The woke Jewish comedy album you’ve been waiting for is here.

Nato Green is a comedian from San Francisco, and The Whiteness Album is his second release. His first album, from 2012, deals with a a lot of similar, political material, but if you can still remember that far back, you’ll know it was a very, very different time.

And what sort of politics is that? Well, The Whiteness Album tackles gentrification, white supremacy, class revolutions, Bernie Sanders, Black Lives Matter, homelessness, immigration, Donald Trump, climate change, Nazi punching, and splitting chores with one’s spouse. If this sounds like a lot to tackle in less than an hour, you hardly notice when listening to the album. Green is non-threatening, even soothing at times. His talent is operating within the world of “punch-up” comedy, attacking those in power with teeth, but never letting vitriol get in the way of a good punchline. What could be preachy is instead a smart, but not alienating outlet for frustration with the world today.

And what’s really notable about Green’s comedy is his relationship to his Jewishness. Many Jewish comedians today only invoke their identity as self-deprecation, and punchlines about anti-Semitism are usually in the past tense. Green is here to remind us that Jews are still a marginalized group, but manages to do so with nuance.

For example, Green settles the matter once and for all: Are Jews white? He gives arguments for and against, and ultimately sums up: “Too white for the police, not white enough for the Klan.”

Jewishness comes up organically throughout Green’s comedy, because it’s part of his way of interacting in the world that’s both familiar and refreshing to hear articulated. He even laments that the left claims to advocate for oppressed groups, but that Jews are often an afterthought at best.

“They sort of work their way down the list,” says Green. “They sort of get to the bottom and say, ‘Stand up for the oppression of people with nut allergies! And people who are bad at parallel parking! And Jews, I guess.'”

Is this an album to play for a conservative relative to convince them that Black Lives Matter isn’t a racist concept? Perhaps not, but it’s likely a great album to play when you get home from a protest outside Trump Tower.

So if you want a comedy album that mentions Andrea Dworkin, the candombe dances of Uruguay, and polyamory without seeming completely pretentious, The Whiteness Album is for you. And yes, it’s on Spotify. Check it out.

Photo courtesy Nato Green

The post ‘The Whiteness Album’ Is Funny, Smart, and Very Political appeared first on Jewcy.

If you’re Jewish and you write about TV, there’s a type of show you’ve likely gotten to expect. It’s the show that’s obviously Jewy to you, but not as obvious to a non-Jewish audience. This is the category shows like Broad City and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend fall into — Jews have good reason to love their consistent references to Jewish life, but broader TV criticism doesn’t talk it up as their defining trait. “Jewish, Just For Us” is the loving term I’ve come up with for them.

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Amy Sherman-Palladino’s new Amazon pilot, is not that show. It’s “Jewish For Everyone.” It’s all Jewish, all the time.

The Gilmore Girls creator’s new series explores charming housewife Midge Maisel’s journey into stand-up comedy in 1950s New York, and it brims with joyous Semitism from the very first minute — literally. The show gets just 50 seconds in before its first jokey reference to the Holocaust, when Midge — soaking in the spotlight at her own wedding reception — mimics her dad’s reaction to wedding prices: “Do the caterers have any idea what the Jews just went through a few years ago?” Minutes later, she causes a panic by joking there’s shrimp in the egg rolls. The words “rabbi,” “brisket,” and “latkes” are repeated so many times in the episode it’s impossible to keep count. Marriage advice is framed in terms of finding the person who would hide you in their attic. And while it’s bad enough Midge’s schmuck husband leaves her midway through the episode, it’s even worse that he does it on Yom Kippur. A shonda if there ever was one.

Disappointingly, the show does suffer from the lack of ethnic diversity that’s sadly become signature in Palladino’s work. And for such a vibrantly Jewy show, it’s a little ironic to see so few members of the tribe in the main cast. Thankfully, Gilmore Girls alum Alex Borstein seems primed to correct that and take on a more central role in future episodes. But those reservations aside, the show develops into a true celebration of Jewish-American culture and a time when Jewish women specifically occupied a vibrant, brassy space in pop-culture.

