Sukkot is probably my favorite Jewish holiday because we get to build a temporary structure, a sukkah, to live in—and decorate!—for a week. (More about why we do that here.) Traditionally, Jews adorn their Sukkot with posters of the ushpizin, the seven biblical “guests” who we invite to join us on each night of the festival. Not surprisingly, the ushpizin are all men: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Joseph and David; the most revered dudes in the Torah. No ladies—until now.

Rather than invite seven biblical men to my sukkah, I decided I’d invite the Jewish female comedians and characters I’ve been most into this year, and throw together some posters to honor them.

I think the temporary/pop-up nature of Sukkot lends itself to a pop-culture influence, where the guests you welcome one year might not be the same ones you welcome the next. Last year I honored the cast of Girls. This year I’ve been pretty obsessed with Broad City, and continued to cultivate my enduring love for Lena Dunham, Sarah Silverman and others.

So without further ado, here are my ‘Ushpizienne: Class of 5775’: Lena Dunham, Amy Schumer, Abbi Jacobson, Jenny Slate, Ilana Glazer, Sarah Silverman, and Yael Stone.

Don’t forget to ‘hack into booth city’:

And—why not—the cast of Girls, from last Sukkot:

Download large versions of all images for your sukkah (or permanent four-walled residence) here.

Ari Perlow is an antipodean Jewess who is obsessed with vegan analogues and digital media. She co-hosts the podcast Yeah Nah But and tweets at @ari_perlow.

The post Decorate Your Sukkah With Your Favorite Jewish Comediennes appeared first on Jewcy.

30-year-old Manhattan native Josh Ostrovsky, AKA The Fat Jew, is a thrice-kicked-out-of-college performance artist with 1.3 million followers on Instagram. He’s what your parents might call a meshuggeneh—but a very rich one. The 6-foot-2 humorist, known for his vertical ponytail and absurd public antics, gained mainstream notoriety last summer when a video of him leading a group of homeless people in a Citi Bike ‘Soul Cycle’ class went viral.

Only in America can The Fat Jew be everything that The Fat Jew is: over-indulgent and borderline-psychotic, but with an original, twisted wit that has companies like Virgin Mobile paying him big bucks to sit in a bath of ramen noodles. With an “anti-how-to” book in the works and scripted shows sold to both Comedy Central and Amazon, The Fat Jew is more than just an Instagram sensation—he’s the CEO of an ironic personality cult based on utter insanity.

We met at the DMV on 34^th st and 9^th ave, where Ostrovsky takes meetings and “gets things done” thanks to the roomy seating and arctic air-conditioning (and also because he can scream on the phone about anything). Post-interview, I got him to do some killer yoga poses outside Penn Station, where we breathed in the glorious fumes of passing buses and a halal cart.

What’s a day in the life of the Fat Jew?

I wake up, sometimes in my bed, sometimes face down in Queens. I don’t know how—sometimes I just end up in Queens. I’m like, where I am? Oh yeah, in fucking Queens. Cause like, how did you get to Queens? I can imagine how I got to Brooklyn, but how did I get to Queens? I basically avoid doing adult shit at all times.

What about when you have to pay your bills? Do you sit down and do that?

No, I have an intern. Chu Chu, my bisexual Filipino intern. He goes to the New School and gets college credit for this. I sign some paper and write him a performance review.

I spend most of the day just thinking of awesome shit to do. Now I have a book deal, so I’m doing that. It used to be that just Virgin Mobile would pay me to fill a Jacuzzi up with ramen and sit in it.

How did it get to the point where Virgin Mobile wanted to pay you to sit in a ramen Jacuzzi?

Because brands are just into crazy shit now, because the kids are into that. There’s so much shit on the Internet; nothing is ever crazy enough. At this point I have a loyal following of runaways, weirdos, and goths.

You’re like their god.

Totally. A brand will say: “You have a big following of gothic Hispanic millenials, which is a demographic we really would love to try to target,” and then they’ll just pay me to do some shit. At this point, they don’t even care; I can pretty much do whatever I want. If I want to fill a hot tub with gazpacho, that’s fine—if I want to rent a Ferrari and throw a cheetah in it for no reason, down—they don’t care.

