The Great Jewish Comedians: Jan Murray on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1960

Jan Murray (born Murray Janofsky) was an American stand-up comedian, actor, and game show host who originally made his name on the Borscht Belt and later was known for his frequent television appearances over several decades. 

Murray began performing on the vaudeville stage at the age of 18. During the 1930s, he entertained at the "Borscht Belt" Catskills resorts popular with Jewish vacationers. In the 1940s and early 1950s, he became a Las Vegas marquee performer, including headlining at the Flamingo Hotel during its first year of operation.

Murray also helped launch the Chabad telethon in 1980 and hosted the fundraiser through 1996. 

Here's a video clip from 1960 of Jan Murray in one of his frequent appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show. In this routine, he jokes about comedians, westerns, the right girl, wife and marriage.

Enjoy!

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Welcoming Shabbat with Lecha Dodi by the Temple Beth David Choir of Westminster, California

Temple Beth David is a Reform congregation of over three hundred families in California's West Orange County.

Serving the greater Long Beach community for over fifty years, Beth David is led by Rabbi Nancy Myers. Known as the Singing Synagogue, Beth David has Adult and Junior Choirs.

In today's video, Cantorial Soloist Nancy Linder leads the Temple Beth David Adult Choir in Craig Taubman's version of Lecha Dodi.

Enjoy, and Shabbat shalom!

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Throwback Thursday Comedy Special: Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca in "Superstitions - Tea Leaves"

Over the years we've posted many classic comedy sketches from Your Show of Shows with Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca. From time to time we come across a sketch that we missed or that was posted recently by a collector.

On this Throwback Thursday we're sharing a very rare undated out of print sketch which was posted by KJH, a fan of Sid Caesar who found the rare VHS/Betamax tape and transferred them digitally so it cold be made available on YouTube's Sid Caesar Channel. 

In the sketch, Caesar joins Coca for tea in a restaurant that includes a tea leaves reading with the tea. While they're waiting to be served, the subject of superstitions comes up.

Enjoy!

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   #Throwback Thursday    #TBT

Remembering Mort Sahl: Legendary Stand-Up Comedian and Political Satirist

The world of Jewish comedy lost one of its shining stars yesterday with the death of Mort Sahl at the age of 94. Sahl was a pioneer in the art of political comedy.

As Elizabeth Blair wrote on the NPR website yesterday,

Sahl was a forerunner of topical, stand-up comedy. His fans included Lenny Bruce and George Carlin. A 1960 Time magazine cover showed Sahl surrounded by balloons — each showing a caricature of a U.S. president. Sahl holds a long, sharp pin between two fingers, ready to start popping.

As Rick Schultz wrote in Variety,

In 1953, when Sahl first appeared at the Hungry i, a San Francisco folk singer’s hangout, he was an unknown with little stage experience. But his rapid-fire monologues about politics, social trends and fads quickly earned him the nickname “Rebel Without a Pause.”

“The three great geniuses of the period were Nichols and May, Jonathan Winters and Mort Sahl,” Woody Allen told New York magazine in 2008. Allen credited Sahl’s intellectual brand of humor for getting him into comedy. “He was the best thing I ever saw,” Allen said in another interview. “He totally restructured comedy. He changed the rhythm of the jokes.”

In this 1967 video, Sahl explains politics of the left, right, and center, and the left, right, and center of each of the divisions. And then he goes on to apply his logic to romantic relationships. Enjoy!

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Comedy Showcase: Ashley Blaker on Jews on a Plane

British comedian Ashley Blaker, star of the BBC TV show Ashley Blaker's Goyish Guide to Judaism, has been on British TV with a new series called Out with Ashley Blaker and Friends.

In each program Ashley joins forces with some of his funniest friends to share stories, tell jokes and riff on subject matters suggested by the audience. 

In a clip from a recent episode, Blaker tells British TV personality Robert Rinder about his experience traveling on an all-Jewish Passover charter flght from London to Greece.

Enjoy!

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A Joke to Start the Week: "Three College Buddies"

It's another Monday and time for another Joke to Start the Week. This week we're posting another joke from Dr. Jay Orlikoff, a retired dentist from Centereach, New York, a community on Long Island in Suffolk County.

