Throwback Thursday Comedy Showcase: Rita Rudner on Side Effects in TV Pharmaceutical Commercials

We've been big fans of Rita Rudner ever since she started to appear on late night TV in the 1980s.

Rudner started her career as a dancer, then switched to stand-up comedy about her dating experiences.  She married British producer Martin Bergman about 30 years ago and they have a daughter.  She is fond of Jewish humor but generally reserves it for when she performs for Jewish audiences.

   

In this episode from one of her Las Vegas appearances Rita talks about the side effects in TV commercials for pharmaceuticals and what getting lucky at 60 really means.

 

Enjoy!

 

 

  #Throwback Thursday     #TBT

Remembering Freddie Roman - Master of Standup Comedy and Borscht Belt Icon

The world of Jewish humor lost one of its shining lights this week with the death of Freddie Roman, a stand-up comedian whose career spanned the decades when comedy and the Catskills were synonymous.

Roman's career expanded to years of shows in Las Vegas and in Florida. He was the Dean of the Friars Club for more than 20 years.

Roman was born Fred Kirschenbaum in Jamaica Queens, New York in 1937. He got his start in the Borscht Belt after working in his father's shoe store and then sold life insurance for a few years before making comedy his full-time job.

Starting out as social director at the Homowack Lodge in Spring Glen, New York, he worked his way through the Catskill mountain resorts and got to know all of the comedians who performed in the hundreds of hotels situated 90 miles from New York City.

He created and co-starred in Catskills on Broadway, a revue which brought the comedy of the Borscht Belt to Broadway in 1991 and then toured the country.

We're remembering Freddie today with a video clip of one of his classic routines in which he touches on some of his favorite topics -- love and marriage, aging, retirement, and living in South Florida.

Enjoy!

Hinei Ma Tov Around the World - Israeli Dance at the Las Vegas Line Dance Explosion

Every fall, 1500 line dance enthusiasts know where the action will be -- Las Vegas, of course. It's the home of the annual Line Dance Explosion, where hundreds of dancers from countries all over the world congregate for the world's greatest line dance event.

Israel and Israeli music is well represented, and Israeli dances are very popular. At the 2019 event, one of the most popular dances was to the song Hinei Ma Tov, which has found a following in many countries.

Here's a video of instructor Silvio Berlfein leading a group of line dancers in a version of Hinei Ma Tov with the recording by the Miami Boys Choir providing the musical accompaniment.

Enjoy!

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A Joke to Start the Week - Mel Brooks Tells a Joke

It's another Monday, and time for another Joke to Start the Week.

Most of the Monday jokes that we've been posting have come from Old Jews Telling Jokes, rabbis and congregants at comedy nights at synagogues around the country, attendees at some of our shows, and our own retelling of the classic old jokes.

But occasionally we stumble upon a joke from one of the masters, and today we share a joke that was told on stage last year at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas by none other than the great Mel Brooks.

Here's the setup: A guy walks in to a public library and says: "I want a cheeseburger, double french fries, and a large Coke. And then...

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.

Stand-up Comedian Elon Gold Has Fun With Hebrew and English Words

The 2019 AEC 15th Annual In Pursuit of Excellence Gala in Las Vegas featured a comedy bit with stand-up comedian Elon Gold and Adelson Educational Campus senior Rosie Polonsky.

The duo put on a skit highlighting the fun that can result from saying words that have totally different meanings in Hebrew and English.

A classic example: Mi means who, who means he, he means she. And so it goes, on and on, bringing back memories of Abbott and Costello's famous "Who's on first?" routine.

The Adelson Educational Campus is an academically invigorating Preschool-through-Grade-12 independent private school based on Jewish values and identity. Thriving on two closely connected schools located on one state-of-the-art campus, it carefully nurtures the youngest preschoolers and guides them, step-by-step, to become intelligent, compassionate, proactive young adults.

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.

The Great Jewish Comedians: Rita Rudner on Her Career in Comedy and Las Vegas

 

We count Rita Rudner among the great Jewish comedians because we think she embodies some of their best qualities.

One of the hallmarks of her comedy is that it's clean, free from the vulgarity and shouting that many stand-up comics find necessary.  Sure, there's usually some sexual innuendo (after all, Las Vegas is Las Vegas) but her delivery is demure, tasteful, full of wry observations, and very funny.

Rudner started her career as a dancer, then switched to stand-up comedy about her dating experiences.  She married British producer Martin Bergman about 20 years ago and now they have a daughter.  She is fond of Jewish humor but generally reserves it for when she performs for Jewish audiences.

In this video clip, Rita comments on working in Las Vegas, relationships as the basis for humor, and the way she delivers her jokes, with funny examples.

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.)