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How a standup show at a Chinese restaurant turned into a 30-year Jewish comedy tradition
(JTA) — Just a few years into her comedy career, Lisa Geduldig was invited to perform standup at the Peking Garden Club near Northampton, Massachusetts. She went to the gig assuming it was a comedy club.
It wasn’t.
“I just had the most ironic experience,” Geduldig remembers telling a Jewish summer camp friend on the phone in October 1993. “I was just telling Jewish jokes in a Chinese restaurant.”
As a Long Island native who was by then living in San Francisco, she was very familiar with the tradition of Jews eating Chinese food on Christmas, a product of the neighborhood dynamics between Jewish and Chinese immigrant populations living in New York’s Lower East Side from the end of the 19th century.
After ruminating on it, she thought: why not start a Jewish comedy night on Christmas Eve?
She had enough time before the holiday to find other Jewish comics who liked the idea, write her own press release and partner with a restaurant in San Francisco’s Chinatown with banquet room space open on Christmas Eve to organize the event, which she called Kung Pao Kosher Comedy. (Geduldig liked the alliteration, even though it doesn’t involve kosher food.)
It was an instant hit, with around 400 guests, and Geduldig said nearly 200 people were turned away at the door. The kitchen of the Four Seas Restaurant was completely unprepared for the volume, as Geduldig didn’t expect anything close to the turnout. The show received a heap of local press, and the next year it earned a three-quarter page spread in The New York Times.
Fast forward and this year marks the 30th Kung Pao Kosher show, and the first one back in person since the COVID-19 pandemic. This time, the event has moved into a synagogue — the Reform Congregation Sherith Israel in the Pacific Heights neighborhood, one of the country’s oldest Jewish houses of worship. The Chinese banquet room at New Asia Restaurant, where the show had been hosted since 1997, became a supermarket in 2020.
Over the years, an impressive roster of comedians has performed, including names such as Marc Maron, Margaret Cho, Shelley Berman, David Brenner, Judy Gold, Gary Gulman and Ophira Eisenberg. Many of the show’s comedians return — Wendy Liebman, who has been doing standup for 38 years, has performed at Kung Pao four times.
Geduldig — who is now a publicist and comedy show producer, in addition to a comic — said the show that put her project on the map was when well-known Jewish comedian Henny Youngman headlined in 1997, at 92. Youngman — famous for his quick succession of clever one-liners and interludes from his favorite prop, a violin — died of pneumonia just two months after giving his final performance at Kung Pao Kosher Comedy. For six months after Youngman’s death, Geduldig and other Kung Pao promoters and staff were convinced that they killed him. The SF Weekly published an article titled “The Gig of Death?” But Youngman’s daughter, Marilyn Kelly, exonerated everyone involved in the show, saying the travel was a strain on her father’s health, but he was “delighted to have done it.”
Ten years after Youngman’s final performance, Shelley Berman, then in his 80s, was scheduled to perform at Kung Pao when he called Geduldig complaining of chest pains.
“I go, ‘No! I can’t kill another one!’” she recalled.
It turned out to be just acid reflux, and the emergency room doctor told Berman he could go onstage. (The doctor was extended an invitation to the show, but did not attend.)
In keeping with the Jewish tradition of social responsibility and tzedakah, meaning “charity” or “justice,” Geduldig has given a portion of the proceeds from ticket sales each year to two different charities. Past beneficiaries include a variety of Jewish and secular organizations; this year, the charitable proceeds will go to the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank and The Center for Reproductive Rights.
The charitable aspect is part of what keeps Shelley Kessler, a long-time California labor leader, coming back to the show. She has yet to miss a single one.
“Given what’s going on in the world, this is a very nice way to manage the depression,” Kessler said.
At Kessler’s table, her core group of five always bring tchotchkes and booze — though the synagogue has asked this year’s guests to refrain from red wine, to avoid any accidents on the carpet.
“People bring all kinds of things,” Kessler said. “We once had a humongous menorah. Our table has fun, I’ll tell you.”
This year’s lineup of comics includes Mark Schiff (Jerry Seinfeld’s longtime opening act), Cathy Ladman and Orion Levine. Lisa Geduldig will emcee in her customary tuxedo, accented this year with a Cuban guayabera shirt.
