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Conan O’Brien talked to this New York rabbi about Judaism on his podcast
(New York Jewish Week) — Regular listeners of Conan O’Brien’s podcast generally expect to hear the comedian interview A-listers such as Michelle Obama and “Fleishman Is in Trouble” star Lizzy Caplan.
But the former late-night host interviews “regular” people, too, and sandwiched between two recent episodes — featuring “The Office” star Ed Helms and “You” star Penn Badgely — listeners can hear O’Brien crack jokes about Jewish life with a New York rabbi.
David Schuck, who is the rabbi at New Rochelle’s Conservative Beth El Synagogue Center, appeared on the Dec. 29 episode of “Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend,” where he discussed his job as a congregational rabbi.
“I honestly did not expect to be chosen to be on his podcast,” Schuck told the New York Jewish Week via email. “I just thought it would be a thrill to meet him, and it was.”
Schuck said that he has “always been a fan of Conan,” adding that anyone can fill out a form online to be considered a guest on the show.
“He is a brilliant comedian with a rich intellectual life and he seems sincerely interested in other people,” Schuck said. “The wonderful thing about Conan is that as far as I could tell, he is who he seems to be. There was no pretense with him or anything performative that changed when the audio was not being recorded.”
In one segment of the episode that was featured on the comedian’s YouTube page, O’Brien joked about accidentally mistaking foreskin for calamari at a bris — eliciting both groans and laughter from Schuck and O’Brien’s crew.
Schuck then shared that he buried his son’s foreskin behind home plate at a baseball field in Central Park.
“What a terrible image,” O’Brien said.
Conan, who is an Irish Catholic, said he grew up in an area of Boston where he was surrounded by synagogues. “Many of my friends were Jewish,” O’Brien said. “I think I went to many more bar mitzvahs when I was a kid than first communions or any other Christian ceremony.”
“You ended up in a good place, in Hollywood,” Schuck joked.
“What the hell?” Conan said laughing. “Tone it down, David. It’s not true, there are no Jewish people in Hollywood. It’s all Mormons. It’s the Mormons that control Hollywood.”
O’Brien asked Schuck if he wears anything outside of synagogue that would identify him as a rabbi, or if Schuck can “go undercover.”
The rabbi replied that he does get recognized frequently, adding that when he runs to the grocery store for some chips, he might then find himself “counseling somebody in aisle six around a cancer diagnosis.”
“When I am not in New Rochelle or Westchester, I never tell people I am a rabbi, ever,” Schuck said.
Schuck told the New York Jewish Week that he did not let his synagogue know in advance that he would be on O’Brien’s podcast.
“People were surprised, and they were excited to hear us establish a sincere connection with one another,” Schuck said. “In a strange way, people were touched that Conan felt genuinely grateful for the ways in which rabbis serve their communities.”
On the podcat, O’ Brien riffed on New Rochelle, saying that he grew up fantasizing about living there because “The Dick Van Dyke Show” was set in the upscale northern suburb of New York City.
“If I could live in New Rochelle and be married to Mary Tyler Moore and write comedy,” O’Brien said. “Well, one of those came true.”
The rabbi added that Conan is always welcome to visit New Rochelle.
“I bet I could convince the mayor, Noam Bramson, to give him the key to the city,” Schuck told the New York Jewish Week. “I make a mean cholent if Conan wants to share a Shabbat meal with us. Otherwise, this will just go down as a thrilling opportunity to chat with someone whom I admire.”
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Dollar Struggles to Rebound as Fragile US-Iran Ceasefire Keeps Markets Wary
U.S. $100 bills. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
A fragile calm reigned across currency markets on Thursday as traders kept their eyes fixed on whether the ceasefire between the US and Iran would hold, a day after its announcement sent the dollar tumbling across the board.
The deal appeared to be on thin ice, as Israel bombed more targets in Lebanon, and there was no sign Iran had lifted its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which has caused the worst disruption to global energy supplies in history.
Iranian negotiators were expected to set off later on Thursday for Pakistan for the first peace talks of the war, but Tehran said there would be no deal as long as Israel was striking Lebanon.
