Friday, October 12, 2012

Comedy Showcase: Meet Chasidic Comedian Hilly Hill


Just because Chasidic clothing tends to be black and otherwise colorless doesn't necessarily mean that every one who wears it is colorless. The Chasidic world has produced its own share of comedy and comedians who can keep their community and the larger Jewish community laughing out loud.

Much of the comedy takes place on the holiday of Purim and at weddings, where the badchan, a sort of jester, is responsible for entertaining the bride and groom and their guests with funny songs and rhymes, mostly in Yiddish.

We have profiled Chasidic comedians such as Yisrael Campbell and Mendy Pellin in previous blog posts. Today we're sharing a video clip of comedian Hilly Hill at a Melave Malke Shabbaton in Parsippany, New Jersey, a few years ago.

Hilly is the son of Skverer Chasid and former actor Steven Hill, who was a featured actor on Mission Impossible and Law and Order. In this video, he jokes about airline security, Haredi websites, the need for a Chassidishe radio station, and radio announcers who report play-by-play of a rebbe cutting the challah or holding a sefer Torah in the style of reporting a baseball game. He also reflects on how different our cuisine would be if Chassidus had been invented in America instead of Eastern Europe and conducts a simulated texting session with God.

LOL!

(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.)

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