Tuesday, April 6, 2021

Yiddish Comedians Walk into a Zoom: Allen Lewis Rickman and Yelena Shmulenson in a Classic Comedy Routine

Last July the Forward posted some Jewish comedy in their series #ForwardFocus: Talks in Trying Times. Hosted by Forverts editor Rukhl Schaechter, the session included a sketch by Yiddish actors Allen Lewis Rickman and Yelena Shmulenson. 

The setup for the sketch: A Jewish immigrant who is fond of cantorial music overhears a conversation about a new cantor named Yankel who is performing in the Bronx. He rushes onto the subway to hear his concert. Of course there is no cantor -- what he thought he heard as Yankel was really the Yankees who were playing a baseball game in Yankee Stadium. 

Rickman acts out the role of the immigrant who knows nothing about baseball and is excited to be swept up in what he thinks is an enthusiastic crowd for the cantor but is just Yankee fans headed for the stadium. He spins his story entirely in Yiddish, with Shmulenson translating sentence by sentence into English.

Enjoy!

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  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.

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