Comedy Showcase: Meet Canadian Comic Jacob Samuel - The Difference Between Broke and Poor

Jacob Samuel (born Jacob Fox) is a Canadian stand-up comedian from Vancouver, British Columbia. He is most noted for his 2020 comedy album Horse Power, which won the Juno Award for Comedy Album of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2021.

He regularly appears on the CBC Radio comedy series The Debaters, and appeared in the 2020 web series The New Wave of Standup.

In addition to his stand-up comedy work Samuel is also a cartoonist, whose work has appeared in various magazines including The New Yorker.

In this video clip from the Montreal Just for Laughs Festival, Samuel explains the difference between being broke and being poor.

Enjoy!

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Welcoming Shabbat with Lemaan Ahai Sung by the Maayan Band from Toronto

This evening we welcome Shabbat with the pleasing sounds of Lemaan Ahai as played and sung by the Maayan Band - a group of musicians and friends from Toronto, Canada.  

On their website they describe themselves as different characters, tastes and backgrounds, but sharing the sense that the ancient sources, writings of the Jewish sages are the highest expression of the art of being human.

They draw inspiration and musical force from the ancient sources. What unites them is the desire to share that harmony that touches the eternal. Their performances are all about interacting with the people who come to spend time with them.

The song Lemaan Ahai, part of the liturgy of Kabbalat Shabbat, has lyrics from Psalms 122 with music by Shlomo Carlebach.

Enjoy, and Shabbat shalom.

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A Musical Tribute to Bubbies Everywhere and to the Delicious Jewish Food They Make

Paul Finkleman is a Calgary, Canada-based songwriter, performer, humorist and recording artist who uses the stage name Paulo. 

He has earned his reputation as an accomplished writer and entertainer, with a special talent for relating to audiences of all ages. 

A true minstrel, Paulo has written over a thousand songs – on every subject matter imaginable – several musicals, three books, and recorded nine CD’s. 

In addition to starring in his own award-winning Cable Children’s Television Series, “The Wizard of Od!”, (back in the 20th century!) Paulo has performed several thousand concerts and workshops in schools, on theatre stages, and at venues ranging from major Folk Festivals to the Athletes Village at the Winter Olympics.

Paulo has created a musical tribute to Bubbies everywhere who lovingly prepare the Jewish foods that we all love. In a four-minute song, he manages to pay homage to kichel, kugel, potato knishes, rugelach, taiglach, knaidlach, chremslach, hamantashen, latkes, sufganiyot, etc. etc. etc.

We bet this song will give you a good appetite. Enjoy!

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Wacky Wednesday Comedy Special: Modi at His Best in Montreal

Modi Rosenfeld is one of our favorite young comedians and we've posted many of his stand-up comedy routines and skits. 

Born in Tel Aviv, Israel, Modi Rosenfeld moved to New York City with his family when he was 7. Before entering comedy, he was a Wall Street international banker. He now goes solely by the name Modi and is known for creating accents and characters.

He has made many appearances at the Just for Laughs festival, an annual summer event in Montreal. In this video clip, Modi tells about his trip on Lufthansa to Munich for a comedy performance, and also reveals the number one way to pick up women.

Modi has a wide range of funny persona. Sometimes he appears as a Chasid in full black dress, other times as a typical Jewish stand-up comic, and others as a non-denominational general comedian. This video shows him without any ethnic attributes. Any way we look at it, we think he's funny.

Enjoy!

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Comedy Showcase: Elon Gold on Giving Fake Names to Starbucks Baristas

Elon Gold has always been one of our favorite young stand-up comics. A practicing Orthodox Jew who attended Westchester Day School and Yeshiva University High School, he performs for Jewish and for general audiences. His Jewish routines tend to be family-friendly, and his general routines not so.

He performs in comedy clubs and has appeared at the annual Just For Laughs festival in Montreal, Canada. We're sharing a video clip of a recent Just For Laughs appearance. In this clip Elon wonders what it would be like if he walked into a Starbucks coffee shop and, when asked for his name to write on the cup, offered his Hebrew name.

Enjoy!

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The Best Jewish Bakery in North America May Not be in New York, but in Montreal

When it comes to delicious Jewish baked goods, it's hard to beat the goodies offered up by the bakeries of Montreal, Canada.

Whether its the Montreal style bagel, babka, ruggelach, cheesecake, or black and white cookies, Montrealers and visitors line up at the front doors of Cheskie's Boulangerie, or the competing 24 hour bagel bakeries, Fairmount and Ste. Viateur.

This love letter to the bakeries of Montreal uses video clips from Seinfeld episodes, the Yiddish shtick of the YidLife Crisis guys, and the carb-loving praises of a pair of Montrealers, one covered with tattoos and one with a long beard. 

Enjoy!

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A tip of the kippah to Mannie Young of the Men's Club of Cote St.-Luc, Montreal for bringing this video to our attention.

The Great Jewish Comedians: The Canadian Comedy Team of Wayne and Shuster

In the twelve years of Jewish Humor Central we've profiled and shared video clips of 56 great Jewish comedians. But in reviewing the list, we realized that until now we focused only on comedians from the United States. 