After a distinguished and meritorious dental career, he is shifting his focus to telling and posting jokes on YouTube. We were fortunate to find some of his jokes and we're sharing one of the family-friendly ones with you today. 

Here's the setup: There are these three college guys who are really good friends. One's Italian, one's Irish, and one's Jewish. Graduation comes and they make a pact that every year they'll get together. And then...

Enjoy!

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Comedy Showcase: An Updated Parody of "Hello Muddah Hello Faddah" With Reversed Demographics

The kid that would have written the letter from camp in Hello Muddah Hello Faddah by Allan Sherman would be a senior citizen today. 

YouTube poster Don Goldberg has hit a home run with his revision of the song as a parody of the parody, imagining what it might be like to be a senior on the flip side of the demographics writing to an adult son and daughter.

Enjoy!

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Welcoming Shabbat with V'Shamru by Cantors Danny Maseng and Renata Braun

Danny Maseng is a playwright, actor, singer, and composer. He recently retired as cantor and spiritual leader of Makom LA, a newish, Jewish, dynamic, post-denominational community, in Los Angeles.

This week we welcome Shabbat with Danny singing V'Shamru together with Cantor Renata Braun of Temple Sinai in Rochester, New York where Danny Maseng was a scholar and Artist-in-Residence earlier this year.

Enjoy, and Shabbat shalom!

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Throwback Thursday Comedy Special: Stiller and Meara in "High School Reunion" on the Ed Sullivan Show

Stiller and Meara (Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara) were a husband-and-wife comedy duo that was popular primarily in the 1960s and 1970s. They made frequent appearances on television variety shows such as The Ed Sullivan Show.

A lot of their humor focused on their different religious backgrounds, but actually Meara converted to Reform Judaism six years after marrying Stiller.

In this video clip from 1967, Jerry and Anne, as Hershy Horowitz and Mary Elizabeth Doyle, meet at their high school reunion and reflect on the different paths their lives have taken over the years.

Enjoy!

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Mel Brooks' "History of the World, Part II" is Coming to Hulu in 2022 as an 8-Part Series

In 1991 Mel Brooks released "History of the World, Part I", one of the funniest movies of all time.  For 40 years we've been waiting for the sequel, "History of the World, Part II".

Chock full of winking and tongue-in-cheek Jewish references, the original film presented Brooks playing parodies of famous characters in historical events, from the Stone Age to the Inquisition.

This week Variety confirmed that Brooks has a deal with Hulu to write and executive produce the sequel as an eight-segment series, with production to begin in Spring 2022.

As Joe Otterson wrote in Variety,

Brooks, a comedy legend and EGOT winner, wrote and directed “History of the World, Part I” in addition to appearing onscreen in five different roles. Those included King Louis XVI and his piss boy doppleganger as well as the stand up philosopher Comicus. The film also featured stars like Gregory Hines, Dom De Luise, Madeline Kahn, Harvey Korman, Cloris Leachman, and many more.

Brooks’ comedy films are consistently ranked among the best of all time, such as “Blazing Saddles,” “Young Frankenstein,” “The Producers,” and “Spaceballs.” He later adapted both “The Producers” and “Young Frankenstein” as critically-acclaimed stage musicals. He has also produced several hit films, most notably David Lynch’s “The Elephant Man.”

Brooks has not revealed the historic events that he will be spoofing in the series, but we can get an idea by revisiting some scenes from the original, as seen in this trailer. Enjoy!

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Musical Showcase: Yonina Sings Al Kol Eleh

We've been posting versions of Hebrew liturgical and popular songs by Yonina (Yoni and Nina Tokayer, a married musical duo who live in the small town of Pardes Chana, Israel.)

They have been uploading home videos to Facebook and Youtube and reaching millions. They have both been singing and writing since they can remember, and have been making music together ever since they met.

The name Yonina is a combination of both their first names, Yoni and Nina.

Here they are  singing the song Al Kol Eleh. Naomi Shemer wrote Al Kol Eleh in 1980. Like many of her songs, at first glance this seems like a naïve prayer, hoping for the best. Taking a deeper look, one discovers how the personal and the national are woven together, expressing the sentiment that has been part of the Jewish experience for centuries: a deep desire to protect loved ones, understanding that terrible things may come, praying for God’s grace, alongside the ability to accept the good with the bad. 

