Late Night Comedy: Conan O'Brien Goes to Shul

Conan O'Brien, the Irish late night talk show host, doesn't go to shul. That's not exactly breaking news. But in one of his early shows, two Jewish men showed up and asked him why they haven't seen him in shul lately. "What?" he responded. "What's shul?" That's the beginning of a routine that brings a very unusual shul to the stage of the TV studio.

And Conan does finally go to this shul. Enjoy!

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Welcoming Shabbat with Lecha Dodi by Josh Warshawsky

Lecha Dodi is a liturgical poem written by Shlomo Halevi Alkabetz. The first letter of each stanza spells out the author’s name. It is a poem of love, commitment, hope, and Shabbat. We have shared 22 versions of this Kabbalat Shabbat song and we keep finding new ones.

This version is by Josh Warshawsky, created while he was the artist-in-residence at Temple Beth Am in Los Angeles. The young Jews in their 20s and 30s who came to his apartment on Corning Street. They embraced the melody and even after the building was torn down to build a new school, it is remembered as the Corning Street Niggun.

Enjoy, and Shabbat shalom!

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Throwback Thursday Comedy Special: A Few Moments with Gallagher and Shean

Gallagher & Shean were a highly successful musical comedy double act in vaudeville and on Broadway in the 1920s, consisting of Edward Gallagher (1873 – March 28, 1929) & Al Shean (May 12, 1868 – August 12, 1949). 

Shean was the maternal uncle of the Marx Brothers, sister of Minnie Marx. Gallagher & Shean remain best known for their theme song “Mister Gallagher and Mister Shean”, which was a hit in the 1922 Ziegfeld Follies. The song endured in popularity and was regularly updated with additional verses; consequently, it exists in several different versions. 

The song was recorded by Gallagher and Shean as two sides of a ten inch 78rpm record in the Summer of 1922 for Victor Records. It would be recorded by others on other record labels. The song was extremely popular & well remembered. 

Capitalizing on the post-King Tut craze for everything Egyptian, Gallagher & Shean appeared in Egyptian dress (Gallagher in the pith helmet & white suit of the tourist, Shean in the fez & oddly skirted jacket of a “native” Egyptian colonial). 

Our thanks to Patrix Springer who posted this great throwback video clip on YouTube. 

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#Throwback Thursday     #TBT

Comedy Showcase: Benji Lovitt on Passover in Israel vs. Abroad

With Purim in the rear view mirror and supermarkets stocked with 5 lb. boxes of matzo, the Jewish world is focusing on the upcoming holiday of Passover. 

In three weeks the store shelves will be picked clean of most kosher l'Pesach products, and we'll be sitting down for the annual Pesach seder (in Israel) and two sedarim everywhere else in the world.

Stand-up comedian Benji Lovitt asked an audience of Israelis and Americans how they react to the difference between Pesach observance in Israel vs. abroad. 

Texas native and Israeli resident, Benji has made a career out of turning his actual experiences in making aliyah to Israel seven years ago into a series of hilarious standup comic routines.

His standup comedy has been seen in person and online by viewers in Israel, the US, and around the world, and his improvised videos and hilarious blog entries have been featured in publications such as the Times of Israel, the Jerusalem Post, Ynet, PresenTense magazine, the Jewish Daily Forward and Israel21c, among others.

Enjoy! 


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Sarge Keeps the Laughs Coming in South Florida

On Sunday evening we started the last week of our winter Florida tour by attending a comedy performance by Sarge at Century Village.

A world famous comedian, Sarge (Steve Pickman), shares his personal insights with his audience, performing riffs on growing up black and Jewish in Long Island, NY. 

His personal anecdotes on being a black Jew in America give him an extraordinary view on life and give his comedy just the right edge.

In a 90 minute stand-up comedy performance, Sarge, the author of an autobiography titled Black Boychik, kept the audience laughing out loud at his unique perspectives in growing up in Great Neck. Here are some examples:

• “The Jewish part of me doesn’t work on Shabbos, and the black part tries not to work the other six days.”
• “I went to visit my Jewish parents the other day. I do this whenever my self-esteem is too high.”
• “I’m black and Jewish. I hire myself to clean my own house. … I’m a criminal and my own defense attorney.”

Also an accomplished pianist and singer, Sarge asked the audience to shout out the titles of about 12 favorite songs. He wrote them down and immediately played a medley of all the songs that were requested. 

We don't have a video clip of Sunday night's performance but we'll share a collection of excerpts from his popular shows.  Enjoy!

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A Joke to Start the Week - "A Chicken for Shabbos"

It's another Monday and it's time for another Joke to Start the Week.
 
Kosher butcher shops tend to close just before sundown on Friday nights, in preparation for Shabbat. Los Angeles Jewish Home resident Joe Weinbaum, 91, tells a joke about a customer's visit just before closing time.

Here's the setup: Just as the butcher was getting ready to close his shop on Friday afternoon, a woman comes in and says "Sam, I need a chicken for Shabbos. I hope you have one left." And then...

Enjoy!

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Amazing Purim Artifacts: Ahasuerus' Drinking Cup and Haman's Pur (Lottery)

Last week we celebrated Purim, the merriest holiday in the Jewish calendar. As we read Megillat Esther, did we really know what the golden drinking vessels used at King Ahasuerus' party looked like? And what did the "pur", the lottery used by Haman look like?