Joining Kung Pao on the virtual stage for the third time is Geduldig’s mother, Arline Geduldig, 91, who will Zoom in from Boynton Beach, Florida.
“One of the silver linings of the pandemic was not only living with my mother, but getting to know each other, finding out how funny she was,” Lisa Geduldig said.
In March 2020, the younger Geduldig flew to Florida to visit her mother — and stayed there for 17 months. That was when she launched Lockdown Comedy, a monthly online comedy show where Arline got her start, thanks to some mentoring from her daughter. Arline’s routines are often centered around her fascination with handsome young firemen and the way she calls her husband, Irving, downstairs for dinner.
“I love people saying they like me,” Arline told the Los Angeles Times in 2021. “I have a swelled head already.”
In previous years, Geduldig said she tried to turn “a Chinese restaurant into a synagogue.” She brought inflatable dreidels, giant matzah ball pillows and “Happy Hanukkah” banners, when Hanukkah and Christmas overlapped. Things are trickier now, since she wants to avoid any cultural appropriation while still paying tribute to the show’s origins. For instance, she learned that red paper lanterns are symbolic of good luck in Chinese culture, so she wants to incorporate some into the room.
The restaurant that the show was held in became a supermarket during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. (Courtesy of Lisa Geduldig)
“This year, I’m turning a synagogue into a Chinese restaurant,” she said.
Although the food will still be provided by a local Chinese restaurant, the usual fortune cookies filled with Yiddish proverbs will not be included. The food isn’t kosher, but because the event is being held in a synagogue there are still restrictions: No pork and no shrimp, despite Geduldig’s 30-year streak of serving treif (or non-kosher) food at Kung Pao Kosher Comedy.
“I was like, ‘How about if I call it kosher prawns?’” Geduldig joked. “They didn’t go for it.”
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The post How a standup show at a Chinese restaurant turned into a 30-year Jewish comedy tradition appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Dutch Appeals Court Rejects Bid to Stop Arms Exports to Israel
An Israeli tank stands on the Israeli side of the border with Gaza, in Israel, Oct. 19, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
A Dutch appeals court on Thursday confirmed a decision to throw out a case brought by pro-Palestinian groups to stop the Netherlands exporting weapons to Israel and trading with Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories.
The court said it was up to the state to decide what actions to take and not judges.
In a written ruling, the court said it could not order a blanket ban because the anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian groups had not shown that the government was routinely failing to consider whether exported arms or dual-use goods would be used to violate rights.
The court in The Hague added that the Dutch government already did enough to discourage companies from working in the territories.
The plaintiffs, citing high civilian casualties in Israel‘s war in the Gaza Strip, had argued that the Dutch state, as a signatory to the 1948 Genocide Convention, has a duty to take all reasonable measures at its disposal to prevent genocide.
Israel has repeatedly dismissed accusations of genocide and said its Gaza campaign was focused solely on fighting Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group that started the war with its Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of and massacre across southern Israel communities.
The court said the Netherlands did have that obligation under the Genocide Convention and that there was “a grave risk” that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza.
But it backed a decision by a lower court in December last year. In that case, the judges sided with the Dutch state which had said it continually assesses the risk around exported arms, and that it has refused some exports.
The pro-Palestinian NGOs had said the Netherlands had exported radar systems, parts for F-16 fighter jets and warships, police dogs and cameras, and software for surveillance systems.
The Dutch government says that it has halted most arms exports to Israel and only allows parts for defense systems such as the Iron Dome.
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Pelosi won’t seek reelection, ending the pioneering congresswoman’s decades of Jewish outreach
(JTA) — Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the long-serving former Speaker of the House, will step down from Congress at the conclusion of her current term in 2027, her 40th year in office.
Pelosi’s retirement caps an historic career in politics that included extensive outreach toward the Jewish community, from the 85-year-old’s home district of San Francisco to the halls of Israel’s Knesset and beyond.
“Because of your trust I was able to represent our city, our country, around the world, with patriotism and pride,” the representative told her home district Thursday in a social media video announcing her decision. “I will not be seeking reelection to Congress. With a grateful heart I look forward to my final year of service as your proud representative.” The Roman Catholic also invoked “the spirit of St. Francis.”