Does that surprise you?

Yeah, it wasn’t always this way. Even five years ago they didn’t really get it, now they do.

Well, now you’ve built yourself up to the point where people besides freaks know you.

Totally. It’s not all just goth Dominican teens. Now there are moms and dads.

And you must have all the Jewish girls on your shit thinking you’ll be their big Jewish baby daddy.

Yes—I’ve got Rachels and Laurens for miles. I’m the Magellan of Rachels. I also have a lot of Liats and Yaels; got it all.

And now you have a book deal. Cha-ching.

Yeah, so now I’m getting paid to basically write, so I’m trying to develop my methods. I’ll light a bunch of scented candles and sit naked and work on my book.

It’s basically going to be the anti “how-to” book. I’ll tell you what you shouldn’t be doing; you shouldn’t use a Doritos bag as a condom with a rubber band—it’s not going to work to prevent pregnancy. I’m like the fuck-up older brother you wish you had who could have told you what not to do. If you wouldn’t have done it, your life would have been amazing. I’ve professionally made bad decisions; so learn from that.

Did the book people contact you?

A bunch of people reached out and said I should probably be writing some of this shit down. At this point there’s so much ridiculous shit, and the world needs to see this. I’m basically the new James Joyce.

You sound like Kanye right now.

Yeah, that’s what I’m trying to do. He’s like, ‘I’m the new Shakespeare meets Steve Jobs meets Hilary Clinton,’ which is a dope thing to say. Like, what? But me, I’m basically the new Shel Silverstein—who by the way, my mom fucked.

No way.

Swear to god. In like, 1970.

What’s the deal with your TV show?

I sold a show to Comedy Central. It’s basically about what you’re asking me about. When you take a piece of social media and the end result is me in a nacho cheese fountain with Tyrese—how did I get there?

And sometimes the process leading up to that is not that hilarious—it’s kind of dark—it has a Louie element to it. Sometimes it’s fucking weird. Basically when you’re of the Internet and you don’t do one thing in particular—like, I’m not solely an actor or a writer—you can kind of do anything. Stella Artois just flew me to Cannes to pour rosé on myself and stand around.

So everyone was just super rich and doing crazy shit?

It was just so ridiculous. These Saudi dudes found me and were just like ‘we want to be around him!’ and inducted me into their entourage. I ended up on a yacht party with them, and they told me to come to the back room. So I assumed it was going to be a room full of gold bullion and missiles, and whatever they do in Saudi Arabia, and there was just a live ostrich, and they said, ‘look at it.’ You couldn’t even touch it; they just wanted people to look at it.

Did you always think you’d be famous for just being you?

Yes, sort of. I felt like it would come around. This is still relatively a new thing. Even 10 years ago, to be famous, you had to be on a reality TV show.

Instagram has really skyrocketed your fame.

Initially I thought Instagram was the wrong medium for me, because it has so many rules. I got kicked off three times, and the last time I protested outside their offices and chained myself up. And then I was like, maybe this isn’t right for me—I can’t put up my crazy photos. But then I realized that toning it down a little bit was opening me up to a more mainstream audience. I just can’t put up photos of birthday candles jammed into somebody’s dick hole, lit. That’s won’t fly, but I can still put up kinda crazy shit. Crazy enough for most people.

When you put up tweets from certain celebrities—are they real?

A lot of the tweets are fake. I had some 16-year-old build a program that generates super-authentic looking tweets. Some of the celebrities who I’ve made fake tweets for have come up to me and said they were ridiculously awesome. Like Snoop. He said, “Yo, I’ve seen some of your fake tweets, and I wish I was tweeting that stuff.” There were a couple he wasn’t feeling, but he was much more up on it than I thought.

Now that I’m writing a book, everything is just for inspiration. I’ll put up on Twitter, “If you’re under 20, and Puerto Rican and want to go boogie boarding today, meet me at the beach.” And 12 kids will show up, and we’ll just chill. And that could be inspiration for a chapter. I also do some serious stuff; I run a soup kitchen in Brooklyn.

Are you serious?

