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Howie Mandel and Rachel Bloom headline an LA comedy ‘roast of antisemitism’
LOS ANGELES (JTA) — The White House recently released a detailed strategy for combating antisemitism, complete with more than 100 action items.
One thing not on the list? Comedy.
That’s where Jewish celebrities such as Howie Mandel, Rachel Bloom and Michael Rapaport came in on Wednesday night at the Saban Theater in Beverly Hills, at a so-called “Roast of Anti-Semitism.”
As event organizer Dani Zoldan put it, the comedy show was focused on “making fun of people that hate Jews.”
Emceed by longtime standup and occasional TV actor Elon Gold — who joked that there were no Proud Boys in the audience, only “Jewish mothers who are proud of their boys” — the evening was full of Yiddishisms, circumcision jokes and poking fun at the likes of Kanye West and Donald Trump.
There were countless jokes about antisemitic stereotypes — more than one performer mocked the idea that Jews control the weather, noting that the auditorium was uncomfortably warm. There were bits about conversion, Jesus and Hitler, and even a couple musical numbers, including Bloom’s rendition of “Remember That We Suffered,” from the musical comedy she co-created and starred in, “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.”
The sold-out crowd of 1,900 also heard from Montana Tucker, the social media star who has become known for her Holocaust education content, and Noa Tishby, the actor and Israel’s former antisemitism envoy, who was fired after criticizing the current government’s proposed judicial overhaul.
Israel itself was not a big topic at the show, aside from a few jokes about flying El Al and Gold proclaiming, to considerable applause, that “anti-Zionism is antisemitism.”
Zoldan, whose Manhattan comedy club Stand Up NY produced the show, said he and his collaborators hope to pitch the show, which was recorded, to streaming platforms to help it reach an even wider audience.
“There’s obviously so many different initiatives around the world fighting antisemitism, so this was just our contribution, hoping to make some small difference,” Zoldan told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in a phone interview prior to the show. Zoldan is also the creator of the Chosen Comedy Festival, a touring Jewish comedy show featuring many of the same comics.
Daniel Bernstein, who works at nearby Wilshire Boulevard Temple, said he attended the roast because he is “pro-semitism.”
“I think we’ve been through so much, the only way to get through it is to laugh,” he said.
Bernstein was there with his friend Talia Amoyal, who added that “a lot of pain comes out through humor.”
Howie Mandel, Jeff Ross, Elon Gold and Tehran backstage. (Courtesy of Dani Zoldan)
Tehran Von Ghasri, who goes simply by Tehran on stage, also performed on Wednesday. A comedian and actor based in LA, Von Ghasri said he often seeks opportunities to use comedy to address difficult topics. He is half Iranian and half Black, and his maternal grandmother is a Mizrahi Jew from Egypt.
“I wanted to add some literal and metaphorical color to this lineup,” he said. He added that his close bond with his grandmother made Judaism a big part of his life growing up. He celebrated Jewish holidays and had a bar mitzvah.
“It’s good to show that there’s no monolith of Judaism,” he said. “There’s no one thing or person that it looks like.”
Zoldan, who himself is an observant Jew, said the event was largely targeted at a younger, non-Jewish audience. The team behind the show relied on influencers and social media marketing to spread the word and sell tickets.
“I don’t think it’ll help the cause if we just filled the audience with Jews who agree that antisemitism is bad,” Zoldan said. Instead, he said he hoped the show would offer a younger, non-Jewish audience “a different side and a different conversation about antisemitism.”
In fact, multiple comics asked the non-Jews in the audience to make some noise — a prompt which received a few scattered cheers.
The show also featured Orthodox comedian Modi Rosenfeld, who, along with Mandel, received the most laughs of the night; a video from Triumph the Insult Comic Dog (who was created by Jewish comedian Robert Smigel) interviewing people in London about controversial Pink Floyd frontman Roger Waters; “Roastmaster General” Jeff Ross and others.
Due to the size of the lineup, each comedian’s set lasted only around 10 minutes. Still, Zoldan said, he recognized how big the ask was each time he invited someone to participate.
For one thing, unlike in a typical comedy show, in which traveling comics can repeat their go-to set (which Rapaport and Yamaneika Saunders still seemed to do anyway), this show’s specific theme required the performers to write new material. Plus, Zoldan added, the ongoing Hollywood writers strike may have dissuaded some comics from agreeing to take part, out of deference for the striking writers.
Mandel, who closed out the show, ended by encouraging the crowd to be proud about their Judaism — that is, after he made fun of a woman in the front row for falling asleep during his set.
“We’ve been persecuted for 6,000 years,” he said, “but you can’t sit for a f–ing hour?”
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Herzog Says Wellbeing of Israelis His Only Concern in Deal With Netanyahu’s ‘Extraordinary’ Pardon Request
Israeli President Isaac Herzog speaks during a press conference with Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics in Riga, Latvia, Aug. 5, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ints Kalnins
i24 News – In an interview with Politico published on Saturday, Israeli President Isaac Herzog remained tight-lipped on whether he intended to grant Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “extraordinary” pardon request, saying that his decision will be motivated by what’s best for Israel.
“There is a process which goes through the Justice Ministry and my legal adviser and so on. This is certainly an extraordinary request and above all when dealing with it I will consider what is the best interest of the Israeli people,” Herzog said. “The well-being of the Israeli people is my first, second and third priority.”
Asked specifically about President Donald Trump’s request, Herzog said “I respect President Trump’s friendship and his opinion,” adding, “Israel, naturally, is a sovereign country.”