Comedy nerds will likely be excited at the prospect of examining this iconic time in when Borscht Belt comedians started to define the art form, and those nerds won’t be disappointed. Lenny Bruce plays a key role in Midge’s transformation, Mort Sahl and Don Rickles get shout outs, and Midge herself is basically Joan Rivers reenacted.

This first episode was released as part of Amazon’s Pilot Season, which lets viewers vote to tell Amazon which of its new shows it should produce more episodes of. With the general buzz and glowing reviews the show is getting, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel seems likely to get picked up to series, which means we’ll probably see even more references to Jewish comedy greats in future episodes.

Who might we see next? Seeing a young Woody Allen seems likely; Rodney Dangerfield would be better. My vote goes for Sid Caesar or Carl Reiner. But with this era in Jewish history, let’s face it: it’s hard to go wrong.

Image by Sarah Shatz/Amazon Video

The post ‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’ Isn’t Just “Jewish ‘Gilmore Girls’”— It’s Better appeared first on Jewcy.

I can’t believe it’s already been five months since I took on Jewcy.  More than that, I can’t believe I’ve only written about Stephen Sondheim twice.

But it’s about time we celebrate Jewcy‘s nerdy return in person: We’re having a party.

Tu B’Av is upon us, from the evening of August 18th to August 19th. If it doesn’t ring a bell, it’s the Jewish romance holiday, when single women would wear white and go out into the vineyards of Jerusalem to dance and attract a spouse.

That’s not what we’re doing. But if you’re in the Brooklyn area, come join us Thursday, August 18th, from 8-10 p.m. as we explore what it is to be Jewish and in love. A group of talented storytellers and comedians will share their tales of love lost, found, and everything in between.

(Get it? Short performances in bites? Love bites? Also, sometimes love is awful? Also a “love bite” is slang for a hickey? Thanks, we’re real proud of that one over here.)

Feel free to wear white as is holiday custom. Or wear black. You do you.

This event is for everyone, regardless of relationship status, not another awful Jewish singles’ event (but if you do find someone, Jewcy is totally taking credit).

Admission is FREE, with a 2-drink minimum.

The venue is Halyards bar, 406 3rd Ave, Brooklyn, New York 11215.

If you have any questions at all, please email Gabriela@Jewcy.com.

You can find the event on Facebook HERE.

Image credit: Wikimedia

The post Jewcy Relaunch Event: Loves Bites! appeared first on Jewcy.

Is the Holocaust funny? That’s not a question asked too often in serious circles, but for comedians, especially Jewish comedians, it’s one of the most important things to know. The better or less outwardly problematic way to rephrase the question would be, “Is the Holocaust off-limits?” Documentarian Ferne Pearlstein addresses this very question in The Last Laugh, a feature-length documentary that had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival last week.

Who better to answer this question than some of the most notable Jewish comedians? Mel Brooks is the obvious starting point, since he was making jokes about Hitler back in 1967 when he wrote and directed the equally infamous and hilarious The Producers, in which two producers set out to make a guaranteed flop entitled Springtime for Hitler. Nearly every part of that Oscar-winning film was objectionable to someone, but it was still a hit! Brooks, who is interviewed extensively throughout Pearlstein’s documentary, explains that he knew he could get away with jokes about the Inquisition in his classic “History of the World – Part 1” because so many centuries had passed, and, as the immortal phrase says, “Tragedy plus time equals comedy.” In 1967, the Holocaust was just over twenty years old, and for many, that was enough elapsed time for them to be able to laugh.

Humor can be a therapeutic, and one of the most stirring examples presented is when “Saturday Night Live” aired its season premiere three weeks after the September 11th, 2001 attacks, and gave New Yorkers and audiences everywhere the sign that is was okay to laugh again. It didn’t mean that everyone was ready, but it meant that life could go on, and for many, comedy is the best way to deal with upsetting situations. Some comedians, like Susie Essman, argue that certain topics, like child molestation, should always be taboo, while others say that if it’s funny enough anything goes. Gilbert Gottfried, who has gotten himself into trouble for some of his button-pushing routines over the years, is one such comedian who feels that little should hold him back if he can make a joke about it.

