Comedy Showcase: Israeli Comedian Shahar Hason on Living with Missiles and Shelters

Shahar Hasson is one of the leading stand-up comedians in Israel, appearing on Israeli stages for over 25 years, He is a graduate of Yoram Levinstein's acting school. 

Shahar is an entertainer who paved his way through the best entertainment programs in Israel: Eretz Nehederet, Zahirut TV, TV at its best, Laughter from Work, Limited Edition, Fun Night, Express Hearts and more.

In this performance before a live audience, Shahar carries on about how glad he is to be living in Israel despite the need to be on the lookout for incoming missiles and siren alerts. His difficulty with the English language is funny and endearing, but the English subtitles make him easy to understand.

Enjoy!

Israeli Comedian Yohay Sponder on Airline and Post Office Greed

Social media sensation Yohay Sponder has gone viral with his charming and unapologetic comments on Jews in general, Israeli Jews specifically, and overall audience interaction on topics ranging from political correctness (or not), Muslims, women, terrorists, gays, and the Holocaust — many things people are feeling, but stand back from expressing.

Since 2016, Sponder has been producing “Funny Monday,” an Israeli standup comedy show in English that, among other things, touches upon current events from an Israeli-Jewish point of view.

In this video, Sponder marvels at how a little extra money can make air travel safer and ensure the arrival of mail.

Enjoy!

 

Selling Israeli Products at the Mall - Kosher Comedy by Zehavit Rosenbloom

Zehavit Rosenbloom is a mom with seven children who is performing standup comedy and recording videos for Jewish audiences. She has created many Jewish characters including ultra religious Rebbetzins, secular Israelis, and El Al representatives who put passengers through intensive interrogations before letting them board planes.

She calls her comedy routines Zeya Comedy and we plan to share some of her sketches in future Jewish Humor Central posts. Today we're sharing a portrayal of an obnoxious Israeli saleswoman selling Israeli products at an American shopping mall.

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 Israeli Hebrew and Ashkenazi Hebrew Collide - Kosher Comedy by Zehavit Rosenbloom

Zehavit Rosenbloom is a mom with seven children who is performing standup comedy and recording videos for Jewish audiences.She has created many Jewish chsracters including ultra religious Rebbetzins, secular Israelis, and El Al representatives who put passengers through intensive interrogations before letting them board planes.

She calls her comedy routines Zeya Comedy and we plan to share some of her sketches in future Jewish Humor Central posts. Today we're sharing a mock conversation that she conducted with two of her characters, a no-nonsense Israeli El Al airport agent with perfect Hebrew pronunciation and a religious Ashkenazi woman who is getting ready to board a plane.

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.

Comedian and Actor Michael Rapaport Skewers Hollywood and Oscars in Eretz Nehederet Skit

Last month comedian and actor Michael Rapaport appeared on Israeli TV in Eretz Nehederet (sometimes known as Israel's Saturday Night Live) in an English language skit satirizing the hypocrisy of Hollywood stars and their silence regarding the Hamas attacks of October 7.

As Jessica Steinberg wrote in The Times of Israel,

As he cracks jokes at the celebrities for not denouncing the Hamas-led onslaught in which Palestinian terrorists killed some 1,200 people and took 253 hostages, the camera pans the audience, showing the familiar actors, directors and faces of the Oscars ceremony crowd, using footage from previous awards shows.

He introduced several new categories to the awards show, starting with “best actor who has made millions playing a stereotypical neurotic Jew with back hair yet still won’t show some solidarity.” The nominees were Seth Rogen, Adam Sandler and Larry David.

He also took a shot at female actors who were vocal supporters of the MeToo and Time’s Up movements against sexual assault but don’t advocate for female hostages abused by Hamas terrorists.

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.

Comedian Benji Lovitt in TV Interview on Israeli Humor

Comedian Benji Lovitt has been delivering standup comedy ever since he made aliyah to Israel from his native Texas nine years ago.

His humor has spanned performances in comedy clubs in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, entertaining groups visiting Israel, acting in an improv comedy troupe, posting hilarious comedy skits on YouTube, writing funny and satiric columns for Israeli newspapers, and presenting a program on exploring Israeli history through comedy.

In this video clip, Benji was interviewed by an Israeli TV reporter on the subject of Jewish and Israeli humor.

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.)

Israel Forever Website Features Jewish Humor Central in a Week of Chanukah Laughter

The Israel Forever Foundation is an engagement organization that develops and promotes experiential learning opportunities to celebrate and strengthen the personal connection to Israel as an integral part of Jewish life and identity.

 

 One of their projects is the Israel Forever Blog, a dynamic collection of personal perspectives, insights and stories that empower others to explore and strengthen their own personal connection to Israel.

 

With the Israel Forever blog focusing on Jewish humor during the eight days of Chanukah, we were invited to share our perspective on Jewish and Israeli humor. We included some of the funniest video clips that we've posted over the years. We thought that our Jewish Humor Central readers would enjoy revisiting them, so we're reproducing our Israel Forever blog post below.