No I’m just kidding. Come on; stop. I mean someone should do that, but not me. Also, my dog has a popular Instagram. I’m running a full-scale business of insanity. A sex toy company in Belgium recently hit me up and asked me to be the face of their company; they said I could have a custom toy. Last year we released 1,000 shirts to homeless guys with my face on it. My mom, in her old Jewish woman accent said, “I think I just saw a homeless man in a shirt with your face on it.”

Were your parents really chill growing up?

No, they were uptight doctors. Then they retired and moved to Santa Fe and got so weird. They’re all leather bracelet, bolo ties, denim, and cowboy boots.

I think they’re swingers. They’ll smoke a quarter of a joint, walk the dog for two hours; they’re very Santa Fe. There’s a lot of Jews there. It’s kind of like pre-Boca. My parents retired when they were 50. You go to Santa Fe to tide you over for 20 years. Ten years ago my dad was wearing sensible Rockports and doctors gadgets.

Do you think that has to do with you being so openly insane?

I think it helps. But he’s fucking Russian, like for real. The idea for him, that what I do can be something someone does for a living—for him it was literally like, ‘I don’t even know what you’re saying, what are you trying to do?’

And then one day—I used to be in a rap group called Team Facelift, and we laid a lot of groundwork for shit that people do now, like Riff Raff and Odd Future, we rapped with transvestites, we were on MTV a whole bunch of times. We did all these spots for The Hills, and after that, a check came to my house. I was out all night at a rave, and he opened the check, and it was a Fed Ex thing for $15,000. And I think at that moment he realized I wasn’t just a psycho.

I’m sort of being taken seriously, and sort of not, and it’s so fucking weird, everyday. And that’s all I ever wanted. I wanted everyday to be different. And every day is massively different—except that bowl of cereal in the morning.

You have to have some daily rituals.

I smoke cigarettes a lot. So that happens everyday. The writing is going to be a bit more foreign. They’re going to give me an advance check, and I’m renting an office building in Detroit. Fifteen stories, completely abandoned, but with all the shit in it—dazzling—for $8,000 a month. I’m going to do it for three months. One floor to write my book, and others to do whatever I want. I’m going to turn it into a factory of fucking insanity. I’m going to have a whole floor of garbage, sand, kiddie pools, nectarines… It’s sort of a twist on people renting a cottage in Montauk to write their book; I’m getting an office building in Detroit, because why the fuck not?

What’s the best thing about being Jewish?

Jewish summer camp. There are basically no Jews who don’t go to camp. I learned every single thing I know at Jew camp. I haven’t learned one thing since the day Jew camp ended. How to unhook a bra with your teeth, how to do a roundhouse, how to jerk off on your top bunk so silently and with so little motion that they guy doesn’t wake up on the bottom. I was so Jew camp scene; I went to Eisner Camp.

And your name was inspired from a counselor at camp, right?

Yes, him and this famous pornographer, NYC legend, Al Goldstein. Him and that dude were my inspiration. They were just fat, loud Jews who gave no fucks. Like ‘most people are gonna hate me, but I’m going to do whatever I want.’

What’s the worst part about being a Jew?

Having a dick that looks like a rock shrimp. Also being an old Jew. If you’re an old Christian dude, you can get old, get a motorcycle, and still do killer shit. But the older you get as a Jew, the more you’re just in bad shape. All you talk about is the humidity and how expensive New York is. You just can’t help yourself. As much as I know that I don’t want to be like that, it’s in the genes. Can’t escape it. My parents are always taking about the weather. So not looking forward to that.

I think being an older Jewish woman is cooler. But I’m not down with the chunky-funky necklace Jewish mom jewelry scene. My mom will wear a chunky necklace that looks like it’s made out of found garbage, and it’s like $8,000 from some Dutch artist. It literally looks like trash. So Santa Fe.

What would be your pre-electric chair meal?

I’d want an oil drum full of chopped liver, and cigarettes. If I could chain smoke and be eating chopped liver—kill me; take me now. If I had one more option, I’d probably have a Chilean seabass in a wasabi reduction with a saffron risotto. And a nice vintage Shiraz with hints of leather, oak, and fruit. I’m super tasteful.

http://youtu.be/24jiCZpdNZI

(Images by the author)

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OMGWTFBIBLE is back and diving into Exodus! This week, David Tuchman reads some Bible with Mordechai Levovitz of Jewish Queer Youth. Just how devious does Paraoh get this week? What centuries-old disagreement did the sages have about the elasticity of his daughter’s arm? And why in the world hasn’t this show been making stereotypical French jokes about Rashi for years? Find out below!