Herzog addressed a wide range of topics in the interview, including the US-Israel ties and the shifts in public opinion on Israel.
“One has to remember that the fountains of America, of American life, are based on biblical values, just like ours. And therefore, I believe that the underlying fountain that we all drink from is the same,” he said. “However, I am following very closely the trends that I see in the American public eye and the attitude, especially of young people, on Israel.”
“It comes from TikTok,” he said of the torrent of hostility toward Israel that has engulf swathes of U.S. opinion since the October 7 massacre and the subsequent Gaza war, “from a very shallow discourse of the current situation, pictures or viewpoints, and doesn’t judge from the big picture, which is, is Israel a strategic ally? Yes. Is Israel contributing to American national interests, security interests? Absolutely yes. Is Israel a beacon of democracy in the Middle East? Absolutely yes.”
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Syria’s Sharaa Charges Israel ‘Exports Its Crises to Other Countries’
FILE PHOTO: Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa addresses the 80th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) at the U.N. headquarters in New York, U.S., September 24, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/File Photo
i24 News – Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Saturday escalated his messaging against Israel at the Doha forum.
“Israel is working to export its own crises to other countries and escape accountability for the massacres it committed in the Gaza Strip, justifying everything with security concerns,” he said.
“Meanwhile, Syria, since its liberation, has sent positive messages aimed at establishing the foundations of regional stability.
“Israel has responded to Syria with extreme violence, launching over 1,000 airstrikes and carrying out 400 incursions into its territory. The latest of these attacks was the massacre it perpetrated in the town of Beit Jinn in the Damascus countryside, which claimed dozens of lives.
“We are working with influential countries worldwide to pressure Israel to withdraw from the territories it occupied after December 8, 2014, and all countries support this demand.
“Syria insists on Israel’s adherence to the 1974 Disengagement Agreement. The demand for a demilitarized zone raises many questions. Who will protect this zone if there is no Syrian army presence?
“Any agreement must guarantee Syria’s interests, as it is Syria that is subjected to Israeli attacks. So, who should be demanding a buffer zone and withdrawal?”
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Turkey’s Fidan: Gaza Governance Must Precede Hamas Disarmament in Ceasefire Deal
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan attends a press conference following a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, Russia, May 27, 2025. Photo: Pavel Bednyakov/Pool via REUTERS
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told Reuters on Saturday that not advancing the US-backed Gaza ceasefire plan to its next stage would be a “huge failure” for the world and Washington, noting that President Donald Trump had personally led the push.
In an interview on the sidelines of the Doha Forum, Fidan said a credible Palestinian civil administration and a vetted, trained police force needed to be in place to allow Hamas to disarm, and that the group was prepared to hand over control of the enclave.
“First of all, we need to see that the Palestinian committee of technical people are taking over the administration of Gaza, then we need to see that the police force is being formed to police Gaza – again, by the Palestinians, not Hamas.”
NATO member Turkey has been one of the most vocal critics of Israel’s assault on Gaza. It played a key role in brokering the ceasefire deal, signing the agreement as a guarantor. It has repeatedly expressed its willingness to join efforts to monitor the accord’s implementation, a move Israel strongly opposes.
Talks to advance the next phase of President Trump’s plan to end the two-year conflict in Gaza are continuing.
The plan envisages an interim technocratic Palestinian administration in the enclave, overseen by an international “board of peace” and supported by a multinational security force. Negotiations over the composition and mandate of that force have proven particularly difficult.
Fidan said the Gaza police force would be backed by the international stabilisation force. He added that Washington was pressing Israel over Turkey’s bid to join the force, to which it has voiced readiness to deploy troops if needed.
FIDAN SAYS KURDISH SDF IN SYRIA NOT WILLING TO INTEGRATE
Asked about a landmark deal in March in which the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces and Damascus agreed that the SDF would be integrated into Syria’s state structures, Fidan said signals from the SDF showed it had “no intention” of honouring the accord, and was instead seeking to sidestep it.
Ankara, which considers the SDF a terrorist organisation, has threatened military action if it does not comply, setting a deadline of the end of the year.
“I think they (SDF) should understand that the command and control should come from one place,” Fidan added. “There can be no two armies in any given country. So there can only be one army, one command structure … But in local administration, they can reach a different settlement and different understandings.”
Almost a year after the fall of president Bashar al-Assad, Fidan said some issues of minority rights were unresolved, insisting that Turkey’s backing of the new Syrian government was not a “blank cheque” to oppress any groups.
He said Damascus was taking steps toward national unity, but that Israeli “destabilisation policies” were the chief obstacle.
Israel has frequently struck southwestern Syria this year, citing threats from militant groups and the need to protect the Druze community near the frontier. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday he expected Syria to establish a demilitarised buffer zone from Damascus to the border.
TURKEY: U.S. COULD REMOVE SANCTIONS ‘VERY SOON’
Fidan also said Washington’s initial 28-point plan to end the Russia-Ukraine war was just a “starting point,” and that it was now evolving in a new format. He said mediation by US officials was “on the right path.”
“I just hope that nobody leaves the table and the Americans are not frustrated, because sometimes the mediators can be frustrated if they don’t see enough encouragement from both sides.”
Asked about efforts to lift US sanctions imposed in 2020 over Ankara’s purchase of Russian S-400 air defense systems, he said both sides were working on it, adding: “I believe we’ll soon find a way to remove that obstacle.”