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New York Comedian Misses the Mark in Trying to Be Bad
Confetti flies around the countdown clock during the first public New Year’s event since the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, at Times Square, in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., January 1, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Andrew Kelly
Jews have often done groundbreaking things in comedy. Mel Brooks famously lampooned Hitler in The Producers, which was more controversial at the time than it is now. Andy Kaufman would do performance art and use alter egos, so that we didn’t know what was real and what wasn’t. To some extent, Nathan Fielder did this with his Nathan For You show.
So I was excited to go to SoHo Playhouse to see a Jewish comedian, named Zach Zucker. Zucker has talked in interviews about attending Jewish summer camps and how he first became addicted to getting laughs by dropping rocks on his feet. In this show, he has a fake persona named Jack Tucker (close enough to his real name), and I had high hopes.
Judging a comedian who is trying to be good, is different than judging a comedian who is trying to be bad. And that’s what Zucker was trying to do. I got the joke, and I laughed once — when he fell down. It was also somewhat amusing to see a guy do odd dancing on roller skates, for what I guess was the opening act. Despite having a quasi New York-Jewish accent and charisma, most of Zucker’s act was not funny or entertaining.
Having plastic guns, sounds of gunshots, and random noises served no purpose. I love the song “American Woman,” but having two seconds of it blasted every five minutes has little to do with good or bad comedy.
I’ve attended hundreds of comedy shows, and it’s true that there are horrible comedians who do nothing other than make sexual jokes; I can appreciate Zucker’s point that many bad comedians get deemed “good” somehow.
But it was not enjoyable to watch the show, and two people walked out. There was absolutely nothing to take from it, but even more importantly, it is clear Zucker has charm, talent, and could be funny if he wanted to be.
I give him credit that he stood outside (it was a bit cold) and shook every single person’s hand, and spoke to people who asked questions. He told the crowd that he’d tried and was unable to get booked with his normal comedy act. And that’s very sad. I would have liked to see that act. I’m pretty sure he would be funny, because you can see the talent he has. It’s quite perplexing.
If you get a thrill from bad comedy trying to be bad, this show is for you.
I have no doubt we will hear more from Zucker, a young man with guts and great talent. He doesn’t show it in this show, but I would bet he will in his next show. I hope he uses his real name and shows his real game. I think he could genuinely have a Netflix special within three years, showing his real talent.
The author is a writer based in New York.
The post New York Comedian Misses the Mark in Trying to Be Bad first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Germany: 5 Killed, Scores Wounded after Saudi Man Plows Car Into Christmas crowd
Magdeburg Christmas market, December 21, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Christian Mang
i24 News – A suspected terrorist plowed a vehicle into a crowd at a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg, west of the capital Berlin, killing at least five and injuring dozens more.
Local police confirmed that the suspect was a Saudi national born in 1974 and acting alone.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed his concern about the incident, saying that “reports from Magdeburg suggest something bad. My thoughts are with the victims and their families.”
Police declined to give casualty numbers, confirming only a large-scale operation at the market, where people had gathered to celebrate in the days leading up to the Christmas holidays.
The post Germany: 5 Killed, Scores Wounded after Saudi Man Plows Car Into Christmas crowd first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Syria’s New Rulers Name HTS Commander as Defense Minister
A person waves a flag adopted by the new Syrian rulers, as people gather during a celebration called by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) near the Umayyad Mosque, after the ousting of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, Photo: December 20, 2024. REUTERS/Ammar Awad/File Photo
Syria’s new rulers have appointed Murhaf Abu Qasra, a leading figure in the insurgency which toppled Bashar al-Assad, as defense minister in the interim government, an official source said on Saturday.
Abu Qasra, who is also known by the nom de guerre Abu Hassan 600, is a senior figure in the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group which led the campaign that ousted Assad this month. He led numerous military operations during Syria’s revolution, the source said.
Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa discussed “the form of the military institution in the new Syria” during a meeting with armed factions on Saturday, state news agency SANA reported.
Abu Qasra during the meeting sat next to Sharaa, also known by the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani, photos published by SANA showed.
Prime Minister Mohammed al-Bashir said this week that the defense ministry would be restructured using former rebel factions and officers who defected from Assad’s army.
Bashir, who formerly led an HTS-affiliated administration in the northwestern province of Idlib, has said he will lead a three-month transitional government. The new administration has not declared plans for what will happen after that.
Earlier on Saturday, the ruling General Command named Asaad Hassan al-Shibani as foreign minister, SANA said. A source in the new administration told Reuters that this step “comes in response to the aspirations of the Syrian people to establish international relations that bring peace and stability.”
Shibani, a 37-year-old graduate of Damascus University, previously led the political department of the rebels’ Idlib government, the General Command said.
Sharaa’s group was part of al Qaeda until he broke ties in 2016. It had been confined to Idlib for years until going on the offensive in late November, sweeping through the cities of western Syria and into Damascus as the army melted away.
Sharaa has met with a number of international envoys this week. He has said his primary focus is on reconstruction and achieving economic development and that he is not interested in engaging in any new conflicts.
Syrian rebels seized control of Damascus on Dec. 8, forcing Assad to flee after more than 13 years of civil war and ending his family’s decades-long rule.
Washington designated Sharaa a terrorist in 2013, saying al Qaeda in Iraq had tasked him with overthrowing Assad’s rule and establishing Islamic sharia law in Syria. US officials said on Friday that Washington would remove a $10 million bounty on his head.
The war has killed hundreds of thousands of people, caused one of the biggest refugee crises of modern times and left cities bombed to rubble and the economy hollowed out by global sanctions.
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Sweden Ends Funding for UNRWA, Pledges to Seek Other Aid Channels
View of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) building in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib / Flash90.
i24 News – Sweden will no longer fund the U.N. refugee agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) and will instead provide humanitarian assistance to Gaza via other channels, the Scandinavian country said on Friday.
The decision comes on the heels of multiple revelations regarding the agency’s employees’ involvement in the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led massacre in southern Israel that triggered the war in Gaza.
Sweden’s decision was in response to the Israeli ban, as it will make channeling aid via the agency more difficult, the country’s aid minister, Benjamin Dousa, said.
“Large parts of UNRWA’s operations in Gaza are either going to be severely weakened or completely impossible,” Dousa said. “For the government, the most important thing is that support gets through.”
The Palestinian embassy in Stockholm said in a statement: “We reject the idea of finding alternatives to UNRWA, which has a special mandate to provide services to Palestinian refugees.”
Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel thanked Dousa for a meeting they had this week and for Sweden’s decision to drop its support for UNRWA.
“There are worthy and viable alternatives for humanitarian aid, and I appreciate the willingness to listen and adopt a different approach,” she said.
The post Sweden Ends Funding for UNRWA, Pledges to Seek Other Aid Channels first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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