Thursday, February 16, 2012

Comedy Showcase: Joel Chasnoff on Foreign Languages


We've featured stand-up comic Joel Chasnoff a few times on Jewish Humor Central. Most of his routines are about Jewish holidays and funny aspects of yeshiva education and Jewish camps. Here's something a little different as Joel carries on about foreign languages, mainly Dutch and Chinese.

Joel Chasnoff is not your grandfather’s Jewish comedian. With humor that’s clever, sharp, and never degrading, Joel’s comedy is a one hundred-eighty-degree turn from the Borscht Belt comics of old. Audiences across the spectrum, from students at College of the Holy Cross to U.S. Marines stationed at Okinawa to the rebbes of Lubavitch Yeshivah Flatbush find Joel’s comedy smart, witty, and—most importantly—hilarious.

A native of Evanston, Illinois, Joel made his stage debut at age 10, when he played the King of Siam in the Solomon Schechter day school Hebrew version of The King and I. Nine years later, Joel tried stand-up for the first time when he performed a thirty-minute set at Smokey Joe’s on the University of Pennsylvania campus. The next two summers, Joel was as an on-field performer with the Philadelphia Phillies in a fruitless attempt to entertain 40,000 of the world’s heaviest drinking sports fans. 

After graduating from Penn, Joel served as a tank gunner in the Israel Defense Forces. Joel’s memoir, The 188th Armored Brigade, is a brash and gritty depiction of his year in combat that Kirkus Reviews calls “Horrifyingly hilarious.” 

Joel’s comedy is a smart mix of personal anecdotes and keen observational humor, centered around the theme of the absurdity of modern American life. When he’s not on tour, Joel teaches stand-up comedy at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan.

Enjoy!

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