Here are the lyrics, in Hebrew and English. Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A Joke to Start the Week - "Chivas at 80"

It's another Monday and time for another Joke to Start the Week. Today Mickey Greenblatt is back with another good one.

Marshal (Mickey) Greenblatt received degrees from Columbia (BA and BS in Flight Sciences), a DC from Von Karman Institute (1963) and his PhD from Princeton in Aerospace Sciences. He worked as a researcher for NASA and the Naval Research Laboratory. 

With four other scientists, he founded Fusion Systems Corporation, which invented microwave-powered UV lamps for drying coatings. He founded and served on the boards of technology companies and is active in volunteer work. He served on the executive committee of the Jewish Council for the Aging of Greater Washington for many years.

Mickey also loves Jewish jokes and sent us this one to share with you. Here's the setup: A lady goes to the bar on a cruise ship and orders a Chivas Regal with two drops of water, not three. The bartender says "Whatever you'd like" and serves it to her. And then...

Enjoy!

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Jewish Traces in Unexpected Places: Shtrudl Band Sings a New Version of Hevenu Shalom Aleichem in Ukraine

In Lviv, the largest city in Ukraine, a band of musicians originally called Varnitshkes renamed themselves Shtrudl Band.

Last week they created a music video of a new version of Hevenu Shalom Aleichem composed by Parisian composer Itai Daniel. The recording was inspired by the "Teyva" Progressive Judaism Community, and all-out support of the "Dialog" program by "Libertas" Interfaith and Interreligious Center.

The musical piece is based on David's Psalm No.133 Hinei ma tov u'ma naim ("Look how good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity") and the lyrics of the Hebrew folk song Hevenu Shalom Aleichem which says "we brought you peace". 

Enjoy!

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Welcoming Shabbat with Ein Keiloheinu by Cantor Erik Contzius

Today we welcome Shabbat with Ein Keiloheinu, sung by Cantor Erik Contzius, cantor of Temple Tikvah in New Hyde Park, New York. 

Cantor Contzius, a member of the American Conference of Cantors, earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology at Rutgers College, then studied abroad at the University of York, England. 

He received his Master of Sacred Music degree from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, School of Sacred Music, studying in Israel and New York City. 

Enjoy, and Shabbat shalom! 

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Throwback Thursday Comedy Special: Morey Amsterdam on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1966

It's another Throwback Thursday and we're taking you back to 1966 when comedian Morey Amsterdam made another appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show.

Back in 2015 we posted a classic Morey Amsterdam standup routine with Polish jokes, doctor jokes, and golf jokes. This week we found another one of his routines.

Amsterdam was a great stand-up comedian in the days when political correctness was unheard of. His ability to come up with a joke on any subject earned him the name of The Human Joke Machine.

Amsterdam had his own TV shows from 1948 to 1950. Among his regular guests was song-and-dance man Art Carney. In 1950 he hosted the comedy-variety show Broadway Open House, TV's first late-night entertainment show, on NBC. It demonstrated the potential for late-night programming and led to the later development of The Tonight Show.

Enjoy!

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   #Throwback Thursday      #TBT

Wacky Wednesday Comedy Classic: Jack Benny's Security System Outwits Robber Mel Blanc

Who needs a security system when you can install a series of devices to frustrate a robber like the character that Mel Blanc, the man behind the voices of Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Tweety Bird and Sylvester the cat, Yosemite Sam, and countless other Warner Brothers cartoon characters, plays in one of the classic skits from the Jack Benny Program? 

The Jack Benny Program, starring Jack Benny, was a radio-TV comedy series that ran for more than three decades and is generally regarded as a high-water mark in 20th century American comedy. He played one role throughout his radio and television careers, a caricature of himself as a minimally talented musician and penny pincher who was the butt of all the jokes. 

In this skit from the show, Mel Blanc,  and another actor play two robbers looking for a big heist from Jack Benny's home. Throughout the robbery attempt, Benny sleeps soundly, knowing that his unique security system will give him maximum protection.