David Tuchman translated the Tanakh as a comedy and called it OMGWTFBIBLE. Each month on his podcast, he calls up a different guest to read as many chapters of OMGWTFBIBLE as they can while they both make fun of it.

Jewcy is the proud (internet) co-host of OMGWTFBIBLE. Read more about the project here, and listen to previous episodes here.

David will be reading the next live show with Y-Love at Beauty Bar on September 22.

(Image: The Finding of Moses)

The post OMGWTFBIBLE Podcast: In Which a Lot of Drama Goes Down For Our Hero Moses appeared first on Jewcy.

Have you ever wanted to hear an incredibly irreverent translation of the Hebrew Bible read live in the back of a bar? Well, now’s your chance! OMGWTFBIBLE, David Tuchman’s lovingly comedic new version of the Tanakh, is starting the book of Exodus.

This month, he was joined by Mordechai Levovitz of Jewish Queer Youth as they read and made fun of the first chapter from that epic novel which became a movie starring Paul Newman Exodus. Below, you can listen to the first installment of this month’s show, where David discusses JQY and religion with Mordechai and they begin the reading.

David Tuchman translated the Tanakh as a comedy and called it OMGWTFBIBLE. Each month on his podcast, he calls up a different guest to read as many chapters of OMGWTFBIBLE as they can while they both make fun of it.

Jewcy is the proud (internet) co-host of OMGWTFBIBLE. Read more about the project here, and listen to previous episodes here.

David will be reading the next live show with Y-Love at Beauty Bar on September 22 at 8pm.

(Image: Christian Bale on the set of Ridley Scott’s Exodus, via Empire.com)

The post OMGWTBIBLE Podcast: Let the Exodus Begin! appeared first on Jewcy.

Almost two years ago, I got the crazy notion that it would be a good idea to write my own original translation of the Hebrew Bible. And, since the Torah is read aloud in synagogues each Shabbat, my translation had to be read publicly, in front of a live audience. And since it’s the 2010s, it also had to be recorded as a podcast. The show started on October 15, 2012 at the Parkside Lounge with writer Joe Winkler in front of a curious crowd of friends and family.

22 months later, in front of a packed house at Manhattan’s Beauty Bar, I put to rest the first book of my translation. To celebrate, I collected all my previous guests (either live or prerecorded) to read pieces of the trippy blessings Jacob gives his sons in the final chapters of Genesis. Anchored by the reading of the very talented Julie Sugar, it was a heck of a night, all preserved in podcast form.

Before the reading began, there was a moment of reflection. Reversing how this usually goes, Julie took on the interviewer role, and asked me about my translating, “Has anything surprised you about this process, about your relationship to all this stuff, over the last two years?” My answer began:

I’ve been surprised at how close I’ve gotten to it. Like, I think when we started doing this, and I’ve listened to the older episodes somewhat recently, I was a lot angrier about it and a lot like “ah, this is ridiculous.”

To hear what changed, my first memory of Torah, my thoughts on the concept of God, and, of course, the jam-packed reading in this extra-long episode, listen here:

Bringing this show to life has been an incredible journey, during which I’ve learned more than I ever expected. At this crucial juncture, I’m asking listeners to partner with me to generate the funds to keep the show going. That’s why I’m launching an Indiegogo campaign to cover the cost of the show and a whole lot more. Below, you’ll find a video where I make my pitch. If you’d like to donate or share the campaign, please visit the Indiegogo page here to become a partner in this project.

What do you think of Jacob’s blessings and of Genesis so far? Let us know in the comments.

David will be hosting a public mocking of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” at Beauty Bar (231 E. 14th Street) at 8:00 PM on July 28, and will begin Book Two of his translation at the same location on August 25.

Jewcy is the proud (internet) co-host of OMGWTFBIBLE. Read more about the project here, and listen to previous episodes here.

