Lisa Kudrow is known worldwide for her part as Phoebe Buffay on the best not-so-good show ever, Friends. And, because I am a Friends addict—I DVR it, I have the DVDs (they were a gift, I swear)—I tend to forget about the person behind the character. Lucky for me, and for all other Friends enthusiasts (we’re in this together), Kudrow was interviewed in the Saturday Evening Post, discussing anti-Semitism, the Holocaust, and her nose job.

On the Holocaust:

Since I was a kid I had seen documentaries about the Holocaust, and I read what I could about it. I watched World at War—remember that series? They had a number of episodes on the Holocaust. There was some pretty graphic stuff in there. I took a lot of Jewish history classes and studied Hebrew for two years in college. But the striking thing to me is that while I studied it, I never applied it to my own family history. So I didn’t have to be burdened with the nightmare of what happened to people I knew. Then as I got older my grandmother told me it was Hitler who killed everybody in her family, and that’s the first time I came face-to-face with it. In my fully denial state of mind it was, “No, no, we’re not part of the Holocaust.” But I learned we are.

On anti-Semitism:

Yes, I have. In college there was more anti-Semitism than before college, because there were people who never met a Jew before. A friend of mine, when she found out I was Jewish, said, “Really? Oh, I don’t like Jews.”

On her nose job:

That was life altering. I went from, in my mind, hideous, to not hideous. I did it the summer before going to a new high school. So there were plenty of people who wouldn’t know how hideous I looked before. That was a good, good, good change.

You should read the rest of the interview here. And, since it’s National Cat Day, watch Phoebe’s famous “Smelly Cat:”

(Photo by Bravo/Getty)

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• It’s official: Hanukkah ham is back for another holiday season. [Snope]

• Adam Levine really expletive hates Honey Boo Boo. [GQ]

• But Honey Boo Boo loves Israel! [Mako]

• Ray from Girls, aka Alex Karpovsky, stopped by the Rookie treehouse and gave some grown man advice. [Rookie]

• Seinfeld beat out Friends for the honor of best sitcom ever. [Romenesko]

• From Day 2 of the best Les Mis advent calendar ever, Jason Segel and Paul Rudd singing “Confrontation.” [Vulture]

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Now that summer is, for all intents and purposes (if not yet officially), over, all our favorite TV shows are on their way back from their all-too-long summer hiatus. Schmidt will be Schmidt and a slightly more mature Rachel Berry will make her NYADA debut. Eli Gold will continue to spin everything and who knows if Dr. Cristina Yang will be back (well, IMDB does). And while we can’t wait for all that, we interrupt your regularly scheduled programming to take a look at this season’s potential Network Jews. Not the ones that have warmed their way into your heart through hours of watching and rewatching, but the ones who might have that honor if they don’t get prematurely canceled. We’re the first to admit that it’s difficult to judge a character by a four-minute promo, but we won’t let that stop us.

Partners, CBS: Perhaps the Jewiest Network Jew on the horizon is David Krumholtz’s Joe on CBS’s Partners. It doesn’t hurt that Krumholtz (who we love as Joseph Gordon Levitt’s guide in 10 Things I Hate About You, but you may know from Numb3rs) is actually Jewish and grew up in Queens. From what we can glean, Partners is about two guys (one who wants to marry Alyssa Milano when he grows up—that would be Krumholtz—and the other who wants to marry Bette Midler—that would be his stereotypically gay best friend Louis, played by Michael Urie of Ugly Betty fame) and their joint architecture firm. Just kidding! It’s about their relationship drama, or really Krumholtz’s hesitation to propose to his non-Jewish girlfriend Ali (shouldn’t Ted Mosby make a cameo at some point?)

The trailer seems to harp on this proposal (leading to such lines as “that’s what your shmekel is telling you”) and the ensuing catastrophe typical of such shows, but in the end all is right in the world and the only drama that’s left is trying to figure out how Joe and Louis’ relationship will harm Joe and Ali’s relationship (oh, did we mention she’s played by Sophia Bush?).

Jewiness: Hesitation about intermarriage? Check. Words like shmekel? Check.

Watchability: Do you really want to watch Micahel Urie talk about David Krumholtz’s shmekel? Or Sophia Bush in general? We didn’t think so.

The Mindy Project, Fox: This may be more of a supporting role, but we’re hoping that Richard Schiff, you know, that Sorkin Jew, will have a larger place in the hospital of Fox’s The Mindy Project. Granted he only has about two lines in the pilot episode (available now on Hulu). Sample: “You are eight and a half months pregnant. You’re husbands gotta keep his schvantz away from you.”

Jewiness: Even with his limited dialogue, Schiff manages to throw in a schvantz joke. Yep, that’s another Yiddish word for penis. Oh, and he’s a Jewish doctor, enough said.

Watchability: We’ll always give Mindy Kaling a chance (especially now that she’s done with The Office).

Go On, NBC: We’re going to go out on a limb here and guess that Laura Benanti’s Lauren Schneider on NBC’s Matthew Perry-starring show, Go On, is Jewish. After all, Matthew Perry is no stranger to playing a character with Jewish friends. While there are no versions of the Yiddish word for penis to help us out, we have faith that Season 1 won’t disappoint.

