E7: Make ahead meals for hosting, made simple.

Join Micah in this episode as she shares her tips on making a cauliflower mujadara.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Kiddish Nap.

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Kiddish is the new Shabbos lunch. You don't need another thing.

SPEAKER_01 0:06

Kiddish is the new Shabbos lunch.

SPEAKER_00 0:08

You heard it here first. You want a hot takes on your podcast? You want clickbait? Kiddish is the new Shabbos lunch. That's your clickbait.

SPEAKER_02 0:17

Hi, I'm SD Stimler, and I'm your host for Does It Have to Be Jewish? I'm a playwright, lyricist, and writer. And I'm here today. I'm very excited to introduce Mikey Greenblatt, a well-renowned Jewish comedian. Did you see me trip over my words?

SPEAKER_00 0:40

Jewish Well renowned. Not world-renowned, but I am well-renowned.

SPEAKER_02 0:43

World-renowned Jewish comedian, Mikey Greenblatt.

SPEAKER_00 0:48

It's true. I have one follower in uh Amsterdam. That makes me worry about it.

SPEAKER_02 0:52

Oh my god, he's international.

SPEAKER_00 0:54

Yes. My job as a comedian is to make you forget about the world, not to make you think about the world. Personally.

SPEAKER_04 1:00

I love that.

SPEAKER_00 1:00

Personally. So if I could do that, then mission accomplished. If you learn something from my set, amazing. Basically, that I raised my hand and my rabbi was teaching us, and I said, I was like, Rabbi, do you want to get naked? And he's like, What do you mean get naked? And then I'm like, Do you want to get naked? Like, we could get naked at the store, we could get naked in the hallway. And then I had in America, there's these bottles of juices called naked. Naked, yeah. And I know, Estee, I know that's not funny now in this age, but in seventh grade, when you're 14 years old, that's the funniest thing anyone that killed in seventh grade. Now I get it. It's not very, it's very, it's an easy laugh. We make it look like, oh, I'm just being naturally funny. There's there's years and years that goes into these jokes, you know. So it's really like its own whole art form.

SPEAKER_02 1:47

But that goes right back to your theater training, doesn't it?

SPEAKER_00 1:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:50

So you really have a leg up on everybody else.

SPEAKER_00 1:53

I'm objectively better than all the other comedians, and I think that's important for people to understand.

SPEAKER_02 1:58

Yeah. So I'm so excited. First of all, to meet you is so exciting. Because I've seen your stuff online and I love it, and everybody's got to check a bit check you out. Uh, I also love that you come from a theater background.

SPEAKER_00 2:13

So classically trained.

SPEAKER_02 2:14

Ah!

SPEAKER_00 2:15

Classic under the bard himself.

SPEAKER_03 2:18

Really?

SPEAKER_00 2:19

Yeah, Shakespeare, to be or not to be. Whether Chisnobler in the mind to suffer the slings and hours of outrageous misfortune, or to bear arms against a sea. Can you imagine if that was a whole okay?

SPEAKER_02 2:27

No, I don't mind, because that just elevated it to high art.

SPEAKER_00 2:31

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:31

Which I love.

SPEAKER_00 2:32

Comedia de la arte. I'm a classically trained influencer, unlike the other influencers.

SPEAKER_02 2:36

Unlike, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:37

Yeah, I really studied the craft.

SPEAKER_02 2:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:39

People gotta know that.

SPEAKER_02 2:40

Yeah. Why is this Mikey different than all the other Mikey's?

SPEAKER_00 2:43

Because he went and spent way too much money on theater school. That's why.

SPEAKER_02 2:47

Which which I love and I appreciate. And I always say that if you ever want to hire someone, hire someone who's been trained in theater.

SPEAKER_00 2:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:56

Because yeah, the work ethic is there.

SPEAKER_00 2:59

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 3:01

Yeah. But meantime, I want to go back to young Mikey.

SPEAKER_00 3:05

Yeah. That's what they called me back in the day. Young Mikey. Did they really? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:08

Did they call why was there an older Mikey?

SPEAKER_00 3:10

There was there was two. There was me and my other friend Mikey. And we we had to learn the subtle differences if someone we were always hanging out. Not because our names were Mikey and Mikey, are just personalities. You just had big Mikey, little Mikey, or no, we both went by Mikey, but we could sense by the intuition of someone's voice. You know, like I was a bit of a higher note. I was Mikey, and then the other one was Mikey.

SPEAKER_02 3:35

Oh, I see. So you had like different, yeah, different intonations.

SPEAKER_00 3:40

Yeah, different intonations of Mikey.

SPEAKER_02 3:41

Cool.

SPEAKER_00 3:42

But yeah, let's go back to young young Mikey.

SPEAKER_02 3:44

I hope I'm saying it right. Okay, young Mikey. I can't imagine, I mean, I could be wrong, but this is just, you know, conjecture. Can't imagine you were like well behaved as a child.

SPEAKER_00 3:56

Right, right.

SPEAKER_02 3:56

Were you?

SPEAKER_00 3:58

No, no. I was I'm miserable to deal. Shout out to my parents who just put up with that.

SPEAKER_02 4:03

That was gonna be my next question. Like, how did your parents go?

SPEAKER_00 4:06

I was a very, first of all, I was very depressed, like 11-year-old. Like other 11-year-olds were were upset about like not getting candy or having to go to sleep early. I was like thinking about the state of the world. You know, I'm like, why do good things happen? I was having existential crises at 11 years old. Yeah, yeah. 11 years old. We'd be talking about like fractions, and I'd just be like, but it doesn't why are we divided as a world? Like I don't care about the division here.

SPEAKER_01 4:31

That's beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 4:32

Um, but yeah, I got I got suspended a few times. I was uh not a great egg, I would say.

SPEAKER_02 4:38

So what's the worst thing you did?