Image: Jacob Blessing the Sons of Joseph, Rembrandt

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Mark Normand is the most Jewish non-Jewish comedian you’ll ever meet. The 30-year-old New Orleans-native has been making waves on the comedy circuit for six years, and now he’s opening for Amy Schumer, performing stand-up on Conan, and running two weekly podcasts. A comedy CD is due out in late June, and he’s set to appear on Comedy Central’s Half Hour on July 18.

The talented performer plays up to five shows a night, and gets shaky like an addict if he can’t get on stage at least twice an evening. We spoke about his love for Jewish girls, the trials and tribulations of writing comedy material, and why he feels like he’s more Jewish than gentile.

Tell me a bit of your bio. Where did you grow up? How did you decide to pursue comedy?

I grew up in New Orleans, also known as “boozy town.” I was in a weird group of guys, lost my virginity when I was 16 to a 45-year-old in the French Quarter. It’s too much there for a kid; you grow up fast. It’s like growing up in Vegas, but less douchey. I went to college there and lived in a house with five guys. We had a hot tub, a beer pong table; it was just that kind of lifestyle; sad, gross, and fun. I did a lot of theater as a kid and made movies, but when I hit adolescence I stopped caring. I knew I wanted to do something creative and in showbiz, but I didn’t know what it was yet. I grew up loving the Marx Brothers; Groucho is my number one. I think he’s the funniest guy on the planet.

I started to watch a lot of the movies again, and decided I loved comedy and wanted to be a comedian. But then I was like, I love Woody Allen, I should be a filmmaker! So I dropped out of college and enrolled in the New York Film Academy on a whim, and I went and I hated it. I hated dealing with the light guy, the grips, and the actors were horrible. So, I started doing open mics at night while in school, and I then I knew I found what I wanted to do. School ended, I moved back to New Orleans, I was depressed, and I knew I should be back in New York City. So I started doing standup in New Orleans and running shows and driving three hours to do this show and that show, then I saved up $800 and moved up here. I moved to Crown Heights, got mugged three times in a year, my landlord died of AIDS, and there was a pigeon in my apartment the first night. Now I’m a full-time comedian, living the dream.

As a comedian do you find that it’s annoying to keep reusing your best material, in the same way a musician has to sing their hit song a million times? Or are you sated by the positive response you know you’re going to get from the audience?

You can get to hate doing the material over and over, but that’s the beauty of stand up. The only way a joke works is if someone hasn’t heard it. So you can do five shows and it’s all different audiences, and always fun to see how they react. So, it’s kind of annoying, but if it’s a different crowd, then you think, ‘oh they really liked that one, they really hated that one.’ So that makes it a bit more tolerable. But, I’m a big fan of doing new stuff. I have to keep writing. I hate these guys who’ve been doing it 10 years and say the same shit over and over. Once you get to a certain level as a comedian, you can’t really bomb. When you bomb, everyone thinks “wow, this guy’s slipping.” So I think some people just like to play it safe and do the same things over and over.  You gotta polish that act! But it is so hard to write a good new joke.

What’s your writing process like?

Some days I’m just gushing out material, like “This is great!” And then of course, there are days when it’s not flowing. I write everyday for an hour and a half. I just think of something wacky, jot it down, play with it in my room, and talk it out. Look at this; I have thousands of notes.

You should get a notebook!

I have one, it’s just all full! This whole list is probably a thousand jokes, and only about 60 work. It’s so much trial and error, and it’s such a long process. You write it, you think you have something good, then you take it to the stage and it bombs. Then you go back home and tweak it, then you get a chuckle. Then you go back and work on it more and gauge the jokes on the audiences’ response. And then it’s just that, for years.

You love Jewish girls. What’s the attraction?

The look is perfect for me. I like the darker complexion; I like a schnoz, the dark wavy hair. Jewish girls seem to be a little more straightforward and clever. If I go on a date with a non-Jewish girl, my jokes tend to go right over their head. Jewish girls get the jokes! And I’m not saying I need a hilarious girl, but I need somebody who gets stuff. So it’s the whole package. I like a woman who has been oppressed a little bit. Keeps you on your toes, keeps you realistic.

What do you identify with about Judaism?