 

Jewish Humor - Does Israel make it different?

 By Al Kustanowitz

In all the press coverage of Israel as a center of conflict in the Middle East, one very important characteristic of this colorful and friendly country that’s not often reported is the role of humor in everyday life.

 

This aspect is sorely lacking in the columns of newspapers around the world, but all it takes is a visit to Jerusalem or Tel Aviv, a reading of the local papers, or watching Israeli television to see the fun that Israelis are having in their activities. This is true among religious and secular communities. It may not be as readily apparent in the religious or Haredi worlds, but living among them will reveal that even in the most serious halls of study and prayer, smiles and laughter are often lurking just below the surface.

Since 2009 I have published a blog called Jewish Humor Central. In it I’ve posted more than 1,800 video clips relating to Jewish humor around the world in all of its forms. And there are many forms.

More than 350 of these posts are specifically related to humor that has a connection to the land and people of Israel. They include jokes, funny TV commercials, parody, satire, improv, standup comedy, music videos for Chanukah and other holidays, and unbelievable but true reports of funny and unusual happenings that could occur only in Israel.

 

Not all humor in Israel is laugh out loud funny, but that’s also the case everywhere else in the world. Some anecdotes, news items, and jokes are hilarious, and some bring a grin, chuckle, laugh, guffaw, or just a warm feeling that's likely to produce a knowing smile and some Yiddishe nachas.

I selected the best of the bunch, some 120 blog posts with associated video clips, and published a book about them called Israel is a Funny Country. With links to more than six hours of Internet video, it explores the multifaceted nature of humor in Israel, some of which is intentional and some of which is unintentional. Either way, the quirks of Israeli life contribute to making that life interesting and fulfilling.

 

In the pages of this volume, I take a look at humorous slices of Israeli life, unusual stories about food, simchas as they can only be celebrated in Israel, endearing aspects of Israeli culture, a look at the growing phenomenon of flash mobs, and a glimpse of a few unusual Israeli sports.

 

My objective in writing the book and sharing these anecdotes and video clips is to give readers and viewers a new and different insight into life in Israel, and encourage them to join in the fun by planning a visit to the land flowing with milk and honey.

 

FUNNY HAPPENINGS IN ISRAEL

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Here are just a few examples of funny happenings in Israel that are not widely reported worldwide, but that appeared in Jewish Humor Central.

 

Mermaid Spotted Off Haifa Coast; $1 Million Reward Offered

A mermaid was reported in Kiryat Yam, a suburb of Haifa. A local resident insisted that it came ashore and touched him. The story was reported by Israel21c.

Kojak the Camel Gets Tied Up in Jerusalem Bureaucracy

 

Kojak, the kissing camel of Jerusalem, got tied up in Jerusalem bureaucracy when the municipality insisted that he apply for a business permit.

 

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FUNNY ISRAELI TV COMMERCIALS

 

Israeli TV Commercials, whether for food and drink, or to encourage tourism, can also be funny with special appeal to the Jewish viewer.

 

Israel Ministry of Tourism: History is Everywhere

 

A tourist is shocked when David and Goliath make an appearance in modern Jerusalem.

 

Neviot Flavored Water: The real story of how Michelangelo sculpted David

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ISRAELI HUMOR AND JEWISH HUMOR: ARE THEY THE SAME?

 

What we think of as Jewish humor in the USA and Israeli humor are quite different.

While most of the old great comedians in America were Jewish, there is very little Jewish content in their performances. Jack Benny, George Burns, Danny Kaye, Alan King, Shelley Berman, Victor Borge, Henny Youngman, Sid Caesar, and Milton Berle were obviously Jewish, but their jokes, sketches, and routines were largely devoid of any ethnic or religious content. Even Myron Cohen, with his strong Yiddish accent, told jokes that were more universal than sectarian.

Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks also projected a strong Jewishness but it did not dominate their work, even when they were writing sketches for Sid Caesar. Sure, their 2000 year old man skits were filled with Jewish sensibilities, and there were short recognizable (and funny) Jewish lines in some of their movies, but only Jackie Mason stands out as the quintessential Jewish stand-up comedian.

Younger comedians, such as Jerry Seinfeld and Billy Crystal, follow the same pattern of general humor with a faint Jewish inflection.

Israeli humor, however, is very, very Jewish through and through. And it’s different in many ways. Most American Jewish humor takes the form of jokes, and often racy ones, that are repeated endlessly wherever Jews gather, whether at social functions or in the synagogue. Much of Israeli humor is in the form of TV skits, and lots of parody of politicians and the political process. This may be funny to Israelis, but to visitors, and especially those not fluent in Hebrew and the day to day activities of these politicians, it has no impact.

