Comedian Tiffany Haddish Celebrates Her "Black Mitzvah"

Black and Jewish US comedian Tiffany Haddish is having a bat mitzvah ceremony soon. 

She has released a Netflix stand-up special inspired by the occasion as well. 

As reported by The Times of Israel, 

Haddish had been kicking around the comedy world and doing guest shots on television programs for some time, but her role in the raunchy comedy “Girls Trip” got her the spotlight she deserved. She was voted Best Supporting Actress by the prestigious New York Film Critics Circle, a rarity for a comedic performance, and ultimately far more impressive than an Oscar.

As a teen she met her biological father, an Eritrean Jew who was living in Los Angeles for a while but went back to his home country when she was three years old. At the same time she started working in comedy clubs and other entertainment jobs. Ironically enough, one of her early gigs was working as part of the party team at bar and bat mitzvahs in Los Angeles.

In recent years, though, Haddish has gotten more interested in exploring her Jewish heritage. She started learning Hebrew and preparing for a bat mitzvah of her own. Indeed, she plans to answer the call to Torah this December 3, her 40th birthday, which just so happens to coincide with the release of her latest comedy special on Netflix, “Black Mitzvah.”

 In a special Sunday night edition of Jimmy Fallon’s “The Tonight Show,” Haddish broke into singing “Hava Nagila,” backed up by The Roots, Fallon’s famous house band.

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.

Throwing Candy at a Bar or Bat Mitzvah? Why Not at Other Occasions? A HaHafuch Comedy Skit

Israel's HaHafuch comedy troupe has been featured many times here at Jewish Humor Central. They do improv and sketch comedy in their periodic shows in Jerusalem. We try to see their performances whenever we're in Jerusalem. 

This year they're performing in mid-June and we're visiting now and in December. So we'll have to manage with viewing the funny video clips that they post on YouTube. And they're really funny. 

Most of us are familiar with the custom of throwing candy, either as individual pieces or wrapped up in small bags at Bar Mitzvah boys and Bat Mitzvah girls when they complete their Torah reading in the synagogue. But the HaHafuch crew asked why should such a fun custom be limited to these occasions? Why not throw candy on other happy occasions?

The occasions they picked for this video should produce at least a chuckle, if not an outright LOL. How about throwing candy when a waiter brings your order immediately? On acceptance of an engagement ring? When a dog does what he's asked to do? Or when two JDaters realize that they both look exactly like their online photos? The possibilities are endless.

Enjoy, and Shabbat shalom from the City of Gold.

(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.) 

Meet Steve Mittleman, the Made Over Wedding Comedian

Steve Mittleman has been doing clean, funny, standup Jewish comedy for more than 30 years, and has recently had a revival after undergoing an extreme makeover that totally changed his appearance. In 2008 he had a facelift, nose job, removal of his double chin, crossed-eye surgery, and dental work.

In less than nine weeks he was back on the comedy circuit, doing his shtick at weddings, Bar and Bat Mitzvahs, synagogue events, and on cruise ships.

Steve has really been around a long time, having appeared with Johnny Carson, Steve Martin, Jay Leno, David Letterman, Jerry Seinfeld and many other top entertainers in Atlantic City and Las Vegas. He did hundreds of comedy shows at clubs, casinos, colleges, and corporate and Jewish events.

Here's a video of a performance by Steve at a wedding in May. Enjoy!

Saturday Night Live Mocks Over-The-Top Bar Mitzvah

This week, without any warning or context, Saturday Night Live included a skit lampooning an over-the-top bar mitzvah party, where the father, through family music industry connections, arranges to have some top performers show up and sing for Bar Mitzvah boy Jacob, who only wants a modest luncheon.

The spoofing of the event is anything but subtle.  Pop music lyrics are modified to sound as Jewy as possible, throwing in references to Torah, haftorah, Bloomingdale's, Loehmann's, Moses, kosher, even the Mishnah (yes, probably the first reference to Mishnah on TV).

Over-the-top Bar Mitzvahs are nothing new, and there are plenty of jokes that focus on this phenomenon.  Last year we ran a post about an over-the-top Bat Mitzvah where the parents hired performers from Cirque du Soleil to provide the background for the girl as she made her appearance in a duplicate of a costume worn by Britney Spears.  That party was reported to cost a million dollars, a sum that could have provided four years of day school education for the celebrant and nine of her friends.

Here's the SNL skit.  Enjoy!

Paul Rudd: A Big Movie Star Today, He Got His Start As A Bat Mitzvah Disc Jockey

Paul Rudd helps Gabrielle Birkner blow out the candles in 1992.

Paul Rudd is big news in Hollywood, having starred in Clueless, I Love You, Man, The 40 Year Old Virgin, and most recently, Dinner for Schmucks.  But what does a nice Jewish boy, from a family that changed its name from Rudnitsky, do while he's waiting to be discovered?  Work as a DJ at Bar Mitzvahs and Bat Mitzvahs, of course!

Born in Passaic, New Jersey in 1969 to Jewish immigrant parents from England, Rudd was raised in Overland Park, Kansas and eventually made his way to Los Angeles.  But the Bar/Bat Mitzvah gigs were a step along the way to stardom.

Writing yesterday in the Jewish Daily Forward's blog The Sisterhood, Gabrielle Birkner reminisced about her Bat Mitzvah in 1992, when 23-year-old Rudd was doing everything -- playing music, supervising limbo dancing, challah cutting, even helping the Bat Mitzvah girl blow out the candles.

The soft-spoken aspiring actor whom my mom and I met on the hunt for bat mitzvah DJs — I took an immediate liking to Rudd — turned out to be the perfect choice for the event. Rudd, donning a yellow tuxedo jacket, a ruffled shirt, shorts and Doc Martens, ably and energetically led us through all of the bat mitzvah staples: Candle-lighting, Coke & Pepsi, Toasts, limbo, “Hands Up,” Challah-cutting and “YMCA.” And as the “Today” show-themed bat mitzvah party came to a close, he invited my friends onto the dance floor to sing a moving rendition of “That’s What Friends Are For.”

Now Rudd is working on three new films, How Do You Know, with Jack Nicholson and Reese Witherspoon,  My Idiot Brother, with Zooey Deschanel and Rashida Jones, and Wanderlust, with Jennifer Aniston.

Here is the video of Birkner's Bat Mitzvah with Rudd in the middle of everything.  Enjoy!