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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A Joke to Start the Week - "An Incomplete Conversion"

It's Monday again, and time for another Joke to Start the Week. Today we're sharing one of the classic jokes told by William Novak, co-author with Moshe Waldoks of The Big Book of Jewish Humor.

Last month, on Election Day, Novak retold the joke, along with many others, in an hour-long webinar sponsored by Moment Magazine called Election Day 2022: Jewish Jokes Edition. The session was recorded and includes many more jokes, which we will share with you in the coming weeks.

Novak has since written another book titled Die Laughing: Killer Jokes for Newly Old Folks, which is filled with many more jokes that will keep you laughing for a long time.

Here's the setup for today's joke:  A Jew converts and studies to become a priest. He clearly has some talent, and when the times comes he celebrates his first mass in front of a select audience. And then...

Enjoy!

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Neil Diamond Surprises Opening Night Broadway Audience and Sings His Hit "Sweet Caroline"

Last Sunday night, A Beautiful Noise, the musical biography of Neil Diamond opened at the Broadhurst Theatre on Broadway. Diamond gave the audience a special treat by singing his hit song Sweet Caroline from his box seat after the cast took a bow.

As Ingrid Vasquez wrote in People Magazine, 

Neil Diamond made theatergoers at opening night of Broadway's A Beautiful Noise, The Neil Diamond Musical feel so good, so good!

The New York native surprised fans and audience members at the Broadhurst Theatre — where the new musical about his life opened Sunday night — with an impromptu performance of his hit song "Sweet Caroline."

It marks the first time Diamond, 81, has performed in his hometown since 2017 and was a rare appearance for the music icon, who announced in 2018 that he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and would be retiring from concert touring.

Enjoy!

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Welcoming Shabbat with Ana Bekoach Sung By Shulem Lemmer

Shulem Lemmer, known professionally simply as "Shulem," is an American Belz Hasidic singer from Borough Park, Brooklyn, in New York City. He is the first born-and-raised Haredi Jew to sign a major record contract with a leading label, Universal Music Group, under its classical music Decca Gold imprint.

Before becoming a full-time singer, Lemmer was marketing director at a technology firm start-up based in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. He also works as a cantor during the High Holidays at Congregation Ahavath Torah, a Modern Orthodox synagogue in Englewood, New Jersey.

In this video posted by Adam Greenbaum on YouTube, Shulem sings Ana Bekoach, a short prayer in the Kabbalat Shabbat Friday night service.

Enjoy, and Shabbat shalom!

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Throwback Thursday Comedy Special: Don Rickles and Jerry Lewis at the 1982 MDA Telethon

The MDA Labor Day Telethon was an enchanting yearly variety show that ran for half a century. Hosted for many years by Jerry Lewis, the telethon featured top stars from the world of music, comedy, and Broadway and was like no other show on earth. 

The telethon was created to help support the Muscular Dystrophy Association, which is leading the fight against muscular dystrophy. MDA dedicates itself to strength, independence and life.

Today we're turning the calendar back 40 years to revisit Don Rickles' appearance with Jerry Lewis.

Enjoy!

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  #Throwback Thursday      #TBT

Wacky Wednesday Comedy Special: Magician Passes "Stimulus Bill" on Candid Camera

Candid Camera was an American hidden camera/practical joke reality television series created and produced by Allen Funt, which initially began on radio as The Candid Microphone on June 28, 1947. After a series of theatrical film shorts, also titled Candid Microphone, Funt's concept came to television on August 10, 1948, and continued into the 1970s. 

The show involved concealing cameras filming ordinary people being confronted with unusual situations, sometimes involving trick props, such as a desk with drawers that pop open when one is closed or a car with a hidden extra gas tank. When the joke was revealed, victims would be told the show's catchphrase, "Smile, you're on Candid Camera."

Peter Funt joined the show professionally in 1987 when he became a co-host with his father. During this time the show was being broadcast on the CBS television network. In 1993, Allen Funt had a serious stroke, from which he never fully recovered. This required Peter to host the show full-time. 

The show went through a few revivals. During his time on the show Peter was a producer, host and acted on the show. He also produced and hosted over 200 episodes. 

In this classic episode from 2014, magician Ben Jackson played a grocery clerk who gave unsuspecting customers a "stimulus bill" -- a $1 bill that turned into a $20 when scratched.