Her replacement could very well be Jewish, as well: California state Sen. Scott Wiener, a co-chair of the state’s Jewish caucus, launched his own bid for Congress weeks before Pelosi’s announcement, saying he would challenge Pelosi if she ran again.
First elected to Congress in 1987, Pelosi was elected speaker in 2007 — the first woman to hold the title. She remained the top House Democrat until stepping down from the leadership role in 2023.
Her father, congressman Thomas D’Alesandro, was active in advocating for a Jewish state in the 1940s. He later became close with Baltimore’s Jewish community in his second political life as that city’s mayor, which meant Nancy often attended bar and bat mitzvahs as a child.
Pelosi carried that spirit into her own time in Congress, visiting Israel and hosting Israeli politicians multiple times. She became especially close with Dalia Itzik, the first woman speaker of the Knesset. Along with most establishment Democrats of the era, she forged close relationships with pro-Israel lobbying giant AIPAC and major pro-Israel donors like Haim Saban, and she would advocate on behalf of Israeli hostages and their families from past regional conflicts.
She also formed bonds with American Jewish leaders including Rabbi David Saperstein, a Reform movement leader who advised her when she first became speaker, and played a key role in elevating the profiles of many Jews in Congress including Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Jamie Raskin and Adam Schiff. Pelosi has several Jewish grandchildren.
She would have faced a formidable challenger in Wiener had she remained in the race — and not just because of growing voter antipathy to long-tenured Democratic leaders. Wiener, who is gay, has sought to inherit the mantle of beloved local Jewish legend Harvey Milk in his progressive politics. The state senator also has notched several victories for California Jews specifically, as his legislative caucus has lobbied the state to create a new office to combat antisemitism in public schools, among other accomplishments.
The post Pelosi won’t seek reelection, ending the pioneering congresswoman’s decades of Jewish outreach appeared first on The Forward.
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Afghanistan and Pakistan Exchange Fire as Peace Talks Begin
People inspect houses and vehicles destroyed during an airstrike, following a temporary ceasefire, amid the conflict between Afghanistan and Pakistan, in Spin Boldak district of Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, Oct. 16, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Stringer
Afghan and Pakistani troops briefly exchanged fire along their shared border on Thursday, both nations said, on the same day talks to find a lasting peace restarted in Istanbul.
Each nation blamed the other for starting the exchange of gunfire near Spin Boldak, an Afghan border town towards the south of their 2,600-km (1,600-mile) frontier.
There were no reports of casualties, and spokespeople for both sides said they remained committed to a ceasefire and continued dialogue in Istanbul.
Militaries from the South Asian neighbors previously clashed last month, with dozens killed in the worst such violence since the Taliban returned to power in Kabul in 2021.
Both sides signed a ceasefire in Doha on Oct. 19, but a second round of negotiations in Istanbul last week ended without a long-term deal, due to a disagreement over militant groups hostile to Pakistan operating inside Afghanistan.
“We hope that wisdom prevails and peace is restored in the region,” Pakistan‘s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif told reporters on Wednesday.
He said Islamabad was pursuing a “one-point agenda” of convincing Afghanistan to rein in militants attacking Pakistani forces across their shared border, allegedly with the Taliban’s knowledge.
Two government sources said the head of Pakistan‘s military intelligence wing, Asim Malik, was leading the Pakistani delegation.
The Afghan delegation is led by intelligence chief Abdul Haq Wasiq, Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid told state broadcaster RTA.
TALKS AIMED AT PREVENTING REPEAT OF VIOLENCE
Pakistan and the Taliban had for decades enjoyed warm ties, but relations have deteriorated sharply in recent years.
Islamabad accuses the Taliban of harboring the Pakistani Taliban, a separate militant group that has clashed repeatedly with the Pakistani military. Kabul denies this, saying it has no control over the group.
The October clashes began after Pakistani airstrikes earlier in the month on Kabul, the Afghan capital, among other locations, targeting the head of the Pakistani Taliban.
The Afghan Taliban administration responded with attacks on Pakistani military posts along the length of the border, which remains closed to trade.
While the ceasefire between the two nations’ militaries had held until Thursday’s exchanges, clashes have continued between the Pakistani military and the Pakistani Taliban throughout the period, with multiple deaths reported on both sides.