There are those who believe that being told that anything is off-limits, whatever it may be, is akin to censorship. Sarah Silverman is interviewed multiple times throughout the film and makes a strong case for being able to say what you want and to allow others to be offended if they so choose. She also addresses the question of making jokes meant for an intelligent audience, like when she refers to the “alleged” Holocaust as a nod to the absurdity of Holocaust denial. To her, it’s worth the risk of a few ignorant people taking her at her word if she thinks it’s a funny joke. A clip of Borat singing “Throw the Jew Down the Well” argues the same point since it explicitly shows said ignorant people celebrating a song whose very purpose is to mock them— even if they don’t get it.

Then there’s the question of whether only Jews can make jokes about the Holocaust. The reasoning for such a “decree” is that there is a value to having collectively experienced something personally, and when an outsider makes a joke looking in, it can be interpreted as laughing at rather than laughing with. A few non-Jewish comedians interviewed dispute this objection, and suggest that if a joke is funny, it’s worth telling. That seems to be the prevailing thought throughout the entire film — comedy is comedy and shouldn’t be held back just because someone is offended.

Does this movie provide an answer to the question it asks? Not just one, certainly. It’s agreed that Nazis are fair game – the villains can be mocked while their victims are in grayer territory. This documentary is funniest not when it showcases the jokes about the Holocaust told by its subjects, but rather when the comedians get to be themselves and talk about how they connect to their heritage. We’re used to hearing their routines, but this feels like a more honest and refreshing take on the nature of comedy, with a few Yiddish expressions and quips mixed in.

Image: Mel Brooks in The Last Laugh

The post ‘The Last Laugh’: Is The Holocaust Funny? appeared first on Jewcy.

“New Year’s Eve is like the death of a pet,” says John Oliver. “You know it’s going to happen, but somehow you’re never really prepared for how truly awful it is.”

If you’re a human being with a modicum of sanity, you too hate New Year’s Eve. Welcome. Sit. Warm yourself by the fire of internet rage. This is a safe space for us haters to hate, hate, hate, hate the following: champagne, noise-makers, confetti, desperate kisses with near-strangers at midnight, and enforced joy at the ticking over of the clock into a regular day that just happens to be called January 1. (And who needs New Year’s Eve when there’s the prayer-food-guilt-laden-fest that is Rosh Hashanah?)

Anyway! Enough of my exasperated ranting. I’m turning the stage over to Jewish comediennes Soren & Jolles, who nail everything that is heinous about New Year’s Eve in their latest video, “An Honest New Year’s Eve.” (Avid Jewcy readers may recall their displeasure at the Anne Frank House make-out scene in The Fault in Our Stars.) Enjoy! And Happy New Year, I guess, FWIW.

The post Hate New Year’s Eve? You’re Not Alone. appeared first on Jewcy.

YidLife Crisis is a new web series that grapples with some of the great quandaries of contemporary Jewish life: Should Jews continue to practice archaic traditions? How do we define Jewish culture, which bears the influence of nationalities from around the globe? Also, how much badonkadonk is too much badonkadonk?

The series consists of four raucous, five-minute episodes written and performed by Eli Batalion and Jamie Elman, two Montreal-born actors who play Chaimie and Laizer, respectively. Each episode follows the two thirty-somethings as they grapple with their secular Jewish identity, revel in iconic Montreal restaurants, and extol the virtues of schmaltz (an absolute must, when it comes to smoked meat). This would be sufficiently wonderful on its own, but Batalion and Elman deliver something even better: the series is performed almost entirely in Yiddish.

Batalion and Elman studied Yiddish at Bialik High School in Montreal. Years after graduating, they connected in Los Angeles and began brainstorming ideas for a project that they could work on together. They knew they wanted to create a Yiddish web series, but not because they had lofty goals of preserving a “dying language.” As comic actors, Batalion and Elman were drawn to the vitality and rhythm of Yiddish, which has played an integral role in shaping humor and comedy in North America.