Enjoy!

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Temple Emanu-El Streicker Center and Koolulam Bring 2,000 People Together to Sing "Lean on Me"

We just can't get enough of Koolulam, the extraordinary Israeli mass singing phenomenon, that brings people from all walks of life who hadn't met before to sing popular songs together.

Koolulam has been doing this since 2017. It's a social-musical initiative aimed at strengthening the fabric of society.

The project centers around mass singing events in which large groups of non-professionals come together to form a single collaborative musical creation. At Koolulam, the audience is the artist.

Every participant enters as a unique individual and comes out, while still unique, as a part of a larger whole.

For every Koolulam event, a different well-known song is chosen to be performed. The musical team works hard toward each event, putting together a fresh and innovative arrangement of the chosen song. They write new instrumental arrangements as well as an original three-part vocal arrangement.

On September 14, 2022 the Temple Emanu-El Streicker Cultural Center invited Koolulam to bring their magic to its sanctuary to remind its members to lean on each other. Watch the results of the voices of 2,000 people singing Lean on Me together!

Enjoy! 

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A Joke to Start the Week - "Bag of Money"

It's another Monday and time for another Joke to Start the Week. Today Mickey Greenblatt is back with another good one.

Marshal (Mickey) Greenblatt received degrees from Columbia (BA and BS in Flight Sciences), a DC from Von Karman Institute (1963) and his PhD from Princeton in Aerospace Sciences. He worked as a researcher for NASA and the Naval Research Laboratory. 

With four other scientists, he founded Fusion Systems Corporation, which invented microwave-powered UV lamps for drying coatings. He founded and served on the boards of technology companies and is active in volunteer work. He served on the executive committee of the Jewish Council for the Aging of Greater Washington for many years.

Mickey also loves Jewish jokes and sent us this one to share with you. Here's the setup: Suzanne and Alan were celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary. They were so happily married and they just wanted to walk around the neighborhood which they had never left since they went to school together. And then...

Enjoy!

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Hava Nagila Around the World: The Russian Guard Chorus Sings in Concert

The Russian Guard Choir, conducted by General Viktor Eliseev, included Hava Nagila in a recent concert performance. Since 1939, this Ensemble has been touring all around the world and opened the Olympic Games of Sochi and Moscow. they are also famous for new versions of pop hits such as Get Lucky or Pharell Williams's Happy.

This is the 112th version of Hava Nagila that we've posted since starting Jewish Humor Central in October 2009.  We're getting ready to celebrate our 4,000th post in less than two weeks. Watch for something special.

Enjoy!

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Welcoming Shabbat with "Israeli Lecha Dodi" at the West London Synagogue

In April 1840 a new synagogue was founded that would allow those Jews who had previously attended London’s two principal synagogues, both on the edge of the City, to worship nearer their own homes in the West End of London.

 They were also anxious to provide in their religious services a modicum of decorum, sadly lacking in both synagogues, a sermon in English, provision for the teaching of Hebrew and of Judaism, and a coming together of both branches of English Jews, the Sephardim (Spanish and Portuguese) and Ashkenazim (German). Thus was born the West London Synagogue of British Jews.

Now the West London Synagogue has some 3,000 members and the Reform movement some 40 synagogues. The Synagogue participates in many Jewish, non-Jewish and interfaith activities and its members enjoy a wide programme of family and communal events, music, lectures and films.

Today we welcome Shabbat with a new tune for Lecha Dodi that Maya Levy, the synagogue's cantorial soloist, calls the Israeli Lecha Dodi.

Enjoy, and Shabbat shalom!

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Throwback Thursday Comedy Showcase: Jack Benny and Mel Blanc on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show

Today we're going back 48 years to 1974, when Mel Blanc, the man of a thousand voices, appeared with Jack Benny on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show.

Blanc, the man behind the voices of Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Tweety Bird and Sylvester the cat, Yosemite Sam, and countless other Warner Brothers cartoon characters, has been called the first and best voice actor.

Blanc was a regular on the NBC Red Network show The Jack Benny Program in various roles, including voicing Benny's Maxwell automobile (in desperate need of a tune-up), violin teacher Professor LeBlanc, Polly the Parrot, Benny's pet polar bear Carmichael and the train announcer. 