Rabbi Mordechai Becher, an instructor at Yeshiva University, found the answers in the British Museum in London and in the National Museum of Iran. In this video posted last week by Aish.com, the leading Jewish content website, he shows us replicas of these ancient artifacts.

Enjoy!

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Oy Vey! The Life of a Cantor (Gee, Officer Krupke Parody)

It's hard to believe that the holiday of Purim is behind us, unless we live in Jerusalem or another walled city where today is celebrated as Shushan Purim.

But the spirit of fun parodies lives on after Purim.  Just last week Cantor Azi Schwartz of the Park Avenue Synagogue in Manhattan posted an excerpt from a fun parody about the life of a cantor adapted by Jonathan Comisar. 

Recorded live at Temple Emanu-El in New York City, he was joined by cantors of neighboring congregations: Cantor Mo Glazman (Reform) and Cantor Chaim David Berson (Orthodox), as part of a new project called "One Voice.” 

It's a funny description of a cantor's life serving as the congregation's prayer leader and being responsive to the unpredictable needs of its members. It's set to the music of Gee, Officer Krupke from the musical West Side Story.

Enjoy, and Shabbat shalom!

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Oscars, Shmoscars! Here Are Our Purim Picks of the Best Movies of 2018

Today we celebrate the holiday of Purim which started last night with the reading of Megillat Esther. We wish a Happy Purim to all of our Jewish Humor Central readers. We hope you enjoy this special Purim spoof from the Purim 2019 issue of The Kustanowitz Kronikle. You can download the PDF by clicking HERE. Print it and share it at your Purim Seudah. 

There are the Golden Globes and the Academy Awards (Oscars). But who needs them when the best awards of all are the Silver Graggers. Jewish Humor Central is proud to present the movie awards from our sister publication, The Kustanowitz Kronikle.

The Silver Graggers are different from the Golden Globes and the Oscars in that there are multiple winners for Best Picture, the only award we give.

This year the Kustanowitz kids have been hard at work, deliberating which films released in 2018 merited consideration for this prestigious award. Today we are announcing the winners of the annual competition. Here are the best films of 2018 with a brief description of each one.

AQUAMAN: An excitement and CGI-packed story of Nachshon ben Aminadav, the first to jump into the Red Sea before the waters parted.
A QUIET PLACE: A time-traveling Haman goes from shul to shul on Purim, devastated to discover that no matter where he goes, his name gets booed.
A STAR (ESTHER) IS BORN: Before she was a queen, she was an aspiring country singer. Then she found someone who believed in her. The Esther and Mordechai story gets the Hollywood treatment, starring Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper.
AT ETERNITY’S GATE: When the Rabbi's Yom Kippur sermon nears the two-hour mark, congregants begin to daydream about a myriad of ways they can end his contract.
BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY: Inspired by 'the '80's hit "Footloose", this spirited musical highlights one brave cantor's efforts to engage his millennial congregants with updated rock-inspired Shabbos Niggunim, while facing fierce opposition from their traditional parents.
BUMBLEBEE: A bee who's had it with the annual production demands for Rosh Hashanah honey decides to unionize his hive.
CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?: One woman's year-long journey of redemption after accidentally serving her Passover guests Kitniyot.
FREE SOLO: Chaos ensues when the shul's kiddush committee announces that in preparation for Pesach, they are giving away all the shul's plastic cups on a first-come, first-serve basis.
INSTANT FAMILY: A newly-married ultra-Orthodox woman’s job is done when she learns that she’s pregnant with octuplets.
OCEAN’S EIGHT: When two of their friends cancel, a group of eight observant Jews sadly spend their beach weekend trying to find two Jews to round out their minyan.
RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET: Ralph comes back from a second year at an ultra-Orthodox yeshiva believing that the internet is forbidden, but his attempts to destroy the family router are thwarted when he discovers his parents have become obsessed with watching Shtisel on Netflix.
RIVERDALE: Archie, Jughead, Betty and Veronica meet their new neighbors, ten modern Orthodox couples who just moved into the Imperial and are all expecting.
SKIN: The Rebbetzin shocks an entire community when her 'flesh'- colored sleeves and stockings look too much like the real thing.
SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDERVERSE: A multi-generational epic about a family of trapeze artists that have volunteered to check one community's Eruv for more than 100 years- using highly unorthodox methods. 
THE CAPTAIN MARVELOUS MRS. SHTISEL: The ultimate origin story of a Haredi woman turned standup comic turned superhero.
THE FAVOURITE: When three children all become doctors, their parents start ranking them by how many grandchildren they've produced.
THE WIFE: After a group of struggling yeshiva students takes on more Pesach kashering gigs than they can possibly handle, they secretly hire their Rebbe's wife to teach them the secrets of making Pesach in half the time (web series spin-off coming soon).
VICE: Inspired by the best-selling book “Murder at the Minyan,” a synagogue’s vice president is accused of murdering family members of his congregants to keep the daily minyan up and running.
WON’T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR?: In a small town filled with Shabbat observers, a non-Jewish family is wined and dined by locals, all hoping to live next to the Shabbos goy.