SPEAKER_00 4:40

Would you say let me let me uh let me rephrase that in a Talmudic light? What's the best thing that I did that led to the worst result? Well, I got suspended on what was possibly like the funniest joke in seventh grade. It was really um basically that I raised my hand and my rabbi was teaching us, and I said, I was like, Rabbi, do you want to get naked? And he's like, What do you mean get naked? And then I'm like, Do you want to get naked? Like we could get naked at the store, we could get naked in the hallway. And then I had in America, there's these bottles of juices called naked, yeah naked. And I know, SD, I know that's not funny now in in this age, but in seventh grade, when you're 14 years old, that's odd that was hard. That's the funniest thing anyone that killed in seventh grade. Now I get it. It's not very, it's very, it's an easy laugh. It's it's an easy joke, naked whatever.

SPEAKER_02 5:29

I I don't think it's easy at all. I think it's very brave.

SPEAKER_00 5:31

Yeah. I went out, I got a stand out. I got a standing out.

SPEAKER_03 5:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:36

It cost it cost me two weeks of Gamorra, but it rewarded me with uh lifelong knowledge that I could I can make it in this industry. Yeah, the naked joke killed.

SPEAKER_02 5:46

Yeah, yeah, that's a good one. So that's like where that's where it all started. That's uh just that's where the magic happened.

SPEAKER_00 5:52

I love the attention. You know, us creatives, we love attention. We don't admit it. We say it's for the higher art. We love it. We want we want people to stop us and this and that. Where's that come from? That's uh talk to my therapist about that. I don't know. That's like a deep thing.

SPEAKER_02 6:06

No, isn't do you find comedy is like being a form of therapy?

SPEAKER_00 6:11

Yeah. Comedy is like um, it's just to me, it's the highest art form and the highest mode of creativity, I think, that you could function on. And uh yeah, you are you are writing about, you know, there's it depends on the comedian, but you are writing about observing the world, how you view the world, and kind of espousing that. And uh it could be very therapeutical, yeah. But at the end of the day, like Seinfeld says, your job as a comedian is to make people laugh, you know? Yeah. So if I'm treating my comedy as therapy, I'm saying these dark stories, but there's no punchline and the audience if it's just for myself, you're not a good comedian. You need to be very self-aware and socially aware and say, like, okay, I like this, but if the audience doesn't throw it away.

SPEAKER_02 7:00

Yeah, yeah. You've got to let go of it and move on. So, how do you test your material?

SPEAKER_00 7:06

I perform, I try to perform nightly as much as you can in New York. It's a whole system, it's not as simple as just like going on stage. You need to get past at certain clubs, etc. But for me, it's about reps. I I come up with material, you know, some comedians are writers, yeah, and they'll write during the day and then maybe practice it at night. I really kind of come up with more of a premise, a loose idea, and then I speak it out on stage.

SPEAKER_02 7:32

Oh my god. I see, I couldn't, I know that you have improv uh workshops and all that kind of stuff, which I'm gonna do. You did your research. I thank you.

SPEAKER_00 7:40

I really appreciate that. I really appreciate that.

SPEAKER_02 7:42

I think it's like super cool. Yeah. I once did an uh improv, except it was musical theater, and you had to think on your feet. I am a writer, I do not think on my feet. I need to go home and marinade and check it out. So the fact that you can just go up there and yes and is and teach other people to do it.

SPEAKER_00 8:03

Yeah, yeah. Uh yeah, it's a it's a lot of comedy's a really cool challenge. It's like little puzzles that you're figuring out. You know, you start off with some loose idea and then you're honing that idea. Sometimes you get lucky and it only could take like a week to get that joke in, but many times it's over the course of months, even years, where you really hone in on a joke. So you start off and you're just failing, failing, failing, failing, and then you get a little laughter, and you're like, oh, okay, that laughter was towards the end of the sentence. Let me see what if I bring that to the beginning. Then you get the laughter at the beginning, then you could bring things in. It's like solving these little puzzles.

SPEAKER_02 8:38

So it's really because I'm doing a PhD in the mechanics of comedy and musical theater performance. So that's so interesting what you're saying because it's literally trying to find the components that are going to make the comedy successful.

SPEAKER_03 8:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:55

And so, in terms of let's say, comedy theories, which do you think let's say there's the incongruity, superiority, um uh the relief theory?

SPEAKER_00 9:06

I see, let's just say you know way more about this than I do. I'm like, what are these theories? I'm like, no, I do the jokes and uh maybe it's people laugh at some point, but tell me these theories are so okay.

SPEAKER_02 9:16

Superiority is that, well, it's I'm better than everyone. That it's it's it's the audience feels the that they're better than than you. They can make you know that kind of addiction.

SPEAKER_00 9:26

Okay, so like a little self-deprecation humor.

SPEAKER_02 9:28

Yeah, self-deprecation and or just yeah, self-deprecation or like because if someone's like a nerdy loser, then the audience feels like, oh, we know so much more than you, and that kind of thing. And then there's the incongruity theory, and then I think because I've watched your stuff, and I do think that you like the incongruity of something, so it's like a surprise, like you weren't expecting something, and then there's the surprise element. Relief is tension, tension, tension, and then you have something funny, and so there's an over a small overview.

SPEAKER_00 10:02

I've been doing it for years, I didn't know any of those theories.

SPEAKER_02 10:05

So that oh, you're welcome.

SPEAKER_00 10:07

Very impressed.

SPEAKER_02 10:08

So thank you.

SPEAKER_00 10:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:10

So like that just is so interesting because you can literally see when something is going to work.

SPEAKER_03 10:16

Right.

SPEAKER_02 10:17

Like you find, you just said that you find like a little seed of laughter of something. So you can take that, and then what do you do? You have callbacks, or you you put it aside for callbacks? Like, how do you come up with that?

SPEAKER_00 10:30

Yeah, it's it's it's a uh, I mean, it's such a cool process of how it works, but it depends on the joke. There's a certain jokes that I tried two years ago at this point, three years ago at this point, and it never really fit anywhere. I didn't think that the punchline was strong enough. And then I come back this year and I start working, you know, let's say it was a dating joke that I had worked on three years ago, and I come up with a new dating joke, all of a sudden that brings the three years ago dating joke back to life. Because I look back at that past material, and all of a sudden you could actually put it into your current material. Yes, and it and it builds it out.

