Everybody knows that there are a number of instances when “Jewish” precedes the words “comedian” and “writer.”  There have been a lot of funny Jews.  We’re good at a lot of things, but writing and making people laugh are two that we seem to be most adept at, and seems to get us the least amount of flack.  Lenny Bruce as a funny Jew seems to go over better than the picture of the Jewish banker, or the Jewish guy who supposedly controls the media.  That’s probably why it makes sense that Andy Borowitz–a Jew who’s equal parts smart and funny–was the man put in charge of putting together The 50 Funniest American Writers for the folks at the Library of America.  The book is stuffed to the brim with Jewish writers like Philip Roth, Sloane Crosley, and Calvin Trillen, and even includes the classic National Lampoon graphic that asks “Are Jews White People?”  and then answers “Technically, yes, but…….”

Sure, it’s an anthology of writings from the last 150 years, but by celebrating two of the best things about Jewish culture in one compact package,  The 50 Funniest American Writers might be the most Jewish book of the year

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In essence, Larry David is Che Guevara for the Urban Jew: a freedom fighter for the neurotic.  Thus far this season he’s called out two major modern social infractions.  By the end of this season we’ll come up with a list of the most important things shed light upon by this season of Curb Your Enthusiasm. The “watch my laptop,” for instance has become one of the most pervasive social chafes of our time, however it’s fairly new, birthed as a result of technology, but the “chat and cut,” has existed since days of the Vikings, when Sig The Destroyer would pretend to recognize Thor from the hunt in order to cut the line for mead.

This week, Vance became a veritable Newman in Curb land; unable to keep a decent vow of silence, even with his constant mouthing.  Vance ends up breaking his vow of silence to taddle to Larry and Jeff for eating the dog’s last meal (a scene comparable to “Who’s On First” with it’s old school slapstickery.)

The idea of treating a dog to a last meal contributed to one of the overarching themes of this week’s show: people who treat their dogs like humans.  Do vets actually make the same money as regular human doctors?  Who sits shiva for a dog?  Certainly your dog didn’t have a bris, did it?  Larry also squares off this week against poor parkers and good old Richard Lewis who insists that official confirmation is needed for lunch date to be set.  Yes, it was another week of Larry sticking his nose in other people’s business while at the same time, trying to keep other people’s noses as far away as possible from his own.

Oh what a tangled web Larry weaved.  This week, Larry ended up doing what so many of us before him have done: telling a little lie to avoid minor unpleasantness only to end up in complete upheaval.  In order to avoid having to run one of those egg in the spoon relay races as part of a benefit for a colleagues son, Larry claims he’s temporarily moving to New York.  For most of us, this kind of lie would result in weeks of taking long out-of-the-way drives to work, and avoiding our favorite restaurants, but for Larry David it means actually having to move to the opposite side of the country.

Larry’s loss, our gain.  Curb Your Enthusiasm, in all it’s glory is a “Jew Out of Water” type of series.  We as Jews obviously can thrive in LA, but it’s not what the lord seems to have intended for us.  We belong in New York for a host of reasons, not the least of which is the Chinese food.  Curb Your Enthusiasm in New York City is likely to be the best thing that could happen to the show.  Whether it’s people’s inconsiderate umbrella wielding, having conversations at the top of the subway steps or strangers sitting on your stoop to eat lunch, the complaint fodder is endless.  Give us your bald, your tired, your huddled complaining masses.  Give us Larry David.

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• Israeli Prime Minister Benjami gets remixed to bad techno music.

• In case you’re curious what Drake is up to between now and the October release of his next album, Take Care, here you go.

• Jews and gypsies hanging out together in Hungary.

• Amy Winehouse was trying to adopt a 10-year-old from St. Lucia before her July 23rd death.

• Even though we’re happy that the Israeli law of return means more American basketball players can play over there, it makes us realize that there probably isn’t going to be an NBA season this year.

The post Daily Jewce: Techno Bibi, Drake’s Forthcoming, Amy Winehouse’s Kid, Israeli Hoops, And More appeared first on Jewcy.

Since we were off for the July 4th weekend, we were unable to discuss two very important birthdays that took place while we were watching fireworks and grilling hot dogs.  July 3rd marked the 128th birthday of Franz Kafka.  Nothing too Kafkaesque ended up happening, but we’ve already got a long enough list of things that fall under that category, so we’re good to go.

And while we were celebrating the birth of the USA, another milestone went somewhat unnoticed: the 84th birthday of Neil Simon.  Saying Simon is a giant among living American playwrights is an understatement.  He is easily one of the all time greats among Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, and Eugene O’Neill, and I move to carve out a tiny bit of our Independence Day celebration to watch the 1988 film adaptation of Biloxi Blues starring Matthew Broderick and Christopher Walken.

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Seth Fried, whose book The Great Expectations is fantastic, talks to Largehearted Boy about music he likes.

