Comedy Showcase: Meet SJ Tannenbaum, Stand-up Comedian and Impressionist

SJ Tannenbaum is a 22-year-old comedian, impressionist, rapper, and entertainer. His specialty is celebrity impressions. 

He was a participant in the Funniest Jewish Comedian Contest at the Broadway Comedy Club in June.

In this video clip, he reflects on the different treatments coach and first-class airline passengers get from flight attendants, and imagines a gemara learning session with Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton.

Enjoy!

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Coming in June: The Jewish Week's Annual Funniest Jewish Comic Contest

Every year The Jewish Week, New York's  Jewish newspaper, sponsors a contest over a four week period to find the funniest Jewish comic of the year. This year, the stand-up comedy shows will take place on June 3, 12, 17, and 29 at the Broadway Comedy Club in New York City.

The contest, produced by Geoff Kole, offers new and established stand-up comedians over $250 in cash/prizes, a writeup in the Jewish Week and a paid spot at the Broadway Comedy Club.

To get in the mood for four evenings of stand-up Jewish comedy, we're sharing a video clip of a performance by Moishie Gamss at the 2017 competition.

Enjoy!

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Comedy Showcase: Bob Alper on Being a New England Rabbi

Rabbi Bob Alper, one of our favorite standup comedians, was the headliner at the finals of The Jewish Week's annual Best Comedian competition at the Broadway Comedy Club in June.

He gave us a copy of his standup routine and we're happy to share it with you in segments.

In this first segment he talks about how he became an adviser to presidential candidate George H.W. Bush at an encounter in New England, and comments on what constitutes a real Jewish accent.

Enjoy!

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Comedy Showcase: Meet 82-Year Old Comedian Fay Susskind

Last week we shared a video of a stand-up performance by David Weiss, a news anchor on New York radio station WINS, who came in second in The Jewish Week's 20th annual Funniest Jewish Comedian contest. Today we're sharing a comedy routine by 82-year-old Fay Susskind, who also placed in the top tier of contestants.

As Avigayil Halpern wrote in The Jewish Week,

Fay Susskind, who turned 82 in April, was the picture of confidence. Petite, in a white dress decorated with pink and red flowers, Susskind joked about the experience of dating at her age: “If anyone has a stray grandfather lying around, and he can drive or has an Uber account, come see me after the show.”

And when Fay Susskind stumbled over a punch line, the audience’s encouragement bucked her up and she tried the joke again. “Why do married women gain more weight than single women? A single woman comes home, looks in the fridge, and goes to bed. A married woman comes home, looks in the bed, and goes to the fridge.” Susskind received the biggest applause of the night.

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.

Comedy Showcase: Meet David Weiss, News Anchor on New York Radio Station WINS

At the 20th annual Funniest Jewish Comedian Contest sponsored by The Jewish Week last month, comedian Mike Blech beat out nine other contestants to take first place with humorous stories about his relationships.

We searched YouTube for video clips of his performances, but couldn't find any that were family-friendly enough for this blog. But we did find a good performance by David Weiss, the runner-up in the contest.

Weiss is an anchor on WINS, the New York all-radio station, who voices its oft-repeated slogan "You give us 22 minutes, we give you the world." Here is a clip of him on stage last year in New York's Comic Strip Live.

Enjoy!

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Standup Comic Mindi Yeger Performs at Jewish Week Comedy Contest

On June 26 we attended the finals of The Jewish Week's 18th Annual Funniest Jewish Comic Contest at the Broadway Comedy Club in Manhattan. 

The contest has been run by Geoff Kole for the last 15 years.Last month we posted the winning routine by George Saltz.

Today we're sharing the standup routine of Mindi Yeger.  Mindi credits comedy with giving her the ability to take even a devastating personal situation and laugh about it or in spite of it. 

Mindi has been performing in clubs around NYC and figures she will keep getting on stage as long as it’s fun and as long as she stays funny.

In this video clip, Mindi reflects on her life as a former Ultra-Orthodox Jewish mother, her coping with its rules and attitudes towards women, and clears up a misconception about sex.

Enjoy!

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81-Year-Old Comedian Wins Jewish Week Annual Contest

On June 26 we attended the finals of The Jewish Week's 18th Annual Funniest Jewish Comic Contest at the Broadway Comedy Club in Manhattan. The contest has been run by Geoff Kole for the last 15 years.

After more than two hours of comedy performances by host Steve Marshall, seven contest entrants, and seasoned stand-up comedians Stewie Stone and Corey Kahaney, the judges declared that the winner was George Saltz, a clinical psychologist who first tried stand-up comedy in the Catskills when he was 18 years old.

As Alan Zeitlin wrote in The Jewish Week,

The 81-year-old from Ardsley, in Westchester, said he panicked when he had a set in the Catskills and was promptly fired. But he was fired up to get back in comedy two years ago. He took a class in comedy writing and began performing at open mic nights. This time he was calm and collected as he fired off zingers on the theme of the old generation versus the new.