SPEAKER_02 11:05

It's like this didn't have any place then, but now it hasn't context, and now you have context that it goes into.

SPEAKER_00 11:11

Yeah, so some I mean, you know, these jokes could take years and years, but um the more you come up with, the more you have like in the reserves to use.

SPEAKER_04 11:20

I love it.

SPEAKER_00 11:21

It's a very structured thing. You know, the the job of a comedian is the same job as like a magician. We need to we make it look like we're just coming up with these ideas on stage. Like the magician is like, I have no idea how I pulled that rabbit out of the hat. We make it look like, oh, I'm just being naturally funny. There's there's years and years that goes into these jokes, you know, so it's really like its own whole art form.

SPEAKER_02 11:42

But that goes right back to your theater training, doesn't it?

SPEAKER_00 11:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:46

So you really have a leg up on everybody else.

SPEAKER_00 11:49

I'm objectively better than all the other comedians, and I think that's important for people to understand.

SPEAKER_02 11:54

That's what I thought because but it really does help because you're um that so that's another thing that I'm interested in my research, is um actors. Do they have to have funny bones? Is it or is it something they can be taught?

SPEAKER_00 12:09

Nature or nurture? Yeah. That's a great question. It's absolutely both. I think you need to have a funny gene inside of you. You need to be born with that, that understanding of humor. If you don't have that understanding of humor, you could work as hard as you want, you're not gonna get there. You need to have, you know, it's like if you want to be a great basketball player, you could be the best ball handler in the world, but if you're four feet 11 inches, you're just not gonna make it in the NBA, you know? So there is a, I really do believe, a genetic component. I believe also, you know, that's why Jews really started traditional stand-up comedies, because we have that genetic component of persecution and dealing with that persecution with humor. So I think that there is something to be said that it's in the uh nature part, but then you have to develop it. I can't, a lot of people when I tell them I'm a comedian, they're like, oh, like people have told me I'm so funny or my friend's so funny.

SPEAKER_02 13:06

I think people do that a lot too.

SPEAKER_00 13:07

All the time. The the worst part of being a comedian is telling people that I'm a comedian, truly. Jewish people. I felt because they always either have a joke for me that's terribly racist, misogynistic, like a dad joke, and they're like, use that. And I'm like, Did you write that? They're like, no, it was like Don Rickles' joke. And I'm like, I'm not a cover band, like I can't just use the joke. Yeah. Um, or they'll say, tell me a joke, which is please never say that to a comedian, because again, we don't do like one-liner knock-knock jokes. It's in the context of a whole big thing. Yeah, it's storytelling, it's storytelling, yeah. So, so yeah, nature and nurture, it's it's both you gotta, and then yes, you're funny, but you have to go on stage and work the jokes out, and that's like a lot of discipline, a lot of reps, and that's the nurture aspect of it.

SPEAKER_02 13:52

So, you know how some actors funny, because I went, which I don't I'm scared that somebody I know will watch this, but I went to see a show in the West End. Okay, I might as well just tell you what it was. Um The importance, yeah, off the record, uh, the importance of being earnest with Stephen Fry.

SPEAKER_00 14:10

That was one of the first plays that I acted in. No way, which was it. I was Algernon Mon Creek.

SPEAKER_02 14:14

Yeah, I love that. So one of the um, so Stephen Fry was Lady Bracknell, okay, and he he was Lady Bracknell. And Lady Bracknell is hilarious. The other actors, and I don't know if it was because of the actors or the director, uh, the other actors, I felt like they were in a different play. I felt that they didn't rely on the Oscar Wilde's material enough that they don't have to try to be funny. So, does that work the same as stand-up? Like you have to rely on yourself that your material is funny, you don't have to like act funny.

SPEAKER_00 14:49

Yeah, I I think uh stand-up is is like a conversation. You know, you're having a conversation with the audience. I think the more genuine you are to the material, and the material is, you know, for me and for many stand-up comedians, it's about their life, it's them. So the more genuine you are to yourself, the more you're rewarded with the audience. Uh when I started stand-up comedy, and a lot of I guess amateur comics do this when they start, is I would embellish stories, I would make up stories, and the audience could smell it a mile away. They could smell that you're not being genuine. They could feel it. Yeah. So it's so important. And I think that's why stand-up comedy is one of the coolest art forms because it rewards being genuine.

SPEAKER_02 15:30

Oh my god. So then you can't use AI.

SPEAKER_00 15:33

You could try to use it. AIs think I'm not funny yet, but it's getting AI is really not funny. Yeah, but it's getting.

SPEAKER_02 15:39

And also, because I have a theory, tell me if I'm wrong.

SPEAKER_03 15:42

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 15:42

I know that in theater, that there's an exchange of energy between the audience and the actors.

SPEAKER_03 15:49

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 15:50

And if the intention is if the intention of the author isn't uh authentic, it will read and something feels off.

SPEAKER_03 15:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:00

And I'm wondering if it's the same thing for like what you just said about stand-up comedy.

SPEAKER_00 16:05

Yeah, no, it absolutely is. They could they could feel it. Uh, and when you're working out a joke, because it's not coming natural to you, the audience also isn't gonna receive that as natural. So that's why when you're working out these jokes, you need reps and reps and reps until it's coming out natural as a story, as yourself.

SPEAKER_02 16:22

And you remember everything. This is amazing for me because I'm a woman of a certain age.

SPEAKER_00 16:26

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_02 16:27

And I think 30s. Exactly, exactly. And I forget everything. So let's say if I decide to become a stand-up next week, I would need the entire first audience with holding cue cards.

SPEAKER_00 16:39

Right, right. Like, because there's no way get a teleprompter in the back or something.

SPEAKER_02 16:43

Like, yeah, and I would also have to designate audience members to remind me what I was saying.