“I think a large part of what we’re doing here is a form of preservation of culture, but it’s not based on some sort of pure altruism,” Batalion explains. “It’s based on the fact that we just thought Yiddish was funny. Jamie and I are big fans of Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm, and that kind of comedy is built on a Yiddish style that’s coming out in English, but it really owes royalties to the Yiddish language.”

Initially, they planned to recreate classic Seinfeld sketches in Yiddish, as a homage to the language that lends its flavor to their favorite sitcom. But they soon realized that they could do more than borrow material from an existing show. Batalion and Elman applied for and received a grant from the Jewish Community Foundation, an organization that promotes Jewish culture in Montreal. Then, with some translation help from Batalion’s father, the duo started to write their own Yiddish scripts, which explored their concerns as young, secular Jews.

“The grant led us to realizations that we had about how the show could be deeper than just redoing Seinfeld sketches, “Elman says. “We could actually use the content of what we’re going to talk about in the show as a way of reaching out to other communities, and as a way of explaining our narishkeit, our Jewish neuroses, to the non-Jewish world.”

And what is it, exactly, that occupies the minds of the YidLife guys? Food, for one thing. (“It’s a Jewish show,” Elman says. “What else are we going to be doing?”) Each episode is set in a beloved Montreal eatery, as Chaimie and Laizer chow down on their favorite dishes and engage in Talmudic debates on matters of great Jewish import, like the optimal method for making bagels. They chat about beautiful women, naked selfies, and the merits of a big, um, posterior (the series is rated “Chai plus,” thanks to its racier content). It’s amusing to watch the guys work words like “badonkadonk” into Yiddish dialogue, but their lighthearted banter belies an earnest contemplation of modern Jewish life, with all its inconsistencies and hypocrisies.

In the first episode, Laizer is gorging on poutine—a very treyf Canadian specialty made with fries, cheese curds, and gravy—as Kol Nidre soars in the background. In another episode, Chaimie takes Laizer to task for eating at a Greek restaurant. “After what they did?” he cries. “200 BC? Forced conversion, temple desecration? I can’t eat this crap.” He does, in the end, after Laizer reminds him that most of his favorite “Jewish” foods—latkes, bagels, challah, Danish—were borrowed from other nationalities who, to put it lightly, had fraught relationships with the Jews. In the same episode, Laizer questions the value of continuing to practice ancient Jewish rites, like circumcision. “Is your mother Jewish?” he asks Chaimie. “Then by Jewish law, so are you. So why the schmekle chop?!”

“We’re dealing with everything with humor,” Batalion says of YidLife. “But some of the topics that are broached are fairly serious. I mean, atonement, circumcision are pretty serious acts. It’s not just that the act is serious, but the implications and the discussion about identity is a pretty serious discussion. In some way, Jamie and I grapple with it every single day.”

“I want to clarify,” Elman cuts in. “I don’t grapple with Eli’s circumcision in any way, shape, or form.”

Yiddish might seem like an anachronistic choice of language for a series rooted in a very twenty-first century medium, but it works. During the filming of YidLife’s first episode, Batalion and Elman performed their dialogue twice: once in English and once in Yiddish. The French-Canadian staff of the restaurant where they were shooting watched the English take with little reaction. But they started cracking up when Batalion and Elman performed the sketch in Yiddish.

“They were laughing the whole time we were doing the Yiddish, even though they couldn’t understand a word of it,” Elman says. “And in fact one of our camera guys—he’s a French-Canadian guy—was laughing during the take. I said, ‘Why is this so funny to you?’ He said, ‘Oh, it just sounds funny. It sounds like Seinfeld.’ And we knew right away that we were doing it right.”

Related: New Web Series Celebrates Poutine, Lactaid, and Jewish Angst—in Yiddish
Jews, Proselytizing, and Comedy Collide in ‘Jewvangelist’

The post Spotlight On: Eli Batalion and Jamie Elman of “YidLife Crisis” appeared first on Jewcy.

