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At Chosen Comedy Festival in Brooklyn, comics lean into nuances of identity
(New York Jewish Week) — When comedian Modi Rosenfeld took the stage as co-host of the second annual Chosen Comedy Festival in Brooklyn on Tuesday evening, he stuck to an approach that has brought him success with Orthodox audiences: leaning into specificity.
“People want to hear us talk about antisemitism, they love to hear us make jokes and make fun of it,” he told the New York Jewish Week following the festival, which drew a lineup of Jewish comics to the Coney Island Amphitheater to perform for a crowd of thousands, many of them Orthodox Jews.
“They love specific humor,” Rosenfeld said. “When you mention the Persians, the Syrians, the Ashkenazim, the Hasidim — they love to be called out. People love that kind of attention when it’s in a positive way.”
But when he did a set at the festival, he also joked about another part of his identity that hasn’t usually shown up when he performs at Orthodox venues: His marriage to a millennial man.
“My husband’s younger — 10, 12 years younger — 22 years younger. Ten and 12…” he said in a shrinking voice that trailed off as the audience laughed.
Going there, in front of that audience, was a change for Rosenfeld, who discussed being gay in a “Variety” interview in January, but explained that he didn’t incorporate that part of his life into his act for Orthodox crowds. He said he tailors his comedy to meet his audience — recognizing what they will find funny and what subjects are appropriate for each room or club.
On Tuesday, Rosenfeld felt that this audience was ripe for the jokes, which he said he had been working on for an upcoming standup special.
Related: Deeply Jewish comedy is having a moment, even as antisemitism rocks pop culture
“This is my audience. They came to see me,” Rosenfeld said. “It’s my festival. I’m a producer, I’m a performer, I’m the host. So whatever I do is okay, ’cause it’s my show. It’s not a show that somebody else brought me in.”
He added, “And so I felt the room and they were amazing. They were there and they were ready.”
Rosenfeld’s 10-minute set came during the middle of the show, which he co-hosted with comic Elon Gold. It featured some of the lineup from last year’s festival, including Rosenfeld, Gold, Jeff Ross and Jessica Kirson, in addition to newcomers such as Eunji Kim, Eli Leonard, Rich Vos and Ari Shaffir — who self-released his standup special, titled “Jew,” last year.
There was a surprise appearance from Dave Attell, the former Comedy Central personality and “Saturday Night Live” writer. The show also included musical performances from the band Emotional Intelligence and Hasidic folk group Zusha, and was DJed by Lady Blaga.
The acts ran the comedy gamut from Kirson’s raunchy impressions of elderly grandparents having sex to Kim reflecting on the nuances of being an Asian Jew.
In one bit, Kim related that her young son was surprised that a classmate, named Silas, was Jewish. After all, he told her, “Silas doesn’t look Jewish!”
“I said, ‘What do you think a Jew looks like?’” Kim continued. “And my son looked at me and he said, ‘Asian.’”
Leonard’s act featured bottle dancing and an unusually timely joke about Jesus’ death — made just days after Oscar winner Jamie Foxx ignited a debate on social media with an Instagram post on the same topic.
“If we kill our only carpenter,” Leonard said, “who nails him to the cross?”
Since its founding in New York last year by Dani Zoldan, the owner of the Upper West Side comedy club Stand Up NY, the Chosen Comedy Festival has gone on tour in Miami and Los Angeles. This year, it grew to include nine shows in New York City — including a performance of comedian Alex Edelman’s Broadway show, “Just For Us” — and one show in the Catskills.
“Jews are so dying to show how proud they are of being Jewish,” Rosenfeld told the New York Jewish Week. “What an amazing outlet to do it through comedy.”
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The post At Chosen Comedy Festival in Brooklyn, comics lean into nuances of identity appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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250 Hezbollah Terrorists Including 21 Commanders Eliminated in Ground Op
DF operating in southern Lebanon. Photo: IDF Spokesperson
i24 News – The Israeli military eliminated 250 Hezbollah terrorists including 21 commanders in four days of ground combat, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement on Friday.
IDF soldiers operating in southern Lebanon have uncovered vast caches of weapons and munitions in civilian residences, showing how central embedding within civilian population is to Hezbollah’s mode of warfare.
Meanwhile, heavy strikes targeting the Hezbollah stronghold of Dahieh in southern Beirut were ongoing, Lebanese media reported.
The post 250 Hezbollah Terrorists Including 21 Commanders Eliminated in Ground Op first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Airstrikes Launched on Several Parts of Yemen, Houthi Al Masirah TV says
Illustrative. Hodeidah, Yemen, July 20, 2024. Houthi Military Media/Handout via REUTERS
Airstrikes were launched on Friday at several parts of Yemen including its capital Sanaa and Hodeidah airport, Al Masirah TV, the main television news outlet run by the Houthi movement controlling much of Yemen, and residents said.
Strikes also targeted the south of Dhamar city and the southeast of al-Bayda province, the channel added.
Residents said that the attack on al-Bayda province targeted several Houthi military outposts.
Al Masirah TV reported that the strikes had been carried out by the United States and British forces, but a British government source said Britain was not involved.
Iran-aligned Houthi militants have launched attacks on international shipping near Yemen since last November in solidarity with Palestinians in Israel‘s war with Hamas.
The attacks have drawn US and British retaliatory strikes and disrupted global trade as ship owners reroute vessels away from the Red Sea and Suez Canal to sail the longer route around the southern tip of Africa.
Following the airstrikes, a Houthi spokesman called the attack “a desperate attempt,” adding that “Yemen will not be deterred by these attacks and will continue its steadfastness in confronting the enemies.”
The post Airstrikes Launched on Several Parts of Yemen, Houthi Al Masirah TV says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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IDF Kills Hamas Commander in Tulkarem
Illustrative. Israeli troops during counterterrorism activity in Tulkarem, northwestern Samaria, September 2024. Photo: IDF.
JNS.org – An Israeli Air Force fighter jet conducted a rare strike in Tulkarem in the West Bank on Thursday night, targeting top Hamas terrorist Zahi Yaser Abd al-Razeq Oufi.
The Palestinian Authority reported at least 18 fatalities in the strike, with a local security source telling Agence France-Presse it was the deadliest in Judea and Samaria since the Second Intifada.
Ayyth Radwan, the head of Islamic Jihad’s Tulkarem branch, was also reportedly killed.
Oufi was planning a terrorist attack “in the immediate time frame,” according to the Israel Defense Forces, and directed the thwarted car bombing last month near Ateret in the Binyamin region of Samaria.
There were no casualties in the incident, which Israel Ganz, the head of the Binyamin Regional Council, called a “great miracle.”
The IDF said Oufi was involved in smuggling weapons to terrorists who perpetrated several recent attacks against Israelis, including some that resulted in injuries to civilians.
He also “worked to establish terrorist networks on behalf of Hamas and assisted terror operatives in the area to carry out significant shooting and explosive attacks,” added the military.
The post IDF Kills Hamas Commander in Tulkarem first appeared on Algemeiner.com.