SPEAKER_00 16:47

Right. They like hold up their hand and have it written out.

SPEAKER_02 16:50

Exactly. So it's like a test to see if they're paying attention as well. But do you remember everything? Like, how do you do that?

SPEAKER_00 16:57

Again, it's it's reps. It's, you know, I ideally where I would like to be in where more of my developed comedian friends are, they're doing three, four shows a night. Sets, not shows. So they're doing, you know, 10 to 12 minute sets, but they're doing that three to four times a night. So it's repetition, you know. Like when I was studying theater, when I was learning my lines, I'd do repetition. That's how I got it down over and over. Um so yeah, there's that, there's there's different strategies, but it really is just muscle memory. Muscle memory, getting it natural. Yeah. It's like working out. Like when you keep working out, you're building muscle, building muscle. If you don't work out for a bit, start you get atrophy, your muscle starts to weaken. It's nice muscles, though. I appreciate it. Yeah. I embody comedy. I try to.

SPEAKER_02 17:39

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:40

Yeah. Um, so okay, you see what happens? I forget things.

SPEAKER_00 17:47

Um I should hold up your cue cards.

SPEAKER_02 17:50

You really need, because then I get excited.

SPEAKER_00 17:52

And you could just have the camera look at you and you could be like, so lovely. How was your childhood related to?

SPEAKER_02 17:58

And in terms, oh, one this is what I wanted to ask you. Now I remember. Okay, is it I think that's gonna be my catchphrase now? Now I remember.

SPEAKER_00 18:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:07

I think it's gonna be like on my tombstone.

SPEAKER_00 18:09

Now I remember what the SD Sim was.

SPEAKER_02 18:11

Now yeah, now I remember. Um the relationship between comedy and pathos? Yes.

SPEAKER_00 18:18

Like like ethos, pathos, and something else. You're really giving me back to theater.

SPEAKER_02 18:23

Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:24

But you're talking to a stand-up comedian like he knows what pathos is.

SPEAKER_02 18:27

It's just the the emotional feeling of that dramatic emotional feeling be of sadness. You know, so when you have you have comedy, because you you know, you need light in order to see the darkness, and darkness in order to see the beautiful marshal.

SPEAKER_03 18:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:46

Why thank you? Yeah um, and um to see to see the light. I don't know what I just said, but yeah, you know what I meant. And so it must be when you build like your set, do you build moments in which the audience feels?

SPEAKER_00 19:03

It's it's a great question. I truly abide by the Seinfeld philosophy. I'm a Jerry Seinfeld is my absolute inspiration. Yes, and uh Seinfeld. And and he says the objective of a comedian is to make people laugh, you know. Um, and you know, you you have like George Carlin, who is very political. He made points with his comedy. Um but Seinfeld was my job as a comedian is to make you forget about the world, not to make you think about the world. Personally.

SPEAKER_04 19:33

I love that.

SPEAKER_00 19:34

Personally. So if I could do that, uh then mission accomplished. If you learn something from my set, amazing. But I think at the end of the day, my job to make it.

SPEAKER_02 19:42

Yeah, you don't have to give messaging, you mean. You just like have to make you laugh enjoy.

SPEAKER_00 19:46

You're not going there to hear if you wanted that, you'd go to a serious th theater show, you know, you can go to the West End.

SPEAKER_02 19:51

True.

SPEAKER_00 19:52

You're coming here to laugh.

SPEAKER_02 19:53

That is so true. Where do you find most of your material?

SPEAKER_00 19:57

Everyday life experience. It's very hard to um I I had this with improv. I remember I started out as in improvisation, and I was doing so much improv that I just started doing improv scenes based off of old improv scenes. I had nothing to pull from because I was just doing improv instead of living life, which gives you the most kind of material. So the more life you live, the more you can relate to other people. And stand-up comedy is relating to other people, you know, whether that's talking about dating or marriage or anything in life, work, anything.

SPEAKER_02 20:30

And so do you take a lot from your family?

SPEAKER_00 20:32

Not not too much from my family. It's very, it's very Jewish-centric. My I guess if I were to have a goal other than making people laugh is to humanize Judaism.

SPEAKER_03 20:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:44

Um, one way I do that is just by wearing my Yamakon sage. I don't I could wear it and not even amazing. I it shouldn't be, but I appreciate that. It like people are like, that's bold, courageous. I'm like, it should not.

SPEAKER_02 20:54

Right now, it shouldn't be, but it is.

SPEAKER_00 20:56

Yeah, it's that, which is so sad. Um, anyways, yeah, so I so I wear it, and but I'll, you know, do sets where I don't talk about Judaism at all. But it's just important for me to humanize a Jewish person. Look, there's that Jewish person, but he's talking about, again, things that I could relate to, things that any human can relate to.

SPEAKER_02 21:14

So I love that using comedy as an like an emotional connector.

SPEAKER_00 21:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:20

And there's a um there's a there was a neo-Nazi called, I don't know, and I'm I'm pronouncing his name wrong, Michaelis. I don't know if you're watching it, I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_00 21:30

And um big fan of the show.

SPEAKER_02 21:33

He was, but he he said he said he wanted to kill Jews. And then he saw Seinfeld and he goes, Why don't I want to kill them? They're adorable, they're the cutest people. And I think that's so nice to and then he became a motivational speaker, by the way.

SPEAKER_00 21:49

That's hilarious. Isn't that hilarious? I would love to see that story.

SPEAKER_02 21:52

He's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 21:52

I wanted to kill Jews, but then I saw the one where Jerry like drops his own. Yeah. Like maybe I was thinking wrong about this whole thing.

SPEAKER_02 22:00

Yeah, we're the one where he didn't want to use the toothbrush that was in the toilet. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, okay, fine.

SPEAKER_00 22:04

Maybe they're not too bad.

SPEAKER_02 22:06

Yeah. So but which is really interesting because it's like he he saw in the humor, like that was able to have that connection, that that you know, that universal humanity.