About that mawkish make-out scene from The Fault in Our Stars movie: no, say comedians Tracy Soren and Jessie Jolles. Just, no. And we in turn say: thank you, Soren and Jolles. God bless you. At long last, that cheap, sentimental ploy for feeling gets the irreverent smack-down it deserves.

“Do you need a lesson in Judaism?!”

“Rule number one: Don’t kiss in the Anne Frank House.”

“Rule number two: Don’t clap in the Anne Frank House.”

(Image: YouTube)

The post Rule #1: Don’t Kiss in the Anne Frank House appeared first on Jewcy.

We know we just restarted Genesis in synagogue, but part 3 of episode 24 of OMGWTFBIBLE is out now! This week (a little late), Y-Love and David Tuchman get deep into Parshat Va’era, the second portion in Exodus, reading all sorts of wonderful, no-good, very bad plagues.

That’s right: this week, Moshe, everyone’s favorite desert wizard, unleashes all sorts of biological weirdness on the population of Egypt. And Egypt’s magicians do the same for some reason. Check it all 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.

Check back here in a week for the next installment of OMGWTFBIBLE. David will be reading the next live show with Rishe Groner at Beauty Bar on October 27!

Related: Hip Hop Artist Yitz “Y-Love” Jordan Discusses Being Black, Gay, and Jewish

The post OMGWTFBIBLE: A Plague On Your House! appeared first on Jewcy.

Biblical things actually happen this time around, we promise! As a pre-Sukkot treat, part two of episode 24 of OMGWTFBIBLE is available early! This time around, Y-Love and David Tuchman finally get to the parts in Parshat Va’era (the second portion in Exodus) that matter: Moses’ magic tricks.

And with them come all sorts of questions.What exactly does Moses’ staff turn into? Is he a wizard? How many Harry Potter references can we fit into a single podcast? Check it all out below!

Note: Y-Love sang at the live show. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to record his music well enough to share it online, so it’s been edited out of the podcast. All the more reason to come to the live show if you live in New York. You never know what you’ll miss!

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.

Check back here in a week for the next installment of OMGWTFBIBLE. David will be reading the next live show with Rishe Groner at Beauty Bar on October 27!

Related: Hip Hop Artist Yitz “Y-Love” Jordan Discusses Being Black, Gay, and Jewish

The post OMGWTFBIBLE: Moses Has a Magic Staff appeared first on Jewcy.

What’s an apikores to do on Yom Kippur? If you were an anarchist in London, New York, or Warsaw in the early 20th century, there’s a good chance you would have attended a Yom Kippur ball for the express purpose of eating, drinking, and thumbing your nose at tradition and the religious establishment.

The creators of the new comedy series YidLife Crisis have captured that heretical spirit, added a dash of irony and Yiddish profanity, and served it up for free online—with a side of poutine.

YidLife is the brainchild of Canadian comics Eli Batalion and Jamie Elman, who play Leizer and Chaimie, respectively. The web series follows the two thirty-somethings as they contemplate the modern Jewish condition against the backdrop of Montreal’s iconic restaurants. The best part? YidLife’s dialogue is spoken almost entirely in Yiddish.

In “Breaking the Fast,” the first episode of the series, Chaimie tries to persuade Leizer to ditch the whole Yom Kippur thing and indulge in some poutine, which, for the uninitiated, consists of French fries slathered in cheese curds and meat-based gravy—essentially a very delicious, very treyf heart attack in a bowl. Leizer doesn’t need much in the way of convincing, though he makes sure to keep his cheese curds and gravy separate. As Leizer himself puts it (in Yiddish), “If I have to break the fast, fine, but I will not mix milk and meat!”

Watch  “Breaking the Fast” below, and stay tuned for an interview with Batalion and Elman!

Related: Jews, Proselytizing, and Comedy Collide in ‘Jewvangelist’

The post New Web Series Celebrates Poutine, Lactaid, and Jewish Angst—in Yiddish appeared first on Jewcy.