Enjoy!

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Quick on the Draw: Hasidic Rabbi Designs Special Garment for Easy Access to Concealed Firearm

A New Jersey Hasidic rabbi, Raziel Cohen, who wears the traditional long black coat called a kapota, has come up with a version that makes it easy to conceal and quickly pull out a gun. 

 As Doree Lewak wrote in the New York Post,

After he got married about two years ago and graduated to wearing a kapota, “I realized right away it was a problem,” said Cohen, 24, of the cumbersome garment, which is traditionally fashioned with buttons and a belt known as a gartel.

The issue: He couldn’t easily pull out the Glock 19 or Glock 17 he always wears during synagogue.

“When you draw a gun, you have to do it safely, quickly and efficiently — ensuring that it’s not a risk to the person drawing the gun or to those around him,” said Cohen, an NRA-certified firearms instructor.

So he designed a “Tactical Kapota” with quick-access snaps hidden under a decoy version of the buttons traditionally required for the jacket.

“People who think anyone who carries a firearm is a vigilante, that we’re looking for confrontation,” said Cohen, noting that drawing an actual firearm should be the last resort after exhausting every other layer of protection. “It’s not true. People are getting killed in synagogues and houses of worship — the places where we never want to be the most vulnerable, but are the most vulnerable. I don’t want to have a firearm in synagogue, but that’s a perfect world we don’t live in. It’s sad.”

In this video, Rabbi Cohen demonstrates his quick on the draw technique.

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A Joke to Start the Week - "Breaking the News"

It's another Monday, and time for another Joke to Start the Week. Today we're bringing you another joke told by David Apfel. 

Now living in Modiin, Israel, David Apfel is an accomplished entertainer and chazzan. He sings in several languages with repertoire ranging from the musicals to opera. He has officiated internationally at several orthodox synagogues and he also specializes in ''Kosher Komedie''.

Here's the setup for today's joke: One day Mr. Goldstein decided to send his wife to Bournemouth for a holiday. After about a day or so, he phoned Mrs. Goldstein and said to her "Becky, the cat's dead." And then...

Enjoy!

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Unexpected Traces in Jewish Places: The Gat Brothers Cover the Beatles Song "Two of Us" in a Beit Shemesh Forest

Aryeh and Gil Gat, known as The Gat Brothers and The Breslov Brothers and to some, The Amazing Rabbis, made a big hit on the Israeli TV talent show Rising Star in 2013 when they performed Simon and Garfunkel's hit Sounds of Silence before a cheering audience. 

When we posted the video here we got some of the highest ratings from our readers since we started Jewish Humor Central. We've been keeping an eye on Aryeh and Gil, looking for their performances on stage or in the streets of Jerusalem, where they sometimes take up residence on Jaffa Road and in the Mamilla Mall.

Last year they found a new location for their jam sessions -- a forest near Beit Shemesh, a city 19 miles west of Jerusalem.

In this video, they cover the Beatles' song Two of Us, from the Let it Be movie.

Enjoy!

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Welcoming Shabbat with Moshav Singing Yedid Nefesh in Jerusalem

Yedid Nefesh is a piyyut (poem) usually sung on Friday night just before the Kabbalat Shabbat (Welcoming Shabbat) service begins.
 
According to Wikipedia, this beautiful poem is commonly attributed to the sixteenth century kabbalist, Rabbi Elazar ben Moshe Azikri (1533-1600), who first published it in Sefer Charedim (published in Venice 1601), but Azikri did not claim authorship of it and there have been other suggested authors (e.g. Judah Halevi, or Israel Nagara).
  
The first letters of each of the four verses make up the four letter name of God, known in English as the tetragrammaton.

This evening we welcome another Shabbat with the lilting melody of Yedid Nefesh sung by the group Moshav, presented as a dance in Jerusalem. It starts in a dance studio, swiftly moving from professional dancers to a flash mob of dancers in the city streets and at the pedestrian mall just outside the walls of the Old City.

Enjoy, and Shabbat shalom!

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Gal Gadot Teaches You Hebrew Slang

Gal Gadot is an Israeli actress and model. At age 18, she was crowned Miss Israel 2004. She then served two years in the Israel Defense Forces as a soldier, whereafter she began studying at the IDC Herzliya college, while building her modeling and acting careers.