SPEAKER_00 22:20

Yeah, that's that's our coping mechanism. That's why Jews are funny, is that's how we relate. Like we're we are different. There's no two ways about it. So I look at it the same way Jews have always been, not always, but out of necessity, we were the merchants. We were we've always been the middlemen because we weren't allowed to be too high up. Yes. So our highest was the middle. And I I look at comedy as just distribution of words. It's the middleman. We're taking observations and we're espousing it to the audience. We're the middleman. We're bringing that down. Yeah, I just thought of that. Isn't that brilliant? I love it. It's amazing. It's really Wow. Yeah, it's really a gift from God. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:59

Oh no, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:00

Make sure to like and follow for more.

SPEAKER_02 23:02

So um American versus British humor. Because it's it's totally different.

SPEAKER_00 23:09

I'm gonna find that out tonight.

SPEAKER_02 23:10

Oh, what are you what are you going to? Oh, you're going to a I'm performing tonight.

SPEAKER_00 23:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:14

But with other people.

SPEAKER_00 23:16

So I'm doing I'm headlining, so I'll be doing about an hour of comedy. Yeah, yeah. I don't I'm not on lap anymore. Um yeah, uh it's very different. Is that where the question was going?

SPEAKER_02 23:28

Yeah, it's like do you notice that the beats are different?

SPEAKER_00 23:32

Yeah, well, it's interesting because comedy in England, like you really think of someone like Shakespeare, one of the first comedic writers, right? Yes. And he tells stories. Yes. Or long stories. In America, comedy is very new. It was only started really in like the Borsch Belt era. There was like radio before comedy, radio. But let's say it was started earliest 20th century, early 20th century. And so the difference is that British comedy comes from a lot more storytelling versus American comedy comes with a lot more jokes.

SPEAKER_01 24:08

Interesting.

SPEAKER_00 24:09

It's almost a fully different art form. So like Ricky Gervais or um Michael McIntyre, like these kind of guys, they're telling stories. Uh, in America, Seinfeld, it's set up punchline. Seinfeld's goal is to make you laugh every 33 seconds. It's like if I can't get a laugh every 33 seconds, I have to rewrite, I have to cut. In England, it's a lot, it takes a bit to get there.

SPEAKER_02 24:30

The payoff is after a little bit of settings.

SPEAKER_00 24:33

Yes. In in America, it's like machine guns, you know, because those are allowed in America, which is an issue. But um, yeah, here it's more knife stabbings. Uh I don't know if that's a mess. But it's like joke, joke, joke, joke, joke, joke, joke.

SPEAKER_02 24:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:45

There it's it takes a little longer.

SPEAKER_02 24:47

I did hear the rat.

SPEAKER_00 24:48

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:48

I mean, Mel Brooks said that a lot of his humor comes from the fact that he was a drummer.

SPEAKER_00 24:54

So very interesting.

SPEAKER_02 24:56

Yeah, the beats.

SPEAKER_00 24:57

Yeah, absolutely. So it's it's very different. Even in America, you know, I perform across the country. When I'm doing a show on the East Coast versus the Midwest, Midwest, it's a lot more slower temple, you know, it's it's a little less like top of mind intellectual in certain senses. It's a lot more, they like a lot more physical, visual comedy. So do you have to read the audience when you're uh Yeah, you cannot you cannot make it in this industry if you don't know your audience. It's uh I mean it's impossible. If I'm doing Jewish jokes for an entirely, I don't know, black audience or something, what am I doing? You know, you have to read it.

SPEAKER_02 25:30

And I know you perform in Harlem.

SPEAKER_00 25:32

Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. It's so funny that that's like a flex, but yeah. What is a black one? I mean, I do shows all over New York. So you're uh, you know, the beauty of New York is that I have testing grounds for doing Hispanic shows, black shows, Jewish shows, whatever you, you know. Um, so you get to learn, you know, oh, black black people, uh, whatever. They laugh at certain things a little more than uh at these types of jokes.

SPEAKER_02 25:55

What appeals, which demographic appeals?

SPEAKER_00 25:57

Absolutely. You gotta, and even within the Jewish sphere, you know, if it's an older demographic versus a younger demographic, if it's a singles event versus a married event, uh there's so many different factors that you have to.

SPEAKER_02 26:07

And which audience heckles more?

SPEAKER_00 26:09

Heckles, I Jews don't heckle, but if you pause, they'll just start talking. That's that's why I talk so fast, SC, is because I've learned in comedy, if I just pause, someone will just be like, it's cold in here. Like it it the Jews, there's no in in Gamaro, it's like a heftake. Like you can't have a break in in the speech, otherwise someone just speaks. So it's not heckling as much as just talking.

SPEAKER_02 26:31

Jews just say, just to fill the silence.

SPEAKER_00 26:34

Yeah, which is great for me. I I mainly do crowd work, so it's perfect.

SPEAKER_02 26:38

So when you do crowd work, you're speaking to people and you I'm working the crowd. And you're working the crowd, do they ever because I know you do mostly family friendly stuff, do they ever do say things that are just like from left field that you have to sort of?

SPEAKER_00 26:53

Not really. No, they're they're all pretty, they're all pretty tame. No one's ever said anything too crazy. Yeah, yeah. They know the environment, they know the audience too.

SPEAKER_02 27:01

I've never what's the wackiest thing that ever happened to you on stage?

SPEAKER_00 27:04

On stage? Someone once shouted at me, not obviously a Jewish show, but someone once shouted at me, go back to Israel. And then I just shouted back, I'm trying.

unknown 27:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 27:13

Like LL flights. No flights, no flights.

SPEAKER_00 27:16

Um, so that was an interesting one. Um yeah, I mean, I've done just when you're working, I call it the synagogue circuit. That's how I make a living.

SPEAKER_04 27:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:27

I did one show where the show, they call me up on stage, and then they opened a photo booth next to me. So I'm on stage doing jokes, and these kids are going to the photo booth, taking pictures, there's like flashes of lights every time there was like a four-year-old that like walked across the stage at some point during my set. Like, it's insane. No comic should, you know, I I do off-comedy comics in this environment.

