav in Kfar Saba Concert

Using only her fingers, Ilana Yahav, a world renowned sand artist, creates a wonderful and magical story that emerges in front of the eyes of amazed viewers. 

This week she collaborated with the German klezmer band called Crazy Freilach in a very unusual performance of Adon Olam in a concert at the Kfar Saba Conservatory in Israel.

We have posted many variations of Adon Olam as performed around the world, but this one has to rank as one of the most unusual ones. We hope you find it as uplifting and entertaining as we did as we prepare for Shabbat.

Enjoy and Shabbat shalom!

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EXCLUSIVE On-Site Report! Best In Show and Unusual New Products From Kosherfest 2016 - Part 2

Today we're bringing you part two of our report from Kosherfest 2016.  

On Tuesday, the first day of the show, we interviewed representatives of companies exhibiting a variety of products, some of which were prize winners and others that just appealed to us as being unusual or of special interest. We posted five segments yesterday and another four today.

The products are Unorthodox Wines from South Africa, Cheesecake cones, Kosher Sake from Japan, Asian Meals in a Box, Seaweed Chips, Dyna-Sea Surimi Imitation Crab Cakes, Kosher Korean Kimchi, Smartfruit drinks, Manischewitz Matzo S'mores and Matzo Pizza Kits for Kids.

More than 400 exhibitors lined both sides of seven aisles to vie for the attention of visitors (trade only -- but some kiddush aficionados seem to have found their way into the hall) who tried to manage noshing and stuffing literature into the bags provided by some vendors (and rolling suitcases brought by attendees).  And there was plenty to nosh and to stuff.

Some of the samples were meat, some were dairy, and some were pareve.  But all three types were scattered around the show floor, so anyone trying to keep kosher had to make careful choices.

We apologize for the loud background noise from the 6,000 attendees milling about the exhibit space while we were conducting the interviews.
Enjoy!  

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EXCLUSIVE On-Site Report! Best In Show and Unusual New Products From Kosherfest 2016 - Part 1 (Watch For Part 2 Tomorrow)

Unorthodox Wines from South Africa, Cheesecake cones, Kosher sake, Asian meals in a box, Seaweed chips, Pareve chocolate spreads, Matzo S'mores, Matzo Pizza, Smart Fruit juices, and Kosher Korean Kimchi.
These are some of the prize winning and unusual products on display yesterday and today for the thousands of visitors representing all aspects of the food industry at Kosherfest 2016 at the Meadowlands Exposition Center in Secaucus, New Jersey.

More than 400 exhibitors lining both sides of seven aisles are vying  for the attention of visitors (trade only -- but some kiddush aficionados seem to have found their way into the hall) who try to manage noshing and stuffing literature into the bags provided by some vendors (and rolling suitcases brought by attendees).  And there's plenty to nosh and to stuff.

 
Some of the samples are meat, some are dairy, and some are pareve.  But all three types are scattered around the show floor, so anyone trying to keep kosher has to make careful choices.

 

The vendors are hoping that visitors will make bulk purchases, and some of the newer, smaller, and foreign companies exhibiting for the first time are hoping to find distributors who will bring their wares to your local supermarket.

 
If you love kiddush, can make a case for being in some kind of food-related business, have a few hours to spare and don't mind walking a a quarter mile to a parking lot, this is the place for you.  It's still open all day today, Wednesday, from 10 am to 4 pm.  The on-site registration fee is $100.
 

We interviewed a few of the exhibitors and got closeups of some of the more unusual delicacies in this video for you to savor.  We're presenting them in two parts today and tomorrow. 

 

We apologize for the loud background noise from the 6,000 attendees milling about the exhibit space while we were conducting the interviews.

 

Enjoy!  

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Meir Kalmanson Spreads Joy by High Fiving Strangers in New York

Meir Kalmanson has been posting funny Jewish videos on YouTube under the name Meir Kay. An Orthodox Jewish filmmaker from Brooklyn, his aim is to spread "happiness and positivity."

We've already featured one of his videos in April 2015 on the Evolution of Chassidic Dance. A video of him wandering the streets of New York and high fiving unsuspecting strangers who were raising their hands to hail a cab made it onto a Fox 5 TV newscast.

We'll be showing you some of his other comedy videos in the coming weeks. Here's the original high fiving video followed by the TV news report. Enjoy!

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A Joke to Start the Week - "Partners"

Today we're posting another joke by Bob Epstein, who holds forth every summer as recreation specialist at the Berkshire Hills Eisenberg Adult Vacation Center in Copake, New York.

Bob is an 88-year-old retired Assistant Principal in the New York school system. His summer duties include joke telling sessions with the seniors who come to the mountains for a summer vacation.

Here's the setup for today's joke: Sadie walks into a restaurant and sees her husband Harry sitting at a table with a young woman. And then...

Enjoy!

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Remembering Leonard Cohen (Continued): A New Yiddish Rendition of Hallelujah

Our tribute to Leonard Cohen on Friday was so well received that we got requests for more videos of his songs. We will be posting some of his other works in the future, but today we're extending the tribute by posting one of the latest versions of his signature song Hallelujah, in Yiddish, performed by Daniel Kahn.

