The Laugh Planet Ranks the Top 10 Jewish Comedians of All Time

The website The Laugh Planet specializes in publishing top 10 lists on Standup, TV, Film and Talk shows. It claims to be a trusted authority on ranking Comedy culture. If you like Standup Comedy a lot, then TheLaughPlanet is the right place for you. 

Last month they published a ranking of the top 10 Jewish comedians of all time.

Do you agree with their choices? We have a hard time keeping the list down to only 10 comedians, but we think they've picked some very good ones. Our personal list includes some 60 comedians, and our lectures at Florida Atlantic University profiled 30 of them.

Enjoy!

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Welcoming Shabbat with Adon Olam by Cantors Rita and Stephanie Shore

This evening we welcome another Shabbat with Adon Olam, sung by Rita and Stephanie Shore.

This mother and daughter team has been singing this exact arrangement since Stephanie was 6 years old. Cantor Rita Shore was the first woman cantor in Jewish History. The first time the profession of cantor was passed down from mother to daughter was between these two women. 

Stephanie Shore received her Bachelors Degree from Florida International University, majoring in voice.  She grew up learning her Cantorial knowledge the old shtetl way from her mother.

Stephanie Shore served as Cantor of Congregation B’nai Israel in Boca Raton, Florida for 27 years. 

Enjoy, and Shabbat shalom!

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Throwback Thursday Musical Special - Steve Lawrence & Eydie Gorme Sing in Japan

Back in March 1988, Steve Lawrence (Steve Liebowitz) and Eydie Gorme (Edith Gormezano) performed live on stage in Tokyo. Their concert included 25 songs, including That's What Friends Are For, composed by Burt Bacharach with lyrics by Carole Bayer Sager.

Steve and Eydie were always our favorite singers, and we were saddened in 2013 to hear that Eydie died at the age of 84. Eydie's parents were Sephardic Jews from Sicily and Turkey, and she was a first cousin to singer Neil Sedaka.

Steve continued to perform until last year, when he revealed that he was in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease.

This rendition of That's What Friends Are For is a classic example of their song stylings.

Enjoy!

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#Throwback Thursday    #TBT

Hava Nagila Around the World - In the Wintry Streets of Odessa

Hava Nagila always brings out the dancers, no matter where in the world it's played. 

Last Friday, on the cold cobblestones of Deribasovskaya Street in Odessa, the third most populous city in Ukraine, a solo saxophone brought them out in the midst of their winter shopping to dance to this popular Jewish song. 

If you're keeping a count (and yes, we are) it's the 84th version of Hava Nagila that we've shared with our readers during the 10 years that we've been publishing Jewish Humor Central, and we look forward to posting many more in the days, weeks, months, and years to come.

Enjoy!

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.

When Kirk Douglas Sang "Mein Yiddishe Meideleh" at an Awards Ceremony

 

In 2002, during a celebration of 100 years of the Folksbiene Yiddish theatre, New York Governor George Pataki presented a lifetime achievement award from the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York to actor Kirk Douglas.

At the celebration, Douglas (who died on February 5 at the age of 103) was 85 years old and recovering from a severe stroke in 1996. When he received the award, he reflected on his two Bar Mitzvahs (at 13 and 83) and reminisced about delivering his first Bar Mitzvah speech in Yiddish.

He then launched into a Yiddish song, Mein Yiddishe Meideleh, to the delight of the audience.

Enjoy!

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A Joke to Start the Week - "Hospital Care"

It's another Monday, and it's time for another joke to start the week. Here comes another one from Toronto's Jewish Folks Telling Jokes, a night of comedy to benefit Jewish Family and Child, one of the foremost Jewish service agencies in North America. 

 

We previously posted a few jokes that were told at the event, a Canadian contribution to the world of Jewish humor, probably inspired by the off-Broadway show Old Jews Telling Jokes, still touring around the USA.

 

We'll be posting more of these jokes on upcoming Mondays. Here's another one, told by Julie Schwartz.

Here's the setup: There's an elderly gentleman in a hospital bed, and a voluptuous beautiful young nurse comes in and she says "I'm here to give you a bath." And then...

Enjoy!

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Comedy Showcase: Elon Gold on Birkat Hagomel, the Jewish Prayer for Deliverance

Comedian Elon Gold has the unique ability to find comedy in everyday activities, like the prayers we say in synagogue on special occasions.

Commonly called Benching Gomel, saying the prayer Birkat Hagomel, which is said publicly after recovering from a serious illness or returning from a dangerous journey, can sound funny if it is said after a non-threatening experience such as returning from a kosher cruise or a luxury Passover vacation in Mexico.

Gold mocks people who say the prayer after these experiences and calls the practice "Gomel abuse."

Enjoy!

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Welcoming Shabbat with Yedid Nefesh by the Dina and Zucker Project

Tonight we welcome Shabbat with two versions of the Kabbalat Shabbat song Yedid Nefesh combined into one. It's sung by the two principal singers of the Dina and Zucker Project.

The Dina & Zucker Project's aim is to show Ashkenazi and Sephardic dimensions of Jewish musical culture in one song. The two vocalists are, Dina Pandzarisz, world-famous singer, ambassador of Sephardic music, and Immanuel Zucker, chief cantor from Budapest.

Enjoy, and Shabbat shalom!

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Throwback Thursday Comedy Special: George Burns and Gracie Allen and Her Uncle Otis

George Burns and Gracie Allen worked together as a successful comedy team that entertained vaudeville, film, radio, and television audiences for over forty years.

The duo met in 1922 and married in 1926. Burns was the straight man and Allen was a silly, addle-headed woman. Their 30-minute radio show debuted in September 1934 as The Adventures of Gracie, whose title changed to The Burns and Allen Show in 1936; the series ran, moving back and forth between NBC and CBS, until May 1950. 

After their radio show's cancellation, Burns and Allen reemerged on television with a popular situation comedy, which ran from 1950 to 1958.

Here's a skit from their TV series in which George and Gracie banter about Gracie's uncle Otis and his election campaign for City Council in San Francisco.

Enjoy!

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#Throwback Thursday   #TBT 

Wacky Wednesday Comedy Special: Andy Kaufman as Elvis Presley

As a comedian, Andy Kaufman was truly one of a kind. After making a name for himself on Saturday Night Live with his Elvis Presley imitation, he took it to The Johnny Carson Show and other variety shows and perfected it to such an extent that audiences believed it was Elvis himself singing.

Starting with his awkward Foreign Man voice and awkward bearing, Kaufman started out doing really bad imitations and when he announced that he would be doing "The Elvis Presley," you didn't expect much. But wow, what a performance he turned in.

Enjoy!

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