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And finally this week, Emily Gould has gone into the e-book business.

The post The Weekly Yiderati: 128 Years Of Kafkaesque, Celebrating Neil Simon, Emily Gould Selling E-books appeared first on Jewcy.

• Jason Segal talks Muppets.  We gotta ask a rabbi if getting Kermit and Miss Piggy back on the big screen could be considered a mitzvah.

• Jewish college hoops star, Jon Scheyer, goes from Coach K. (that’s Mike Krzyzewski of Duke University in case you don’t like sports) to Maccabi Tel Aviv.

• Speaking of Tel Aviv: old ass photos of the Israeli city are up for sale.

• Ten overlooked Jewish heritage sites you might want to check out.

The post Daily Jewce: Muppet Mitzvahs, Jewish Hoops, Old Tel Aviv, And More appeared first on Jewcy.

I expected to find a line out the door, but when I showed up to the movie theater on that cold December day — instead I got a dozen senior citizens and me who had purchased tickets to see Steven Spielberg’s Munich.  That was it.  Aside from me, there was nobody who wasn’t eligible for AARP.  When the movie ended, all you could hear was a few throats being cleared, an old woman weeping, and a man grumbling that he wanted his money back.  The movie was bad, the experience was depressing, but a few months later, I found myself watching the movie two more times on separate occasions.

A few years later, I sat in a similar looking theater, anxiously awaiting the scene where “Bear Jew” caves in a Nazi’s skull with a Louisville Slugger.  As Eli Roth swung the bat, I nodded in appreciation of his work.  I mouthed along the quote; “Teddy fuckin’ Williams knocks it out of the park! Fenway Park on its feet for Teddy fuckin’ Ballgame!  He went yard on that one!” I knew all the words to my favorite scenes, because that was my fourth time paying to see Inglourious Basterds, and to date I’ve seen it nine times.  You want to know what sort of human sees a movie nine times in less than five yeas?  I’ll tell you who — a guy who really likes films about Jews getting revenge.  If there is promise of Jews killing people who have done them wrong, I will probably pay an absurd amount of money to see it the day it comes out, because man do I love watching Nazis and terrorists getting shot.

With all that said, I’m no expert on Jewish revenge films, nor will I come out and say that the recently released X-Men: First Class is the best film to ever come out showcasing characters who are out for Third Reich blood, but damn did I wish Magneto killed more Nazis.  In fact I’m going to come out and say that the most recent X-Men film was the greatest comic book film adaptation to ever showcase Nazis dying that I’ve ever seen, and that I will gladly watch it again and again.  Offer me free tickets and all the popcorn I can eat to go see the upcoming Captain America film and I’ll laugh in your face, but I will watch young Magneto squeeze the helmets of SS soldiers over and over and over again.  Why – because Magneto’s a Jewish character, and Captain America is some WASP jock with a Frisbee, and I love watching Nazis die ten times more if it is at the hands of Hebrews

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Totally hypothetical here: if I’m your everyday Left-leaning American, and I’m on the fence about my support of Israel, then Glenn Beck, Newt Gingrich, Michele Bachmann, and Sen. Joe Lieberman, aren’t exactly the people who are going to sway my decision to become more supportive of the Jewish state.

On the flipside: while Dana Milbank of The Washington Post thinks Beck and his gang of pals hanging out in the Holy Land is a “shanda,” I gotta hand it to the Right, and say that it’s a pretty brilliant move.  I don’t really see any Democrat-led version of this taking place in the near future.  And with President Obama and his party supposedly facing a big decrease in Jewish support going into an election year, maybe it’s actually time for the Left to realize that Beck taking his schtick to Israel might actually have an even bigger impact on poll numbers in the future.  Not necessarily on the Americans who already base much of their decision on which candidates are supportive of Israel and which aren’t; but rather the undecided folks who might see this as the reason to cast their vote for the G.O.P.

I’m going to have to grudgingly give this point to Beck and the Republican Party.

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How great were Community and Parks & Recreation last night? Super great, right? It would be hard to sit through last night’s Community and not feel like you were watching history. The fake clip show conceit was one of the genre redefining ideas that they seem to come up with once every five episodes or so. Then there was Parks & Rec, which at this point seems incapable of putting out anything but perfect sitcom television. Seriously, they haven’t had a down episode since season two’s premier. Yet, last night didn’t belong to them – regardless of Jeff’s genius speech collage or Tom calling noodles “long ass rice” – because The Office and 30 Rock are the bigger-ticket shows and had important episodes.  As was the case with last night, sometimes they suffer as a result of what comes along with this stature.