Hallelujah has been performed by almost 200 artists in various languages. The song is the subject of the book The Holy or the Broken: Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley & the Unlikely Ascent of 'Hallelujah' (2012) by Alan Light.

In a New York Times review Janet Maslin praised the book and the song, noting that "Cohen spent years struggling with his song Hallelujah, which eventually became one of the most "oft-performed songs in American musical history."

This week Jordan Kutzik's article in The Forward tells about how he got Daniel Kahn to record his Yiddish version. Kutzik wrote:

A world-class singer of more traditional Yiddish fare and a brilliant songwriter in English in his own right Kahn’s unique genius lies in his self-described “tradaptations,” his translations and adaptations of songs across languages. He, along with his friend and mentor the late Theo Bikel, is one of the few masters of creating singable English versions of Yiddish songs.

Due to the confines of rhyme and meter song translations always vary a bit in literal meaning from their source material. As such the English subtitles are a literal translation of Kahn’s version of the song rather than Leonard Cohen’s original text. As you will see the two vary in some ways but match entirely in spirit.

Enjoy!

Remembering Leonard Cohen: His Music and His Reflections on its Biblical Themes

The world of popular music lost a giant yesterday when Leonard Cohen, the Canadian singer, songwriter, poet and novelist died at the age of 82.

His work has explored religion, politics, isolation, sexuality, and personal relationships. Cohen has been inducted into both the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame as well as the American Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He was also a Companion of the Order of Canada, the nation's highest civilian honor.

Cohen has been described as a Sabbath observing Jew. He has been involved with Buddhism since the 1970s and was ordained a Buddhist monk in 1996; however, he still considers himself Jewish: "I'm not looking for a new religion. I'm quite happy with the old one, with Judaism." he said.

Last month, at a press conference related to his latest album You Want it Darker, Cohen was asked about his spirituality and faith. In this video clip, he said that he didn't see himself as religious, but that the Biblical landscape that he grew up with inspired the Judaic references in his songs, such as the story of David and Bathsheba in his Hallelujah.



In 2009, when Cohen appeared before a large audience in the Ramat Gan stadium near Tel Aviv, he performed Hallelujah and ended with the priestly blessing said by the Kohanim in the synagogue.

Enjoy and Shabbat shalom!

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Leonard Cohen performs Hallelujah in Ramat Gan concert



Priestly blessing in Israel to the crowd at his concert at the Ramat Gan stadium

Throwback Thursday Comedy Special: The Goldbergs Plan a Trip to Florida

The Goldbergs was a comedy-drama broadcast from 1929 to 1946 on American radio, and from 1949 to 1956 on American television. It was adapted into a 1948 play, Me and Molly; a 1950 film, The Goldbergs; and a 1973 Broadway musical, Molly.

The program was devised by writer-actress Gertrude Berg in 1928 and sold to the NBC radio network the following year. It was a domestic comedy featuring the home life of a Jewish family, supposedly located at 1038 East Tremont Avenue in the Bronx.

In addition to writing the scripts and directing each episode, Berg starred as bighearted, lovingly meddlesome, and somewhat stereotypical Jewish matriarch Molly Goldberg. The show began as a portrait of Jewish tenement life before later evoking such growing pains as moving into a more suburban setting and struggling with assimilation while sustaining their roots.

The Goldbergs began as a weekly 15-minute program called The Rise of the Goldbergs on November 20, 1929, going daily in 1931. The series moved to CBS in 1936 with the title shortened to The Goldbergs. Like other 15-minute comedies of the day, such as Amos 'n' Andy, Lum and Abner, Easy Aces, Vic and Sade and Myrt and Marge, The Goldbergs was a serial with running storylines. Berg's usual introduction—in character as Molly, hollering, "Yoo-hoo! Is anybody...?"—became a catchphrase.

Let's get into the time machine and go back 64 years to 1952 for a taste of this classic
series. In this 15 minute episode, Molly's cousin Simon offers Molly the use of his house in Florida for a week. The week becomes four weeks so Molly generously offers the extra weeks to her extended family. Amid all the planning, complications develop that jeopardize the trip.

Enjoy!

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Hummus the Movie - Coming to Jewish Film Festivals

Hummus - the delicious, nutritious superfood sweeping America - has the power to bring Muslims, Christians and Jews together... in the Middle East, America and around the world. Hummus. Claimed by all. Owned by none. 

In Hummus! The Movie we meet three main characters - a hard working Muslim woman, an ever-smiling Jew and a young Christian Arab on a quest for meaning. And they all have one thing in common... a love of Hummus. Hummus! The Movie also spotlights "The World's Largest Serving of Hummus" - the fiercely fought Guinness World Record title currently held by a Lebanese Hummus maker at a huge 23,042lb (10,451kg)! 

But beyond the competition, beyond arguments over the best Hummus and even beyond religious and political divides, Hummus! The Movie tells the touching personal stories of the colorful men and women who love their Hummus. 

The hour-long film is being shown at Jewish Film Festivals. Here is the trailer.

Enjoy!

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