I think it’s the minutiae. I think about all the little things, and I know Jews are big into that. Seinfeld, Woody Allen, Larry David, all these guys focus on the little stuff. I don’t care about politics or religion; I care about the fact that this table we’re sitting at is wobbling. And also Jews worry about everything, and I worry all day long. So, I think there’s a bond there. And all my heroes are Jews. It was just a coincidence. It’s not like, oh he’s a Jew, bring ‘em in! It just happens that all the comedians I like are Jewish.

Who are your comedy heroes?

Larry David is my all time favorite. He’s the only guy I watch and laugh out loud consistently. Also, Groucho, Woody Allen, and Seinfeld.

Do you think being paid to be politically incorrect and completely honest is one the best jobs ever?

Yes I do. I love that. I think that’s why people go to comedy shows, and why people love comedy. It’s the only place where you can be completely honest. I’ve been fired and yelled at during jobs for saying “real things,” not PC things. And its like, you all agree with me, you know what I’m talking about, I’m not just a crazy person ranting. So that’s what always bugged me. I hate that big lie we all live everyday. You hear about a celebrity saying something, and people think, “oh boy, he’s a terrible person.” And it’s like, no, you’ve definitely said that at a barbeque. I think comedy is important; it’s the only thing that’s real. You need to hear the truth, just so you know you’re not crazy. I think that’s why I got into comedy in the first place.

Have you had an “I made it” moment?

I’ve had a couple. I used to work as a janitor during the day, and the day I quit felt better than getting my TV credit from John Oliver show. Then I opened for Amy Schumer at Hofstra, and it went really well. We hit it off, and she emailed me a bunch of dates around the country, and I was like ‘oh my God, this is crazy, I’m making money to do comedy on the road.’ And then being on Conan was really big.

Tell me about your podcasts.

I have two. I’ve been doing We’re All Friends Here, for six years with my friend Matt Ruby, a big Jew! We interview comedians about the dirtiest things in their life, like rape, drug abuse, alcoholism, sex, etc. Since it’s in front of a live audience, it gets quite real and gritty. Comics are dying to do it. We’ve had some really fun guys like Pete Holmes and Donald Glover. And the other one is called Tuesdays with Stories with my friend Joe List, not a Jew. Every Tuesday we talk about our week on the road and tell stories. Stuff like, who’d you have sex with, how were the audiences, did you get in a fight?

Would you ever leave NY, or is it the best place for comedy?

No, it’s the best, hands down! I go to LA to visit; I’m doing Conan again next month. There’s like a handful of good comedians in LA, New York’s got hundreds. In LA most of the comedians want to be actors, it’s terrible.

Related: Spotlight On: Jessie Kahnweiler, ‘Dude Where’s My Chutzpah’ Filmmaker
Spotlight on: Brad Wollack, Comedian and Chelsea Handler Sidekick

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Michael Malice went to Pyongang, sifted through piles of English-language propaganda, and wrote “Dear Reader: The Unauthorized Autobiography of Kim Jong Il,”a first-person account of North Korean history written in the voice of its late leader. He also joined me at Beauty Bar on Monday night to read a few chapters of OMGWTFBIBLE. Which was more terrifying? You’ll have to listen to find out.

This month on the show, we read about Joseph’s revelation of his identity to his brothers (and what a revelation it was!) and the anticlimactic aftermath. We learned about the not-quite-democratic political system Joseph imposed on famine-stricken Egypt. How does it compare with Kim Jong Il’s North Korea? Michael Malice has the scoop.

What do you think of Joseph’s decisions? Listen to the podcast and let us know!

David Tuchman translated the Tanakh as a comedy and called it OMGWTFBIBLE. Each month on his podcast, he calls up a different guest to read as many chapters of OMGWTFBIBLE as they can while they both make fun of it.

Jewcy is the proud (internet) co-host of OMGWTFBIBLE. Read more about the project here, and listen to previous episodes here.

Also! Big news! On June 23 OMGWTFBIBLE will be wrapping up Book One with a technicolor reunion show featuring every previous guest at Beauty Bar at 8:00pm. 

The post OMGWTFBIBLE podcast: Author Michael Malice on Joseph vs. Kim Jong Il appeared first on Jewcy.