Wayne and Shuster, one of the funniest and most creative comedy teams of the last century came to us from Toronto, Canada. Johnny Wayne (born Louis Weingarten) and Frank Shuster were active professionally from the early 1940s until the late 1980s, first as a live act, then on radio, then as part of The Army Show that entertained troops in Europe during World War II, and then on both Canadian and American television. 

Wayne and Shuster appeared 67 times on The Ed Sullivan Show from 1958 to 1969. Their sketches ran for about 12 minutes and were elaborate in their use of costumes and had large casts of characters.

In the first five minutes of today's video, Wayne and Shuster present spoofs of TV commercials. Then they introduce the first part of a sketch called The Matzo Bowl, a football game version of the battle between David and Goliath. We'll show part 2 next week.

Enjoy!

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Welcoming Shabbat in Vancouver with Mizmor Shir L'Yom HaShabbat

Welcoming Shabbat with Adon Olam by the Temple Emanu-El Choir of Toronto

Back in 2010 we started a new series, presenting renditions of Adon Olam from performers worldwide, including traditional and eclectic versions.  Since then we have posted 59 different versions to provide you with a lively way to start Shabbat.

Our 60th version today, by Cantorial Soloist and Choir Director Judy Adelman Gershon, is sung by the Temple Emanu-El Choir of Toronto, Canada.
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Temple Emanu-El is a vibrant, progressive, Reform community committed to Jewish renewal at home, in the synagogue and in the wider Jewish universe. 

This is their first virtual choir performance.

Enjoy, and Shabbat shalom!

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A Joke to Start the Week - "A Nice Sweater"

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 Al Goodman.

Here's the setup: Two young ladies went out to lunch.  The first one says "Sadie, that's a lovely sweater you're wearing." She says 'Thank You.'" And then...

Enjoy!

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Hyman Batalion on the Essential Parts of Jewish Humor

Since 2010, the Yiddish Book Center’s Wexler Oral History Project has recorded hundreds of in-depth video interviews that provide a deeper understanding of the Jewish experience and the legacy and changing nature of Yiddish language and culture. 

The interviews in the growing collection are conducted in Yiddish and/or English with narrators of all ages from a variety of backgrounds. 

Hyman Batalion, Yiddish speaker and Montreal native, was interviewed by Christa Whitney on August 16, 2016, at the Segal Centre for the Performing Arts in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.  

Back in April, we posted a clip from the interview, in which Batalion, father of YidLife Crisis co-creator Eli Batalion, reflected on some of the early Yiddish speaking Montreal comedians and retold some of the old jokes.

In this second clip from the interview, Batalion describes what he considers to be essential parts of Jewish humor.

Enjoy!

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Comedy Showcase: Jeff Rothpan at the Winnipeg Comedy Festival

Comedian and writer Jeff Rothpan is originally from Montreal. His comedy career began when he was just 16 years old. Soon after that he moved to Los Angeles and worked hard to perfect his comedy.

He hit his stride by the time he turned 23 and landed an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

These days Jeff is one of the busiest comedy writers in LA, working on TV shows, films and providing material for Jeff Dunham, whom Forbes magazine consistently ranks as one of the top grossing comedians in the United States.

In this video clip from the Winnipeg Comedy Festival, Jeff jokes about his appearance, his parents, his Bar Mitzvah, and his wife.

Enjoy!

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Leonard Cohen Tribute in Yiddish: Batsheva Sings "Dance Me to the End of Love"

In February 2017, Toronto's Beth Tzedec Congregation celebrated the life, words and music of the legendary Leonard Cohen with a Kabbalat Shabbat service and dinner, special Shaẖarit service and a community concert. 

Batsheva Capek is a Canadian Jewish folksinger who is living in the USA with her song writer – composer husband. At the Leonard Cohen Tribute Concert, she sang her own Yiddish translation of Cohen's classic Dance Me to the End of Love.

She preceded the song with a short story about how she met Cohen at a dinner in Toronto's King Edward Hotel.

Enjoy!

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If you'd like to see Cohen's original music video of this song, here it is. So far it has been seen 50 million times on YouTube.

A Joke to Start the Week - "A Bargain Fan"

A few years ago, Toronto's Koerner Hall was the site of a performance of Jewish Folks Telling Jokes, a night of comedy to benefit Jewish Family and Child, one of the foremost Jewish service agencies in North America.

Jewish Family and Child supports the healthy development of individuals, children, families, and communities through prevention, protection, counselling, education and advocacy services, within the context of Jewish values.

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 were lucky to discover a collection of more jokes from these talented Toronto joke tellers, and we'll be sharing some of them in future posts of A Joke to Start the Week.

This week's joke is told in Yiddish, with simultaneous translation into English.

Here's the setup: It was once a very hot day, and a woman went for a walk. All of a sudden she saw a man who was selling fans. And then...

Enjoy!

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Shalom (Hello) - The Book of Jewish (Jokes) - "Book of Mormon" Parody

Jewish Family and Child, a Toronto social services organization, has been sponsoring nights of Jewish joke telling. They recently enlisted many people from the Toronto Jewish community to participate in a parody of the lead song Hello from The Book of Mormon.

A direct spoof of the original, it has Toronto Jews ringing doorbells and encouraging homeowners to read The Book of Jewish (jokes).

Enjoy!

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