Gadot's first international film role came as Gisele Yashar in Fast & Furious (2009), a role she reprised in several subsequent installments of the film franchise. She went on to achieve global stardom for portraying Diana Prince / Wonder Woman in the DC Extended Universe, beginning with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), followed by the solo film Wonder Woman (2017), the ensemble Justice League (2017), the sequel Wonder Woman 1984 (2020), and the alternate cut Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021).

But did you know she can also be a Hebrew teacher, at least when it comes to teaching us Hebrew slang? In this video, Gal teaches us 14 Hebrew slang expressions and explains how they are used.

Enjoy!

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Jewish Traces in Unexpected Places: Hava Nagila in Hong Kong

Hong Kong's West Kowloon Cultural District is a center for arts and culture, education, entertainment, tourism – and a public space – all rolled into one. Its vision is to become a cultural zone that promotes the collaboration and development of local and international artists.

Last month a masked outdoor crowd gathered at the West Kowloon Cultural District to enjoy a concert by the popular Hong Kong duo Maria and Sunny that included their rendition of Hava Nagila.

This is the 99th performance of Hava Nagila that we've posted from countries all over the world and today we add Hong Kong to the list.

Maria, the lead singer of the duo, is a former winner of a Hong Kong singing contest.  She also plays the guitar, kazoo, tambourine and shaker. The genres of songs she sings range from folk songs, popular, soft rocks, soul, Asian pop and others. She sings in English, Mandarin and Cantonese. And occasionally, also in Japanese, Spanish & French. And now we know that she also sings in Hebrew.

Enjoy!

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Enjoy! 

The Best Jewish Bakery in North America May Not be in New York, but in Montreal

When it comes to delicious Jewish baked goods, it's hard to beat the goodies offered up by the bakeries of Montreal, Canada.

Whether its the Montreal style bagel, babka, ruggelach, cheesecake, or black and white cookies, Montrealers and visitors line up at the front doors of Cheskie's Boulangerie, or the competing 24 hour bagel bakeries, Fairmount and Ste. Viateur.

This love letter to the bakeries of Montreal uses video clips from Seinfeld episodes, the Yiddish shtick of the YidLife Crisis guys, and the carb-loving praises of a pair of Montrealers, one covered with tattoos and one with a long beard. 

Enjoy!

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A tip of the kippah to Mannie Young of the Men's Club of Cote St.-Luc, Montreal for bringing this video to our attention.

A Joke to Start the Week: Herring on a Train

It's another Monday and time for another Joke to Start the Week. Today Mickey Greenblatt is back with another good one.

Marshal (Mickey) Greenblatt received degrees from Columbia (BA and BS in Flight Sciences), a DC from Von Karman Institute (1963) and his PhD from Princeton in Aerospace Sciences. He worked as a researcher for NASA and the Naval Research Laboratory. 

With four other scientists, he founded Fusion Systems Corporation, which invented microwave-powered UV lamps for drying coatings. He founded and served on the boards of technology companies and is active in volunteer work. He served on the executive committee of the Jewish Council for the Aging of Greater Washington for many years.

Mickey also loves Jewish jokes and sent us this one to share with you. Here's the setup: In the 19th century an elderly Jew, Moshe Perlmutter, is traveling on a train in Poland. To eat, he's brought several herring wrapped in a newspaper. All of a sudden, a Cossack in a general's uniform enters the train compartment. And then...

Enjoy!

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Comedy Showcase: Alex Edelman on Millennials

Alex Edelman grew up in an Orthodox Jewish family and, following high school, spent a year in a yeshiva in Jerusalem. During his time, he helped to establish the city's first comedy club -- Off the Wall Comedy. 

In 2008, he moved to New York City to study English at New York University. He graduated in 2012. During college, he continued to perform stand-up and later joined Upright Citizens Brigade. 

His first show, Millennial, won the Edinburgh Comedy Award for Best Newcomer, the first show by an American to do so since 1997. 

In this video clip, Edelman tells the comedy club audience about the difficulties faced by millennials.

Enjoy!

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