The Israeli humor that makes non-Israelis laugh is generally presented by olim from America and other countries such as Benji Lovitt, Deb Kaye, Yisrael Campbell, and Molly Livingstone who recount their battles with the Israeli bureaucracy, their struggles to learn Hebrew and hold their own in a new culture where direct and sometimes rough talk and behavior is considered normal, and where political correctness is virtually unheard of.

Al Kustanowitz founded Jewish Humor Central in 2009, to bring a daily dose of fun and merriment to readers who would otherwise start the day reading news that is often drab, dreary, and depressing. A long-term devotee of Jewish humor, Al has been collecting it even before there was an Internet. For the last 25 years he has been editor and publisher of The Kustanowitz Kronikle, originally a family newsletter that went public when the Purim editions became too popular to keep private. Now they're all available as a book, The Kustanowitz Kronikle: 25 Years of Purim Parody. In 2012, Al wrote a series of seven interactive books with the series title Jewish Humor on Your Desktop. Israel is a Funny Country, now in an expanded second edition, is one of the books in the series. For more information visit www.jewishhumorprograms.com or send an email by clicking HERE.

Seinfeld's "Soup Nazi" Visits Israel and Makes a Pepsi Commercial About Street Food

Pepsi Max produced a commercial in Israel as part of its Top Street Food project, in which the company, along with a committee of experts, ranked the 50 best street food venues in Israel.

Pepsi recruited Larry Thomas, the actor who played the memorable Soup Nazi character in Seinfeld, to star in a commercial in which he roams the streets of Tel Aviv, searching for the perfect meal and a drink to wash it down.

As Adiv Sterman wrote in The Times of Israel,

The YouTube ad begins with two visibly frightened individuals at a typical grilled meat joint as they carefully serve Thomas “one steak with pita, with tahini and harif (spicy flavoring), and one “kruvit (cauliflower) with salsa.”

The two sidle up to Thomas cautiously as they offer him the dishes, apparently so as not to raise his ire, and wait for his approval as he tastes the food.

“This is yummy!” Thomas, dressed in a cook’s uniform, finally yells in a characteristically stentorian voice, to the relief of all those around him.

Does he get to deliver his famous line "No soup for you!" or does he become the object of a similar denial by an Israeli food server? Watch the video and see for yourself.

And if you want to see if your favorite street food store in Israel made the list, check it out here.

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.)    

Jewish Humor Central Featured on Voice of Israel Radio Show

On the set of Israeli satire show Eretz Nehederet (Tomer Neuberg/Flash 90)

On Tuesday we were interviewed on the Voice of Israel radio network by Molly Livingstone, the station's humorist and interviewer on her show, The Big Falafel.

Molly shares our interest in spreading laughter and showing the world that Israel is a funny country.

Molly kicked off the interview with her comments on a 24-hour-visit to Jerusalem the day before by Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, a visit that we didn't know about and frankly didn't care about. 

But then she settled into the main interview about Jewish Humor Central, how it got started, and how we manage to keep it going through 1,700 posts over six years to thousands of readers in 210 countries. OK, most of them are in the US, Israel, Canada, the UK, Australia, and South Africa, but we do get some in Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

We talked about humor in Israel and how it differs from humor in other countries. Toward the end of the interview, we discussed the challenges of a humor site posting appropriate material on days such as Yom HaShoah, Yom HaZikaron, and Yom HaAtzmaut. We hope you find the questions and the answers interesting and meaningful.

How Decisions Were Made on the Kibbutz - From the Israeli Satiric TV Show "The Jews are Coming""

 

One of the characteristics of the Israeli kibbutz was the collective nature of decisions that affected the daily functioning of the community but that also had an impact on the lives of the individual kibbutz members.

In this excerpt (in Hebrew with English subtitles) from the hilarious new Israeli satire program Hayehudim Ba'im (The Jews are Coming) we are present at a 1919 meeting of the leadership of Kibbutz Degania, the first kibbutz established by Jewish Zionist pioneers.

The members of the kibbutz are meeting to decide, among other things, the sex of a newborn baby and whether the kibbutz can afford the importing of a mohel to perform a bris, given that the cost may exceed the purchase price of a cow.

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.

Israeli Sketch Comedy: Two Mothers Meet in the Park

 

Israeli humor isn't quite the same as American humor.  For one thing, political and cultural correctness doesn't get top priority when it comes to entertainment in Israel.  

 

There's a popular TV show called Ktzarim, which literally means shorts, as in short films or sketches.  It's actually based on a British show called "The Sketch Show."  While the sketches have some of the sharp humor of Saturday Night Live, they tend to be much shorter and sharper edged.

Here's a short sketch with English subtitles that we hope you'll enjoy.  It moves so fast that you'll probably have to watch it a few times to let all of the humor sink in.

 

In this sketch, two Israeli mothers meet in a park, one with a baby in a stroller, the other wearing a baby carrier. The mother with the stroller expresses concern about the safety of the baby carrier. And then...

 

Enjoy!

 

(A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO IS NOT VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY.  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.)