 

In this video clip, Benny and Blanc reminisce about their many skits on the program and re-enact some of them to Carson's delight.

Enjoy!

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 #Throwback Thursday      #TBT

Wacky Wednesday Comedy Special: Free Samples on Candid Camera Give Shoppers a Surprise

Allen Funt was an American television producer, director, writer and television personality best known as the creator and host of Candid Camera from the 1940s to 1980s, as either a regular television show or a television series of specials. Its most notable run was from 1960 to 1967 on CBS.  

Funt was born into a Jewish family in New York City, New York. His father Isidore Funt was a diamond wholesaler, and his mother was Paula Saferstein Funt.  

Candid Camera was a regular feature on The Garry Moore Show before becoming a standalone show in 1960.

In this episode from a 1963 show, customers at a Waldbaum's supermarket go for free samples but find a surprise when the full sign is revealed.

Enjoy!

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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!

A Joke to Start the Week - "Getting Smart"

It's Monday again, and time for another Joke to Start the Week. Today we're sharing one of the classic jokes told by William Novak, co-author with Moshe Waldoks of The Big Book of Jewish Humor.

Earlier this month, on Election Day, Novak retold the joke, along with many others, in an hour-long webinar sponsored by Moment Magazine called Election Day 2022: Jewish Jokes Edition. The session was recorded and includes many more jokes, which we will share with you in the coming weeks.

Novak has since written another book titled Die Laughing: Killer Jokes for Newly Old Folks, which is filled with many more jokes that will keep you laughing for a long time.

Here's the setup for today's joke: On a train in Czarist Russia, a Jew is eating a whitefish wrapped in paper. A uniformed officer, sitting across the aisle, begins to taunt him. And then...

Enjoy!

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British Royal Guard Plays "Moshiach" and "BaShana HaBa'ah" at London Veterans' Ceremony

Last week in London, with more than 1,400 people in attendance, the British Royal Guard marched to the Israeli songs Moshiach and BaShana HaBa'ah.  The event, at which British Chief Rabbi Ephrayim Mirvis was in attendance and led the service, commemorated the World War II military service of Jewish men and women. 

It also marked the 101st anniversary of the first wreath-laying by Jewish veterans at the Cenotaph – a central London memorial near Buckingham Palace. The costumed parading guard from Horse Guards Parade marched down Whitehall to the Cenotaph, where a wreath was laid in honor of those who served. This year’s event also commemorated Queen Elizabeth, who passed away earlier this year.

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Welcoming Shabbat with a Bluegrass Version of Oseh Shalom Bimromov by Nefesh Mountain

In the last few years, we've been highlighting some of the bluegrass music of Nefesh Mountain, founded by husband and wife team Eric Lindberg and Doni Zasloff.

Nefesh Mountain is pioneering this blend of Jewish Americana throughout the country, bringing their unique knowledge and passion for both Jewish and Bluegrass traditions to the fore, singing English and Hebrew songs alike.

In this video at Temple Kol Emeth in suburban Atlanta, Nefesh Mountain performs Oseh Shalom Bimromov, part of the Kaddish that's recited multiple times during all services, including Kabbalat Shabbat.

Enjoy, and Shabbat shalom!

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Throwback Thursday Movie Showcase: The Thanksgiving Dinner Scene from "Avalon"

Today is Thanksgiving Day, an American national holiday. Families from coast to coast are gathering for a festive dinner and lively conversation. In this politically charged year, we hope that the conversations will bring family members closer together.

We're sharing a video clip today from the film Avalon, a 1990 American drama film written and directed by Barry Levinson and starring Armin Mueller-Stahl, Aidan Quinn, Elizabeth Perkins, Joan Plowright, Lou Jacobi, Kevin Pollak, and Elijah Wood. It is the third in Levinson's semi-autobiographical tetralogy of "Baltimore films" set in his hometown during the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s: Diner (1982), Tin Men (1987), and Liberty Heights (1999). The film explores the themes of Jewish assimilation into American life, through several generations of a Polish immigrant family from the 1910s through the 1950s.

The film was released to critical acclaim, and was nominated for four Academy Awards and three Golden Globe Awards. 

Thanksgiving plays an important role in the film, and the conversation around the dinner table is likely to bring back family memories of holidays past.

Enjoy!

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   #Throwback Thursday     #TBT