“This was not a good day for me,” he told the crowd. “I found out I was unfriended. Not on Facebook. I read it in the obituaries.”

We'll share the stand-up comedy of some of the other contestants in the coming weeks.

Enjoy!

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Jokes to Start the Week and Announcing The Jewish Week's Funniest Jewish Comedian Contest

Every year The Jewish Week, New York's  Jewish newspaper, sponsors a contest over a four week period to find the funniest Jewish comic of the year.

This year, the stand-up comedy shows will take place at the Broadway Comedy Club in New York City. Preliminary contest rounds will be on June 5th, 15th, and 19th, with finals being held on Sunday, June 26.

If you like telling jokes and would like to tell them to a New York audience with a chance to win paid spots at the Broadway Comedy Club, cash and/or prizes, just contact Geoff Kole by email or phone. Contact information is on the flyer at the left of this page.

To get in the mood for four evenings of stand-up Jewish comedy, we're sharing a  video clip of one of the rounds in last year's competition.

In this clip, stand-up comedian Adam Gabel shares funny observations about his family.

So mark your calendars for four nights of fun in New York City and enjoy!

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Comedy Showcase: Belinda Boxer Performs Stand-Up at Jewish Week Comedy Contest

We've been running selected clips from the contestants at The Jewish Week's "Funniest Jewish Comic" Contest and special guests like Freddie Roman.

Belinda Boxer was the second place winner at the finals at the Broadway Comedy Club last month.

We're featuring a video clip from Belinda's act below. You can see her complete performance by clicking here.

Enjoy!

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Comedian Freddie Roman Headlines Finals of The Jewish Week's "Funniest Jewish Comic" Contest

For the past 17 years The Jewish Week, New York's foremost weekly with all the Jewish news that's fit to print, has been sponsoring a contest to find the funniest Jewish comedian.

We attended the finals last month and have video footage of some of the contestants that we'll bring to you in the next few weeks.

The only criteria that we're aware of is that each contestant be both funny and Jewish. The contest, held this year at the Broadway Comedy Club in Manhattan, is produced by comedian and comedy teacher Geoff Kole.

The contest preliminaries and the final contest were held on consecutive Sundays during the month of June. Before the first attendees walked onto the stage, Freddie Roman, the veteran Catskills comic, took the microphone to introduce the contesants.

Freddie told a few old Catskills jokes, including one that he says is his favorite story in the whole world.

Enjoy!

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Hasidic Comedian Yisrael (formerly Christopher) Campbell on Why He Was Circumcised Three Times

Back in October 2009 when we started blogging at Jewish Humor Central, one of our first posts was about Christopher Campbell, a former Catholic who converted to Judaism, changed his name to Yisrael, and went into the stand-up comedy business. We have been following his career and met him briefly while doing research on Jewish humor in Jerusalem last year.

He turned the story of his conversion, especially the three circumsicisons that he underwent, into a one-man show and a documentary which have been performed and shown around the world at Jewish Film Festivals and most recently this month at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland.

When we attended and reported on the Jewish Week's Funniest Comedian contest last month, we were delighted to see that Yisrael was on the program as a guest comedian. With his permission, we will be running a few excerpts from that show over the next few months, starting with today's video clip in which he explains just why he had three circumcisions.

Enjoy!

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"High Powered Howard" Wins Jewish Week's Funniest Comedian Contest

(Left to right) Third place winner Saul Daiell, second place winner Miriam Borenstein, Producer Geoff Kole, and first place winner "High Powered Howard" Newman at the Jewish Week Funniest Comedian Finals in New York last night.

The Broadway Comedy Club in Manhattan was the scene last night of a hilarious evening of comedy entertainment that featured nine stand-up comics vying for the coveted title of Funniest Jewish Comedian of 2014.

The contest, sponsored for the 15th year by The Jewish Week, was hosted by David Finkelstein and produced by Geoff Kole, who also provided some comic relief during the show.

Besides the contestants, the audience was treated to comedy performances by established performers Corey Kahaney and Yisroel Campbell, and an opening routine by previous winner Stuart Rapoport.

At the end of the evening, "High Powered Howard" was declared the contest winner. So who is "High Powered Howard?" He's Howard Newman, the stand-up comic and fitness instructor who created Jokesercise, a comedy and exercise routine that combines laughs with bouts of stretching for seniors. 

Newman, who has been a comedian for over 15 years, visits nursing homes, senior centers and assisted living homes all around the five boroughs, encouraging seniors to get active with his unique routine. 

We've got some more video clips of the contest to share with you, so watch this space. We'll  be incorporating them into our Monday "Joke to Start the Week" feature for the next few weeks.

Enjoy!

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