Perry plays a sportscaster who is dealing with the death of his wife and is forced by his boss (or so it seems from the pilot that NBC “sneak-previewed” after the Summer Olympics—which and is now available on Hulu) to attend mandatory counseling. For reasons that aren’t exactly clear, instead of paying for therapy (he appears to be relatively well-off), he decides to attend day-time sessions of group therapy at what can only be described as a community rec-center (during the same time slot there seem to be a group of sci-fi/war re-enacters). Enter Schneider, the groups not-so-put-together leader (who we imagine will play some sort of love interest will-they-or-won’t-the couple with Perry’s character) who has no formal training (aside from Weight Watchers) to guide her. Hilarity will (we hope) ensue.

Jewiness: Unclear, we’re guessing (hoping!) that Schneider is Jewish, but so far there’s no proof.

Watchability: Channeling a bit of Chandler’s sarcasm and throw in the hodge-podge friendships of Community, we’re definitely giving this show a chance.

Who’d we miss and who are you looking forward to watching? Let us know in the comments.

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There are two types of people in this world: Those who will proclaim, loudly and often, that Seinfeld is the greatest sitcom ever created, and those who will audibly agree—but secretly prefer Friends.

Any self-respecting MOT in the second group should feel especially ashamed. After all, Seinfeld is practically the televised equivalent of FUBU—or perhaps FJBJ. Though the phenomenally successful series was and is popular among latke-eaters and mayo-lovers alike, many of the series’ most famous episodes—the one with the chocolate babka, the one with Elaine’s shiksappeal, the one with the mohel, for Chaim’s sake—are unapologetic about their Semitic bent. Bright, silly Friends, by contrast, seems blandly all-American, utterly nondenominational—goyish, even.

And yet Seinfeld’s white-bread cousin was created by two Brandeis grads, composed by a writing staff that was “a third to half” Jewish, and largely populated by archetypes familiar to anyone who’s ever logged time at a Jewish summer camp. There’s Rachel Green (Jennifer Aniston), the spoiled JAP with a heart of gold and a fixed nose; her best friend Monica Geller (Courteney Cox), the formerly overweight, hyper-competitive neurotic; and Monica’s older brother Ross (David Schwimmer), the nerdy nebbish with a mournful look and an unfortunate fondness for hair gel.

Though any Jew worth her weight in geldings would recognize these three as kindred spirits, a casual, gentile viewer could go years without realizing that one half of the whitest sextet on television is secretly ethnic. Rachel, Monica, and Ross’ Jewishness is tacit rather than Seinfeld-ishly explicit. It peeks through via their last names, their Long Island origin stories, their fondness for quips, and their difficult relationships with their mothers.

But if your average viewer were forced to choose which Friends character seemed most Hebrew, chances are he’d immediately point to Ross. The series’ unlikely romantic lead has the stereotypically dark looks of what Granny Hall would call a “real Jew.” His intellectually focused profession (paleontologist), whiny voice, and emasculating history (married a lesbian, played the bagpipes, got stuck in a pair of leather pants) also mark him as a classic schlimazel.

Yet even Ross almost never acknowledges his Jewish background. In a way, this makes sense: Ross is an academic first and foremost, meaning he’s much more likely to lecture his pals about evolution than to discuss Talmud. It’s no coincidence that the one time Professor Ross does speak openly about his Jewish heritage—in Season 7’s “The One With the Holiday Armadillo”—he has an educational mission: He’s trying to teach his son Ben about Hanukkah.

Ben, an assimilated kid weaned on Christmas specials and red-and-green wrapping paper, proves a hard nut to crack. So Ross quickly gives up his quest and resolves to rent a Santa suit instead—only to find none available so close to December 25. Friends isn’t exactly known for verisimilitude; rather than visiting another store or nixing the costume altogether, Ross opts for an unconventional outfit and appears to Ben as The Holiday Armadillo. Cue laugh track.

The Holiday Armadillo does manage to achieve Ross’ goal, imparting Christmas tidings as well as the story of Hanukkah—with a few twists, thanks to his well-meaning but dense Catholic friend Joey (Matt LeBlanc). (Says Matthew Perry’s Chandler when the tale is over: “My favorite part was when Superman flew all the Jews out of Egypt!”) The gang ends the episode by lighting up a Hanukkiah—only to forget entirely about Hanukkah when the next season’s “holiday” episode rolls around.

Ross’ blatant addressing of his family’s Judaism is clumsy and goofy; each time Jewish actor David Schwimmer says the word Hanukkah, he sounds like a Spanish instructor deliberately pronouncing the word fajita. Perhaps, then, it’s for the best that his—and Monica’s, and Rachel’s—religious background went mostly unremarked upon throughout Friends’ run. It’s more fun to play a game of “Spot the Tacit References” than to wince at benevolent but awkward attempts to make the implied explicit.

