Meet Gary Gulman, Late Night Stand-up Comic

Gary Gulman is a stand-up comedian who lives in New York City. Originally from Boston, Gary has been a scholarship college football player, an accountant, a barista, a doorman, a waiter and a high school teacher. 

Now he is one of the most popular touring comics and one of only a handful of comedians to perform on every single late night comedy program.

In an interview by the JDate editorial team published online, Gulman reflected on how he includes Jewish themes in his comedy.I’ve started doing a lot more material about being Jewish and about the history of Jews.

On my website, they have my “Tonight Show” spot, which was from right around Chanukah. It was perfect because I got to talk about Chanukah versus Christmas as well as the many contributions of the Jews to modern society — like Dr. Jonas Salk and the inventor of the pill, Dr. Gregory Pincus. More recently, I’ve expanded to further inventions, like color television, the remote control and having Saturdays off.

Judaism plays an enormous role in my life. It’s a great contributor to my identity. It’s common ground I share with many of my friends and a lot of the people I work with, partially by osmosis — being around people with certain values which my family shares, Jewish values and Jewish culture — as well as going to Hebrew school and reading and learning more about Judaism… going to Israel.

A great deal of my personality, outlook and values are traditionally Jewish. I find myself not doing things because, somewhere along the line, my mother told me that Jews don’t do those things. For instance, camping — my mother said that Jews don’t camp and we don’t hunt, so I’ve never done either of those things. It affects just about every area of my life, not just affects, but informs or contributes to.

Gulman is a regular at The Comedy Cellar in New York. In this recent appearance on The Stephen Colbert Show, he reflects on the challenges of everyday life.

Enjoy!

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