Have you checked the weather yet this morning? You might want to check again. Weatherfrom.com provides hilarious weather forecasts from a senior citizen called Gigi, who—with her golden hair, gigantic diamante ring, and sassy attitude—is the quintessential Jewish-American bubbe. (To wit: “You know when God gives you hail, it’s like free ice. So put it in your drink, so you don’t use up all the good ice.”)

Here’s how it works: you go to the website, enter in your location, and receive one of 35 auto-generated weather videos, each about a minute long. Gigi—who is actually NUMB3RS actor David Krumholtz in mesmerizing drag—then tells you exactly how miserable you’re going to be that day, rain or shine. Sure, it’s the sort of borscht belty bubbe-schtick we’ve seen before, but Krumholtz executes it to perfection, right down to Gigi’s shaky hands and subtle eye-rolls. A thoroughly entertaining morning diversion.

http://youtu.be/p5yNxS5Z7mY

Related: Watch Three Bubbes Read the Lyrics to Beyonce’s ‘Drunk in Love’

Image: Weatherfrom.com

The post Weatherfrom.com: Sassy Weather Forecasts From Your Bubbe appeared first on Jewcy.

Carl Reiner—comedy legend, avid tweeter, and Hillary Clinton supporter—turns 92 today.

Reiner was born in the Bronx in 1922 to Irving and Bessie, Jewish immigrants from Romania and Austria, respectively. He stumbled into the entertainment industry by accident when his brother told him about a free drama workshop being put on by the Works Progress Administration. (Thank you, Roosevelt!) Originally Reiner aspired to become a serious dramatic actor, but he switched to comedy during WWII, when he worked as an entertainer in the U.S. army. And the rest, as we all know, is history—he went on to star in Your Show of Shows, create The Dick Van Dyke Show, and play the straight man, brilliantly, to Mel Brooks’ 2000 Year Old Man:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGTPPrkgovw

In 1943, Reiner married Estelle Lebost, a visual artist (and later, cabaret singer). They had three children and were dedicated to each other until Estelle’s death in 2008. (Fun fact: director son Rob cast Estelle in When Harry Met Sally, where she famously delivered the “I’ll have what she’s having” line.)

Last year, in an interview with Moment Magazine, Reiner mused on the connection between Jews and comedy:

I think all people who are victims of prejudice, downtrodden people, have two things to do: They can moan or they can make fun, they can lift their spirits by finding the humor in the horror, and the Jews have been able to do it since Moses’ time. Some of the greatest comedians of all time were black: Burt Williams—he was a Broadway star in the Follies—Eddie Murphy, Bill Cosby and, of course, Chris Rock.

On God, he had this to say:

I became an atheist after Hitler came. I said, what is this? If there was a God, would he not be hearing 18 million people, 16 million Jews, or 20 million other people, saying, “Please God, don’t do this, make him stop?” God was so busy doing what? Striping zebras or fixing the long necks of giraffes?

And, happily, his friendship with Mel Brooks endures. They have dinner together every night, where they kvetch about their physical ailments and talk about what’s good on TV (they’re both fans of  Downton Abbey). Says Reiner of Brooks, “I’m so in awe of his brain that I flatter him within an inch of his life. And I mean it. There’s nobody like him.”

Until 120, boys.

p.s. Bonus clip! Carl Reiner tells William Shatner about his father’s insane but ingenious do-it-yourself dentistry. Amazing anecdote.

Related: The Last Of The Old Jewish Comedians: An Interview With Drew Friedman
Watch the New Mel Brooks Documentary Online

The post Comedy Legend Carl Reiner Turns 92 Today appeared first on Jewcy.

Have you ever faked Hebrew at synagogue? C’mon, we’ve all done it. You’re always nervous that the wannabe rebbetzin in the wide-brimmed hat will call you out during the Amidah, but she won’t—because she’s probably faking it, too.

If you’ve faked it, or you know someone else who has faked it (sorry, orgasms, your terminology has officially been reappropriated for matters of prayer), you should watch “Fake Hebrew” by Ariana Seigel and Emma Tattenbaum-Fine of Comediva.

Pray on playas.

The post Watch ‘Fake Hebrew’ by Ari and Emma of Comediva appeared first on Jewcy.