Not since Shalom Sesame’s very special, very memorable Hanukah episode has Sesame Street excited us so. Today, one of the greatest days of all, we get to watch “Homelamb,” Sesame Street’s parody of our favorite show, Homeland. There are so many sheep puns that we’re announcing the suspension of our usual Bovidae coverage.

Even as a lamb, Carrie Mathison can’t get enough of Special Sheep Agent Nicholas Ba-a-a-a-rody, a wolf in sheep’s clothing (you’ll see). Watch, enjoy, and we’ll be ba-a-a-ck (not sorry) shortly with Alexis Gutter’s recap of the real Homeland.

(Still image from YouTube)

The post ‘Sesame Street’ Does ‘Homeland’ appeared first on Jewcy.

Purim is upon us, and as with any Jewish holiday these days, that means viral videos. This year’s bunch has everything: stars, snacks, and the return of the foul-mouthed Bubala Please guys. Also a lot of old-timey Jewish background music.

Here are the poppy seed season’s most noteworthy videos:

The Family-Friendly: Maya Rudolph stopped by the set of Shalom Sesame with a riddle—what has three corners, three sides, and a sweet middle?

As Cookie Monster eloquently puts it, “Hamentaschen is one of me favorite cookies! (Om nom nom.)”

The Master Class: Joan Nathan shows you how to make the ‘ultimate hamentaschen‘ in a Food 52 and Tablet collaboration.

Feeling inspired? Try her recipe.

The Delightfully Festive: In what feels like a Woody Allen movie, the Aish Center set up a booth outside of Zabar’s and traded hamentaschen for jokes.

The highlight is probably the one about Levi moving to Israel and getting stuck at customs with five sets of dentures.

The Hamentaschen How-To: Chavie Lieber and Beryl Shereshewsky bring some DIY flair—and dancing hamentaschen—to JTA’s easy-to-follow video recipe.

The bright-colored bowls are, sadly, sold separately.

The very, very NSFW: Bubala Please is back with another bizarre rap, this time about “homies noshing hamentaschen.” Here’s hoping the word ‘Jewgina’ doesn’t catch on.

Which is your favorite?

Previously: The Top Five Jewish Viral Videos of the Year

***

Like this post? Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get new Jewcy stories in your inbox every Thursday.

The post The Top Five Purim Videos of 2013 appeared first on Jewcy.

The following is by far the most exciting and important celebrity interview we have ever scored: Grover.  Granted, he is my favorite Sesame Street character, and I am the proud new father of a two-and-a-half month old baby boy, but still – I challenge you to think of a more timeless living subject.  Naturally, I compiled a list of the 300 or so most important questions I have always wanted to ask Grover.  How has he sustained his fame?  How often does he wash his fur?  What did he do for Passover this year?  How come the 1983 LP “The Best of Grover” has seven songs on the first side and eight on the other?  Did he realize how mind boggling that was to someone who was just learning to count when he recorded it?  The list goes on…

When I was informed that I unfortunately would not be able to hang out with Grover for the full week I had requested, I decided to focus on Grover 2011.  Enjoy!

Jacob: Who is your favorite celebrity?

Grover: It is so hard to choose a favorite when I have met so many nice and wonderful people at Sesame Street and Rechov Sumsum.  You know who was really funny? Jake Gyllenhaal.  He hid the Afikomen and then forgot where he hid it. Sounds like something your cute and furry pal Grover would do, no? At least we are both loveable.

Who was the tallest celebrity you met?

I would have to say my new friend Amar’e Stoudemire is the tallest celebrity, maybe even the tallest person I have ever met!  Amar’e and I played some hoops in The Arbor at Sesame Street! I am pretty sure I surprised him with my sweet moves. Look out New York. Here comes Grover, baby!

Were you surprised he/she was so tall?

I was very surprised!  And Amar’e was impressed by my beautiful and luxurious blue fur.  Wouldn’t it be funny if I was his height and he had my color fur?

Speaking of which, how tall are you?

It is not the size of the monster that counts. All that matters is that I am very cute, very furry, and very blue. I am a monster of perfect proportions!

If you could have dinner with any celebrity couple, who it be and why?

I would have dinner with Idina Menzel and Taye Diggs and I would take them to my favorite place, Charlie’s Restaurant. And seeing as how I also happen to be a very talented waiter, I would take the pleasure of serving us myself!  I know they are allergic to chicken and shrimp from when they last visited Sesame Street so I will be sure to keep them away.