SPEAKER_03 27:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:50

So a lot of my shows are just they're just nuts. You just because a lot of, you know, in the synagogue circuit, a lot of these synagogues are having comedy for the first time ever. They don't know what it is. They just kind of hire you and think, I don't know what they expect, really. And so the environment's weird, everything's kind of off, and you just have to you just go with it. You just go with it.

SPEAKER_02 28:11

But I I guess that's like a really good discipline for when you go to like maintenance. Sure.

SPEAKER_00 28:15

When I go to a comedy club and the lighting's correct and the sound is good, it's you take off the weight.

SPEAKER_02 28:19

People behave. People behave. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:21

They drink, it's great. Except for the Jews who buy just water bottles, which is hilarious.

SPEAKER_01 28:25

That is funny.

SPEAKER_00 28:26

Yeah. In in a comedy club, there's in New York, you need to get a two-drink minimum. So most people will buy like, I don't know, like a martini and uh and a beer. Jews always two water bottles, cheapest thing on the menu. That's how I know. That's how I know where they are.

SPEAKER_02 28:42

Seltzer, seltzer. That's so funny. So, how does it work in America? Because I know here, because I just had my friend Rachel Krieger. Yeah. Do you know her? Great. Yeah. Yeah. So she's yeah, so she's she has her new show, um, Queen of the Jews, which I just gave a plug for. And um, but she one of her jokes is that she was talking about is that after a gig, the uh they have they pay the like in like they pay cash, you know, to the acts right away.

SPEAKER_00 29:15

They get they get paid here? Yeah. What? What am I doing in America?

SPEAKER_02 29:20

I don't know. Clubs don't pay you anything. Is that does that work the same way? Not that it has anything.

SPEAKER_00 29:26

You're not making money doing comedy clubs.

SPEAKER_02 29:28

No way.

SPEAKER_00 29:28

You're not making I'll rephrase, you're not making a living doing New York comedy clubs.

SPEAKER_01 29:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:32

You get a you get a bit of KSF, but you're not, you're not. You're not making a living. It's insane. Because if I don't do this if I don't do this gig at this comedy club, 800 other comedians will take the spot.

unknown 29:44

No way.

SPEAKER_00 29:44

So there's they're not trying to attract you with money or anything. It's just like, okay, well, if you don't do this, someone else will.

SPEAKER_03 29:50

Right.

SPEAKER_00 29:51

So you take what you could get.

SPEAKER_03 29:52

Hmm.

SPEAKER_00 29:53

So so most working comics are not, they're not making comedy, they're not making money from just doing spots at comedy clubs or headlining and touring and things like that.

SPEAKER_02 30:02

And that's where the bread and butter is.

SPEAKER_00 30:04

That's where the bread and butter is.

SPEAKER_02 30:05

Do you do the uh do you do the condo circuits?

SPEAKER_00 30:09

The who what?

SPEAKER_02 30:10

The condo circuits?

SPEAKER_00 30:11

You mean like nursing homes?

SPEAKER_02 30:13

Like Central V Century Village.

SPEAKER_00 30:15

Oh, I'm you know, like the I'm doing I'm doing uh the nursing homes.

SPEAKER_02 30:19

Is that nursing homes?

SPEAKER_00 30:20

Century Village, I mean, Century Village people, yeah, I know. Yeah, yeah. They'd they'd be upset to hear uh maybe uh I wouldn't even say assisted living, but yeah, it uh it's more elderly. They're still in their pickleball prime over there. But um they're still pickleball prime. Yeah, yeah. They still got their original hips, but they're you know, they don't have their original hips, but yeah, yeah, I do. Those are some of my best shows because I'll get up there and I'll tell one joke, and only one person in the front will actually hear the joke, and then they just tell the joke to the people around them, and I'm just like chilling on stage, and then I and then it gets back to me and I'm telling my joke incorrectly, and it's like a one-joke show.

SPEAKER_02 30:56

So that makes sense, actually. That actually makes sense. So I heard I have heard it said that you have a great relationship with your mom.

SPEAKER_00 31:07

Is this true?

SPEAKER_02 31:08

Which I think is very important.

SPEAKER_00 31:09

It's rare, it's rare among the comedians.

SPEAKER_02 31:11

It is to have good relationships with your so do you ever make jokes about her or not really.

SPEAKER_00 31:17

No, I I have I stay away from the family, not purposely, but it's just not something I'm very interested in uh explaining. Exploring. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:27

So you were saying you keep mentioning Seinfeld. So who was your biggest inspiration? Would you say that it was Seinfeld?

SPEAKER_00 31:34

Seinfeld for comedy, but like Modi and Elon Gold for actually thinking, oh, you could do this, you know, as a as a as an observant Jew, like when I was growing up, like no one even thought about being a stand-up community. Like the craziest thing you'd say is like, I want to be an actor, you know. But stand-up comedy wasn't even a thought because it didn't exist for our kind, it just wasn't an idea that was put into your head. Um, but then you know, I recently saw Modi at like Radio City Music Hall and he sold it out. 6,000 seats, sold it out.

SPEAKER_02 32:05

That's incredible.

SPEAKER_00 32:06

So uh, and and he really worked his way through like the synagogue circuit. So they're they're definitely my inspirations and they've really paved the way, you know, for people like me to show up and and do these shows.

SPEAKER_02 32:18

Oh, I love that. And which is your favorite Yiddish phrase to teach non-Jews?

SPEAKER_00 32:28

Yiddish? Yashakaya.

SPEAKER_02 32:30

Yeah, yeshaka. Well, it's the Yiddish version of what you say in Hebrew.

SPEAKER_00 32:34

Right, right. I love saying Shkoyach. Shkayah. Yeah, yeah. It's true. It's true. It's it's a it's a big thing. Say it to anyone. Anyone that says like, like, good job, Shgaya. Yeah, yeah. Non-Jews, it doesn't matter. I love I love Shkoya.

