More! Weird! Podcasts!

There have only been five episodes of the show so far, so it’s not too late to get in on the ground floor of The Orbiting Human Circus (Of the Air). The show is part of the Night Vale Presents network, of which the titular podcast has also included Jewishness before (Remember when Cecil Gershwin-Palmer learned an old prayer in “Torah school”: “Where everyone just shouts, “De-fense! De-fense!” while clapping in rhythm?”).

Part of The Orbiting Human Circus’s appeal is that it’s rather difficult to describe, but it’s best summarized as the ongoing adventures of behind-the-scenes of the world’s most famous (fictional) radio program, broadcast from the Eiffel Tower, centered on the exploits of the Tower’s janitor, a put-upon young man named Julian. The podcast is also filled with segments from the titular show-within-the-show, which is usually quirky music or some form of experimental storytelling.

Julian is portrayed by show creator Julian Koster, who is best known for his involvement with Neutral Milk Hotel— that’s right, the band most known for their album that features Anne Frank as its central figure.

If there’s anything Jews like, it’s finding a Jewish connection to secular culture (take this article, for example). And, so, in the second episode of Circus, the show within the show references an ongoing series on the “formative influence of Judaism on rock and roll.” And who better than to demonstrate? Mandy Patinkin as 1920s cantor Moishe Lebowitz. Yes, this podcast got Mandy Patinkin to sing in Yiddish a song in the style of cantorial greats that sounds vaguely like “Surrender” by Cheap Trick. As previously stated, the show is rivetingly weird.

Another episode features the Alicia Svigals Klezmer Ensemble (Svigals is a big name in the scene). Plus, there are other little references, like bit characters “Brooklyn bagel bakers,” who speak in thick Yiddish accents (voiced by one Khayim Wolff, according to the show’s website). And the holiday episode featured Jewish author Larry “Ratso” Sloman as the Jewish protagonist of a Christmas story.

What’s also arguably Jewish about the podcast is its setting— while it avoids giving itself a specific date (and its world is obviously more fantastical than our own), there’s something European, cosmopolitan, and nostalgic about it. It’s like a dieselpunk France populated by the most interesting and colorful of characters. It’s diverse beyond Jewishness (one Roma character has made a brief appearance), and, so far, no mention of war or grand-tragedy. Listening to The Orbiting Human Circus is settling into a rich Old World that was never able to be, and Jews are fully a part of it.

And if that sounds like a reach, then settle for major klezmer artists and/or Mandy Patinkin singing in Yiddish. Surely that’s Jewish enough for you.

Image from The Orbiting Human Circus (of the Air).

The post ‘The Orbiting Human Circus’ Is a Low-Key Jewish Podcast appeared first on Jewcy.

The world’s greatest podcaster is Jewish!

No, not Ira Glass; that’s obviously old news. This is the premier fictional radio host: Cecil Gerswhin-Palmer from Welcome to Night Vale.

Welcome to Night Vale is one of the most popular podcasts out today, with devoted audiences all over the world and in online communities reminiscent of fans of cult TV shows. Descriptions of the program usually try to rely on vague pop cultural comparisons, from Stephen King to Garrison Keillor, because there’s actually nothing like it.

What Night Vale is, simply is this: A fictional local radio news broadcast, in a small, town in the American southwest, where horrors, conspiracies, and unholy rites are a natural part of a pleasant, close-knit community.

Take, for instance, when a glowing cloud rained animal carcasses on the town, controlled the minds of its residences, and then, ultimately enrolled its child in the local public school and joined the PTA. The tone is humor, mixed with horror, with surprisingly a lot of heart, and at its heart is Cecil Gershwin-Palmer (portrayed by Cecil Baldwin).

In many episodes, Cecil is the only speaker, and his personal life is as important to the story as, say, the standings of the local Little League team (their coach is a ghost). The show has also received accolades for its remarkable diversity, as well as its hesitancy to describe characters as having a definitive appearance or race, Cecil especially.

Night Vale is also one of very few podcasts that has successfully become franchise; for example, its first companion novel debuted in October, and there are more books on the way. The show also tours with its cast internationally, reading scripts in front of a live audience with new content that is eventually sold online as premium supplements to the otherwise free program.

That’s where Cecil’s Jewishness comes in. Night Vale is currently between legs of its latest tour, “Ghost Stories.”

According to attendees of “Ghost Stories,” the most spoiler-free description possible of the reveal is that the show includes Cecil attending the unveiling of an immediate family member.

To confirm the news, Night Vale co-creator Joseph Fink took to Twitter:

For close Jewish listeners of Night Vale, this statement canonizes hints dropped in the series before. In one particularly creepy episode, Cecil finds a cassette tape he recorded when he was younger, in which he describes his mother has avoiding him and covering all the mirrors of their home. As the episode progresses, it becomes unclear whether or not Cecil actually died (and came back in some way to be our protagonist; Night Vale has its own horror logic). In light of the news of Cecil’s identity, this was probably no coincidence that his mother was performing another Jewish mourning ritual.

Going forward in Night Vale, how will this affect the series? The town mostly worships via bloodstones and Christmas is forbidden, but there is at least one mosque.

The world of Night Vale is wonderfully diverse, so it’s a really great moment of representation that Jewish denizens are officially included, to say nothing of the show’s star. It’s a unique, creative way to include Jewishness in media, vague though it might be for now.

In the meantime, we can only imagine what Shabbat dinners would be like in Cecil’s home.

Image Credits: Facebook, and art by David Shear.

The post The Protagonist from ‘Welcome to Night Vale’ Is Jewish! appeared first on Jewcy.