Has Super Grover ever met Superman?

Hmmmmm, that is a good question. Super Grover has never met Superman, but I am sure that if we do meet, we will have a lot of super important, super-secret things to talk about.

Do you follow any celebrities on Twitter?

You can check me and my furry and feathered friends out in all our 140 character glory, coming to you live from Hooper’s Store. Being a waiter, a superhero, a global traveler and a loveable monster takes up a lot of my time so I have not had time to peruse other pages yet.

Shalom Sesame is now available on DVD.  Check out awesome new clips on YouTube.

All images used by permission, TM and © 2011 Sesame Workshop. All Rights Reserved.

The post Jewcy Interviews: Grover appeared first on Jewcy.

• “The Americans said that if there was embarrassment, it was important for Israel to know that this was not their intention.”  The countdown begins for the next set of Wikileak documents.

• The Daily Beast says “So Long, Ahmadinejad.”

• Jerry Seinfeld: Crasher of comedy shows.

• Is Cookie Monster the next Betty White?  We really hope so.

The post Daily Jewce Black Friday Edition: New Wikileaks, Ahmadinejad On His Way Out?, Cookie Monster And More appeared first on Jewcy.

Ask a Jewish kid who grew up in the ’80s for their favorite examples of Jewish popular culture from that era and you’re certain to encounter fond memories of Muppets with a penchant for Hebrew, Jewish holidays and gloriously bad puns. Often they’ll give you just two words: “Moishe Oofnik!”

Your likely trigenarian would of course be referring to Oscar the Grouch’s Israeli cousin and the best-selling Jewish video series of all time, Shalom Sesame. Shot in 1986, and then again in 1990, the Children’s Television Workshop (now Sesame Workshop) production combined segments from the classic Sesame Street with those of its Hebrew-language counterpart, Rechov Sumsum, mingling elements of Jewish and secular culture for American Jewish audiences.

Now, just in time for the prior generations’ viewers to share it with their own children, Shalom Sesame has returned for the first time in twenty years with a DVD collection slated for release this Hanukah. The new series follows our familiar friend Grover to Israel, where he joins the cast of Rechov Sumsum, as well as Jewish celebrities like Jake & Maggie Gyllenhaal, Ben Stiller, Natalie Portman and Matisyahu, in learning about Jewish and Israeli culture.

Of course no introduction to Jewish culture would be complete without a lesson in the value of repairing the world. In the episode “Mitzvah On the Street,” a storm makes a mess of Sumsum Street, creating an opportunity for the Shalom Sesame characters to help their friend Avigail learn about mitzvot like “helping each other out” and “taking care of what’s important to us.” Together, they sing and learn about engaging in tikkun olam, repairing the world, or as Avigail says: “We help the world when we help someone do what they can to make things right.”

That’s pretty good for a three year-old purple monster!

You can learn more about the series at the Muppet Wiki or pre-order now on DVD.

The post You’re Never Too Old To Watch Shalom Sesame’s “Tikkun Olam Song” appeared first on Jewcy.

Recently, I heard whispers of a new production of Shalom Sesame, the 1980’s series that introduced countless American kids to Kippy ben Kipod, “Rubber Duckie” overdubbed in Hebrew as “Barvazani,” and a pre-SATC Sarah Jessica Parker.  Jews and Muppets, together again!  My dream of working with Ernie–first crushed by a visit to a depressed Greenwich Village puppeteer as a teenager–would finally come true!

Try as I might, though, I was not able to convince Sesame Workshop that the scene their new series needed most was Balkan Beat Box dancing in front of Hooper’s Store.  I guess a beat boxing grouch was enough for them.

All that said, the first 2 DVDs from the ambitious new series have just been released (our friends at Tablet had a sneak peak of an animated clip about Talmudic scholars Hillel & Shammai) and along with them, a round of exceptionally awesome Jewy tshirts.  The shirts feature Grover, Elmo, Cookie Monster, Zoe, and Oscar.

Jews: we like to claim what’s ours and now that Grover is a Super Mensch, we can proudly call him a member of the tribe. Our friends at Modern Tribe have a some of the designs, but Super Mensch seems to only be available direct from the source.

The post Grover’s Jewish Backround Exposed On New Shalom Sesame Shirts appeared first on Jewcy.