SPEAKER_02 32:49

Yeah, and and then they like learning because I have friends that they'll recognize this phrase because I taught it to them, Tokasofantish. I'll say, Tokasaf and Tish. You know?

SPEAKER_00 32:59

Tochas off and tish.

SPEAKER_02 33:01

The the behind on the table, like put your cards on the table, let's do it.

SPEAKER_00 33:05

There's certain things like he's being a mensch. It doesn't, you could translate it as he's being a nice guy, but it doesn't do it justice.

SPEAKER_02 33:10

No, you need it in Yiddish. Also, I always say Yahya Nishnish. Yeah, so people are like, what does that mean? I'm like, yes, yes, no, no.

SPEAKER_00 33:19

Uh-huh. It's like Yaya Nishnish. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:24

So it's a Shkayach.

SPEAKER_00 33:26

I like I like Heim Schuh. Yeah, Barakashem, Shkayah. I like saying phrases, like he's not holding in that, you know, things like that. Like that's a very good idea.

SPEAKER_02 33:35

That would nobody would understand that.

SPEAKER_00 33:37

Yeah. That's amazing.

SPEAKER_02 33:38

It's like it's a lingo in itself.

SPEAKER_00 33:40

I love that.

SPEAKER_02 33:42

And uh so you just got married, are you allowed to talk about that?

SPEAKER_00 33:46

Yeah, yeah. She has the green card, so I'm allowed. She's legally in America. So I'm now allowing it.

SPEAKER_02 33:51

That's a big deal, by the way.

SPEAKER_00 33:52

Yeah, it's not, it's no easy feat.

SPEAKER_02 33:54

No, that's like that's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 33:56

She calls me a Mikey Mikey Green card. That's my nickname.

SPEAKER_02 33:59

Mikey Green card.

SPEAKER_00 34:00

Yeah. Yeah. Very nice.

SPEAKER_02 34:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:02

So uh yeah, been married. She's great. She's British.

SPEAKER_02 34:06

And what does she think that she'll I mean, do you try out your jokes on her?

SPEAKER_00 34:10

Yeah, but she actually, like every Shabbos meal, I'm trying material. I don't say it obviously I don't say it like, hey, can I try this joke on you? I slip it into conversations naturally.

SPEAKER_02 34:19

And then just see her reaction.

SPEAKER_00 34:21

Yeah, but she she has heard me do this so many times, so we'll be at a Shabbos meal together. I'll be talking to someone, she kind of rolls her eyes because she knows that I'm trying my material on them. But you know, to them it's just a conversation. But I'm I'm always like sliding. Yeah, just to Yeah, you gotta test it. Shabbos, Shabbos meals, that's a testing ground.

SPEAKER_02 34:40

Okay, so on the on the question of Shabbos, yeah, Shabbat, Sabbath for everybody else, um I know that I have a problem if I I've always Hashem always that's the god, always sends me ideas on Chavez. It's usually before a three-day antif.

SPEAKER_00 34:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:59

And I'm out the mind by the end.

SPEAKER_00 35:01

Terrible.

SPEAKER_02 35:02

So what I do is, thank God I have kids and grandkids, I designate people to remember things.

SPEAKER_00 35:08

Oh, you know the Rebbe did that. The Rebbe when he would give over his mimers or his speeches over Chavez, there was someone who would sit with him while he gave it and he would just see he had an incredible memory and he'd write it down after Chavez.

SPEAKER_02 35:23

I need someone like that.

SPEAKER_00 35:24

I'm not saying you're the Rebbe.

SPEAKER_02 35:25

No, I need to, I need to get my own T. You need a scriber. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:30

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 35:31

That's brilliant. So what do you do when you come up with an idea? Usually when I'm lighting candles.

SPEAKER_00 35:36

Yeah. Yes. Yeah, right when you bring it in. You're like, wait, wait, wait, wait, we'll send it back.

SPEAKER_02 35:40

Send it back.

SPEAKER_00 35:41

Uh yeah, it's I have the same problem. Some of my best jokes are just lost. It's like it's like dreams. I wake up and I'm like, what was it? What was it?

SPEAKER_03 35:51

You can't cop it.

SPEAKER_00 35:52

Okay, we'll cop it. Imagine if Paul McCartney, I think he dreamt of like let it be. Like you. Imagine if it was Chavez for him and he could never wrote Let It Be. That's how I think with some of my jokes.

SPEAKER_02 36:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:03

You'll never get to hear let it be.

SPEAKER_02 36:04

You'll never, that's true. They're just, yeah. But the ones that made it, I'm grateful for.

SPEAKER_00 36:09

Yeah, but those are weekday jokes.

SPEAKER_02 36:10

Those are weekday too.

SPEAKER_00 36:11

I want to treat people to the Shaman. They don't have a second one. Yeah, yeah. There's no doubt. This isn't a Nishama Yatera card. What are we doing here?

SPEAKER_02 36:21

I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 36:21

Who is your obvious thing? They're not a Nashama Yatera obviously. That's the market. That's the money market right there.

SPEAKER_02 36:27

Exactly, exactly. TikTok or Instagram?

SPEAKER_00 36:31

They're both really bad for your mental health, but I think TikTok is worse and also evil.

SPEAKER_02 36:37

Okay, so I guess Instagram.

SPEAKER_00 36:39

Yeah, Instagram.

SPEAKER_02 36:40

Okay, Netflix or YouTube.

SPEAKER_00 36:43

I like YouTube because I feel productive, even though I'm also just watching like sports highlights, but on YouTube Shorts, I feel like I'm more productive. You know what I mean? Netflix is like, oh, I'm investing in a show about nothing. YouTube is like, I'm here to learn.

SPEAKER_02 36:56

So you feel like it's more educational.

SPEAKER_00 36:57

Yeah, even though it's not. I just feel productive on YouTube. Can't really explain it, but YouTube feels like I'm doing something. I think I'm doing it. I'm taking something from this, you know? Also, my parents won't give me the Netflix password because they have too many accounts. So that doesn't help.