President Donald Trump said all US ships, aircraft, and military personnel would stay in place in and around Iran until it fully complied with a deal.
The uncertainty left currency markets on edge.
The euro was up 0.17 percent at $1.1683. It had gained 0.6 percent on Wednesday, but retreated late in the day having touched a one-month high of $1.1721 earlier in the session.
Sterling similarly was 0.21 percent higher at $1.342, after gaining 0.77 percent on Wednesday, but retreating from as high as $1.348.
Meanwhile, the Japanese yen lost some ground, with the dollar up 0.3 percent at 159.055 yen, having briefly dropped below 158 on Wednesday.
With the Strait of Hormuz closed, “the entire ceasefire remains tenuous,” said Derek Halpenny, head of research global markets EMEA at MUFG. But, he added, “while the US dollar has rebounded, the moves in general have been modest.”
He said the fact that further talks scheduled in Pakistan were still going ahead was keeping any retracement of Wednesday’s moves in check.
Elsewhere, new personal spending data released on Thursday showed that US inflation increased as expected in February and likely rose further in March amid the war with Iran, a trend that is expected to discourage the Federal Reserve from cutting interest rates for a while.
The personal consumption expenditures price index climbed 0.4% after an unrevised 0.3 gain in January, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis said on Thursday.
Japan’s consumer confidence worsened in March for the first time in three months, a government survey showed on Thursday, adding to a recent string of data pointing to the potential economic hit from the Middle East war, which would complicate the Bank of Japan’s rate-hike decision. The yen showed little reaction to the data.
Speaking in parliament, BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda said real interest rates were clearly negative and were keeping the country’s financial conditions accommodative.
Other currencies were also broadly steady. The Australian dollar was 0.15 percent higher at $0.7054, while the New Zealand dollar was 0.46 percent higher at $0.585. In cryptocurrencies, bitcoin was last down 0.97 percent at $70,680.
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Opposition Leader Lapid Calls the Ceasefire with Iran a ‘Political Disaster’
FILE PHOTO: Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid delivers a statement at the Knesset, Israel’s parliament,, in Jerusalem, February 13, 2023. REUTERS/Amir Cohen/File Photo
i24 News – Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid on Wednesday launched a sharp attack on the ceasefire agreement reached between the United States and Iran, calling it a “political disaster” and directly blaming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
In a post on X, Lapid said the agreement sidelined Israel from critical decisions affecting its national security. “Never in our entire history have we experienced such a diplomatic disaster,” he wrote, adding that “Israel wasn’t even at the table when decisions were made regarding the core of our security.”
Lapid accused Netanyahu of failing to translate military achievements into strategic gains, despite praising the performance of the Israeli military and the resilience of the public during the conflict. “The army has accomplished everything that was asked of it, and the citizens have shown remarkable strength,” he said.
However, he argued that those efforts were not matched by political leadership. “Netanyahu has failed politically, failed strategically, and has not achieved any of the goals he set for himself,” Lapid added.
The opposition leader also warned of long-term consequences stemming from the agreement, saying the fallout could take years to repair. He criticized the government’s handling of the crisis, citing what he described as “arrogance, negligence, and a lack of strategic vision.”
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A Toll for Using Hormuz Would Be a ‘Dangerous Precedent’, UN’s Ship Agency Says
A map showing the Strait of Hormuz is seen in this illustration taken June 22, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
Imposing a toll on ships sailing through the critical Strait of Hormuz would “set a dangerous precedent” and countries should not impede freedom of navigation, the UN’s shipping agency said on Thursday.
Iranian officials have raised the idea of charging a toll for using the Strait after a two-week ceasefire between the United States and Tehran was agreed this week.
“There is no international agreement where tolls can be introduced for transiting international straits. Any such toll will set a dangerous precedent,” a spokesperson with the UN’s International Maritime Organization said.
IMO countries adopted the UN Convention on the Law of the Seas, or UNCLOS, which outlines the rules that govern straits used for international navigation.
“According to UNCLOS, ships enjoy the right of transit passage through international straits. States bordering straits shall not hamper that right or suspend the transit passage,” the IMO spokesperson said.