Tina Fey makes it pretty clear in her incessantly book-toured new memoir, Bossypants, that no one, her included, expected 30 Rock to last past its first season, so it reaching 100 episodes is a big deal (fat syndication checks for all). Along the way, regardless of merely solid ratings, it has grown to be one TV’s most culture penetrating shows. All of this pomp left both 30 Rock and TGS’s 100^th episodes feeling a bit uneven. It’s hard for a show that is so beautifully callous to act nostalgic (Community’s explosion of the flashback earlier didn’t help matters). 30 Rock is not at its best when it has to do these big episodes, as an occasion tends to clog up the joke machine.

The Office usually handles big episodes deftly but huge guest stars not so much. Celebrities are harder to integrate into the show’s humble universe. Take Will Farrell’s arc, because the show has failed to ground Deangelo in its reality thus far, after two episodes, he is mostly a distraction. His scenes celebrate the departure of Steve Carell the actor more than Michael Scott the character. Yes, it is always fun to see two comedic powerhouses do what they do best together but it’s not worth it if it takes away from opportunities for something a bit more earned.

Take the two conference room scenes, Michael trying to teach Deangelo how to banter definitely delivered its fair share of laughs (“where were you on September 11^th?”) but it was trumped by the staff’s Rent infused tribute. It was a display of how great The Office is at these honest yet silly moments and how sensational an actor Carell is. He is a real deal movie star like Alex Baldwin, Tom Hanks, or Will Farrell yet in that moment he sank back to into that character as anonymously as seven years ago. With one episode left it is moments like this that are truly a tribute to both Carell and the iconic character he defined.

Community and Parks might have been better and unduly overshadowed but with one episode left of Michael Scott we have to take this moment while we can. Depending on how many lyrics of “La Vie Boheme” you still have memorized, this clip is possibly NSFW, as crying weirds your boss out.

The post Jews Watching TV: The Post “Bossypants”/Post-Michael Scott Thursday Night Era appeared first on Jewcy.

I’ve finally found that nice Jewish girl that I want to marry and make nice little Jewish babies with, and last week we told the world that we plan on one day doing all this.  Without getting too sappy or sentimental, hearing her say yes was the greatest feeling in the world, and all the mazel tovs never get old.

Now the dust has settled, and we have to start planning the actual event.  If you’ve ever had to plan a Jewish wedding, you might know that it is a process unlike any other.  Everything you ever thought you knew about wedding planning by watching movies like Father of the Bride (a movie I love without any hint of shame) should be thrown out the window because what I’ve learned so far is that a Jewish wedding that tries to adhere to traditions and customs is a much different animal than you might think. Here are the three most interesting things I’ve learned so far.

1.  The Hora Factor.

When searching for a proper Jewish wedding venue, this is a killer.  If you plan on having two separate horas for men and women, you will probably put the kibosh on 85% of the venues you look at specifically because they won’t accommodate two large circles of sweaty dancing people.

2. The Jewish Boom Boom Room

I don’t remember learning about how Jewish weddings work when I was a kid, so when I kept hearing about this mysterious “yichud room,” I finally had to ask, “What the heck is a yichud room?”  Of course, not wanting to seem stupid, I didn’t ask a person, I asked Google.  Here is the answer.

If you’re too lazy to click, a yichud room is where the bride and groom hump for the first time, while dozens of hungry people await them to finish up so they can eat their meal.  This is both the most awkward and hilarious sounding thing I can imagine.

3.  Dead Grandmothers Will Want Bigger Diamonds

I can’t stress how incredibly important liking your future in-laws is.  I am lucky enough to really, really like the family that I’m becoming a part of, and I’m not just saying that because my future mother-in-law is an avid Jewcy reader (hi Harriet); I totally 100% mean that.  I like her even more because she had a dream where her late mother came to her and told her that her granddaughter needed a bigger diamond in the engagement ring.  Knowing Jewish tradition, my girlfriend’s love of diamonds, and having seen Fiddler on the Roof at least twenty times, there was obviously no arguing this, and I’m happy to say that everybody is satisfied with the final result.

A few weeks later when my fiance asked her father if he had heard about his wife’s dream, he replied “that’s funny, because your mom’s dead grandmother came to her mother in a dream and said the exact same thing.”

The post My Big Ol’ Jewish Wedding: The Hora Factor And Bigger Diamonds appeared first on Jewcy.

• The poorest place (on paper) in the United States isn’t Detroit, and it isn’t some ghost town in the West, it’s the mostly Hasidic New York village of Kiryas Joel.

• The left and right clash in Israeli rally to support Palestinian state.

• The story of Exodus can teach us a lot about warfare.  Danger Room discusses how.

• Israeli slasher film, Rabies, makes its Tribeca Film Fest debut.

• James Frey writes the final testament of The Bible.  The Guardian doesn’t like it.

The post Daily Jewce: Poor Hasidic Towns, Pesach Warfare, Israeli Slasher Flicks, New Bible Testament Sucks, And More appeared first on Jewcy.