Previously on Network Jews:

Dr. Glenn Richie, the Jewish doctor on Childrens Hospital

Jeremy Goodwin, the wide-eyed Wunderkind on Sports Night

Harry Goldenblatt, the unlikely Casanova on Sex and the City

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If you’re the type of person who likes to compare all your friend-filled sitcoms to Friends, you might want to dismiss Max Blum (Adam Pally) as a classic Joey. The writers of Happy Endings are on to you and have already made that joke, calling him fat Joey. But he’s also gay Joey, funny Joey, and most importantly, Jewish Joey—he’s also just plain better than Joey. Yes the Happy Endings pilot was about as bad as a Jennifer Aniston rom-com (it even starts with a runaway bride—yep, just like Friends), but, if you stuck around, you’d know that the show is truly amahzing.

Happy Endings is a six character ensemble comedy (yep, just like Friends) with four great characters (in addition to Pally, Eliza Coupe and Damon Wayans Jr. play a hilariously eccentric couple and Casey Wilson—who was dismissed from SNL after one season—plays an aggressively single abbreviator) and two not-as-good characters (the runaway bride Elisha Cuthbert and her former fiancé Zachary Knighton haven’t completely found their groove just yet). In a show like this there’s always the schlubby, less successful, but ultimately more entertaining character: that’s Max. He’s done everything from buying a limo and driving around Chicago as an unlicensed tour guide to competing with Coupe’s character Jane to see who would survive longer in the event of a zombie apocalypse. In a recent episode we also learned that Max hibernates for the winter, just like a bear: he won’t shave, he won’t shower, he won’t even speak. You know, normal things.

Since we started with the Friends comparison, we might as well continue with a New Girl one: The mostly jobless, chubby Max is the anti-Schmidt. Instead of wearing trendy running shorts, Max will stage an intervention to get you to stop wearing your deep v-neck. Instead of worrying about his physique, Max will get a tattoo of a taco to ensure free tacos for life. As much as I love Schmidt for his insanity, I’d love making fun of him even more with a friend like Max. Despite that, or perhaps because of that, Emily Nussbaum (who is basically Jewcy’s TV spirit guide) said she would want to be him if she could be any character on TV. (Well, after Leslie Knope from Parks and Recreation, but who doesn’t want to be Amy Poehler?).

No profile of a good Jewish boy would be complete without mentioning his mother, and we do get to meet Max’s parents on their annual visit to Chicago in the first season. The episode, called Mein Coming Out, focuses on Max’s hesitation to come out to his parents. His sexuality is a running joke on the show: the other characters often mock his total lack of “gayness,” asking him if he’s sure he’s gay after a particularly bro-y comment or action (there are many). This conveniently lets the show’s writers remind the audience that not only do they have a black character (and an interracial couple!), but they have a gay Jewish one too. While I’m often tempted to be slightly offended by their not-so-subtle reference to popular stereotypes, somehow, it seems to work. Their poking fun at Max’s sexuality just demonstrates how it is a footnote in his personality, hardly the most obvious (or interesting) thing about him.

Back to the episode—it is, of course, full of all the Yiddishisms a person could want: You got punim, shiksa, even pish. Wilson’s character, Penny, who in the past had posed as Max’s girlfriend, can’t help him out because she has a date. (Completely unrelated to Max, save an excellent end-of-the-episode punch line, Penny date is named Douglas Hitler.) In a state of desperation, Max asks Jane to help him out, later explaining, “My mom is Jewish, if I don’t find someone soon, she’s going to start setting me up with one of her friend’s single daughters … Try going on a six-hour architectural tour with Miriam Schechter’s niece, Chuchel.” (For the record, we’ve never met anyone named “Chuchel,” though we’re rather fond of the name Miriam.) After a series of events, he does ultimately come out to his parents, and on cue his mother tries to set him up with the son of one of her friends.

Sadly the excellent Krav Maga episode (in which Penny develops an alter ego, “Shira Abromovitz”) does not feature any martial arts moves by Max, but does feature a classic Happy Endings-style explanation of Yoni that I feel like sharing: Hebrew for god’s gift, in Sanskrit, means genitals. The show is very invested in this name-dropping brand of Judaism, and Max is an excellent vehicle for sharing them. It’s difficult not to notice the three-letter Hebrew tattoo on Pally’s chest spelling out “Asher,” (something he’s chalked up to as a childhood mistake) and the show runs with it. In response to the earlier-mentioned taco tattoo, Jane, demonstrating her Jewish wisdom, proclaims “Wow, you really don’t want to be buried in a Jewish cemetery” (Urban legend!). At the end of the episode in which he buys the limo, Max presents his rent money with a story about selling his beanie babies and driving Dr. and Mrs. Rosenberg back and forth to shul in time for havdala (“by the way, Jews are actually excellent tippers”).

If that’s not enough to convince you of Max’s glory, I’ll just leave you with this Season 2-ending performance by Mandonna:

Previously on Network Jews:

Seth Cohen, The O.C.’s loveable dork

Hesh Rabkin, Jewish Loan Shark on The Sopranos

Eli Gold, The Good Wife’s Political Operator

The post Network Jews: Max Blum from Happy Endings appeared first on Jewcy.

• Ben & Jerry’s makes charoset ice cream.

• Reduced sodium gefilte fish!

• Sweden has a ‘damn Jew’ problem.

• Monica almost played Rachel on Friends?

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