SPEAKER_02 37:13

So you're still on your parents' Netflix account?

SPEAKER_00 37:16

I don't want to talk about it.

SPEAKER_02 37:17

Okay. Okay. Shabbos dinner, which is Friday night, or Shabbos lunch.

SPEAKER_00 37:24

I would take that like that.

SPEAKER_02 37:26

Okay. So I have to do that again.

SPEAKER_00 37:27

Shabbos dinner, Shabbos lunch.

SPEAKER_02 37:28

Shabbos dinner or Shabbos lunch.

SPEAKER_00 37:30

Um, definitely Shabbos dinner. I don't do Shabbos lunch anymore.

SPEAKER_02 37:34

I'm done.

SPEAKER_00 37:35

I've retired from Shabbos lunch. I go to shoal.

SPEAKER_01 37:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:38

I go to Kiddish.

SPEAKER_01 37:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:39

In New York City. We're lucky enough that Kiddish is the lunch. You don't need two lunches.

SPEAKER_01 37:43

Yeah, what is that?

SPEAKER_00 37:44

It's for your Nishama Yatera. That's what the second lunch is for. I don't need it. I don't need the calories. Kiddish, nap, shkayah. That's it.

SPEAKER_02 37:52

Kiddish nap shkayf.

SPEAKER_00 37:54

Kiddish is the new Shabbos lunch. You don't need another thing.

SPEAKER_01 37:59

Kiddish is the new Shabbos lunch.

SPEAKER_00 38:01

You heard it here first. You want a hot takes on your podcast? You want clickbait? Kiddish is the new Shabbos lunch. That's your clickbait.

SPEAKER_02 38:10

I love it. I love it. Ashkenazi food or Sparti food?

SPEAKER_00 38:16

Listen, Sparties gotta get off their high horse, alright? If you're Sparty and watching this, you're not better than us Ashkenazis. Stop thinking that you are. Uh Ashkenazi food. Uh shout out to my mom. She cooks a mean Malzabal soup. I don't need your tharif. I don't need your spicy Sparty stuff. It's too hot. It makes my forehead melt. And uh it's not for me. So sorry, Sparties. Can't always be right.

SPEAKER_02 38:41

Well that makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 38:43

I think so.

SPEAKER_02 38:44

And are you a fast driver or a slow driver?

SPEAKER_00 38:50

I'm a I'm a good driver. I know when to go fast, I know when to go slow. I'm not I'm not running 80 in a school, you know, area or whatever. I I watch out, I'm a good driver. I can't stand slow drivers.

SPEAKER_02 39:04

I know I can't. What's wrong with them?

SPEAKER_00 39:05

Why are they not in a rush?

SPEAKER_02 39:07

I don't understand.

SPEAKER_00 39:08

Every second of your life is going away and you want to spend it going 25 in a 30? What are you doing?

SPEAKER_02 39:14

What the hell? What is that? So I tried to give them the benefit of the doubt. I always say in my mind, maybe they're bringing chicken soup to their mother and then it was so much. Oh, and it might spill or something. I try.

SPEAKER_00 39:23

Let it spill.

SPEAKER_02 39:24

Let it spill. Damn it, move out of my way.

SPEAKER_00 39:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:27

I got that. And so then do you use Waze or Google Maps?

SPEAKER_00 39:33

Waze because I'm a proud Zionist. Cut that. Cut that. We can't say that here. Otherwise, we'll lose followers that follow us because we're Jewish, but they won't follow us if they find out we're Zionists. At this point, there's no difference.

SPEAKER_02 39:47

Oh my god. But I love the I love the voices they have on Waze.

SPEAKER_00 39:52

Yeah, yeah. Waze is good. I like that Waze tells you when cops are out and about. I like that it feels very communal on Waze.

SPEAKER_02 39:58

Yeah, you feel like you're helping the other people around.

SPEAKER_00 40:01

Yeah, you're doing chesed.

SPEAKER_02 40:02

But do you ever hear, you know, they have different types of voices. They have boy band.

SPEAKER_00 40:06

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 40:07

They have, yeah, and it goes like turn right, turn right. So funny. And they even have dogs. They have like ruff, ruff, right, right.

SPEAKER_00 40:15

Oh, that's how do they have like Jewish mom? Like, turn right and get married and be a lawyer.

SPEAKER_02 40:19

That's what I said. I oh my god, we think the light. So I was gonna offer myself to be to give the Jewish mother. I basically said, You're driving too fast, pull over, think about your life's choices.

SPEAKER_00 40:29

You're driving me crazy.

SPEAKER_02 40:30

Yeah. Did you call your mother? Like all those kind of things.

SPEAKER_00 40:33

You should do it.

SPEAKER_02 40:34

You never got back to me.

SPEAKER_00 40:35

You emailed Waze?

SPEAKER_02 40:36

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 40:37

Wow. That's a Shonda.

SPEAKER_02 40:39

Yeah, that's a Shonda.

SPEAKER_00 40:40

Terrible.

SPEAKER_02 40:41

Yeah. What's the base account girl on a motorcycle?

SPEAKER_00 40:44

What?

SPEAKER_02 40:44

As Shonda on a Honda.

SPEAKER_00 40:46

Nice. Very good.

SPEAKER_02 40:48

I don't have any other questions.

SPEAKER_00 40:49

Good. I don't have any other answers.

SPEAKER_02 40:51

So thank God. I think we're uh I think that's how I think that's how things end.

SPEAKER_00 40:55

Yeah, I think that's how this ends. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you so much for flying me out here. I really appreciate it.

SPEAKER_02 41:00

Yeah, it was my pleasure. I hope it was a comfortable trip.

SPEAKER_00 41:02

Yeah, it was.

SPEAKER_02 41:04

You enjoyed the lounge.

SPEAKER_00 41:06

Yeah, I was in the lounges. It was very good.