News
‘It was wrong’: US theater apologizes for nixing show by Israeli comedian
5+ hour, 39+ min ago (797+ words) ISRAEL AT WAR - DAY 843 A US entertainment company apologized on Saturday for canceling a show by Israeli comedian Guy Hochman due to pressure from anti-Zionist activist groups. Hochman's tour of North America has been plagued by harassment, reflecting pressure on…...
How Sid Caesar and a roomful of forgotten Jewish writers transformed television forever
3+ week, 2+ day ago (1395+ words) ISRAEL AT WAR - DAY 820 Andrew Silow-Carroll is the editor-in-chief of JTA JTA " Sid Caesar once dominated American television so completely that it was hard to imagine Saturday nights without him. In the early 1950s, his live sketch-comedy program "Your Show of…...
Stand-up comedian Liz Glazer: ‘Israel is the reason I exist’
3+ week, 5+ day ago (329+ words) ISRAEL AT WAR - DAY 816 Deputy Editor Amanda Borschel-Dan is the host of The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, What Matters Now, Friday Focus and The Reel Schmooze podcasts, and heads up The Times of Israel's features. Welcome to What Matters…...
John Cleese cancels planned Israel shows as his tone on country sours
2+ mon, 2+ week ago (344+ words) ISRAEL AT WAR - DAY 767 British comedian and actor John Cleese has canceled his scheduled performances in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, under pressure from anti-Israeli activists, though the "Monty Python" star has also recently used social media to turn on Israel....
In ‘Stiller & Meara,’ Ben Stiller unpacks a legacy while cleaning out his famous parents’ home
3+ mon, 1+ day ago (236+ words) ISRAEL AT WAR - DAY 749 NEW YORK " There are few more poignant and dramatic activities one undertakes than cleaning out the homes of a loved one after they have died. But when the actor, director, producer, Gen X avatar and son…...
In Saudi, Dave Chappelle jokes ‘I stand with Israel’ would signal he is being muzzled
3+ mon, 3+ week ago (420+ words) ISRAEL AT WAR - DAY 729 JTA" During his controversial set at the Riyadh Comedy Festival in Saudi Arabia, comedian Dave Chappelle joked that he would use the phrase "I stand with Israel" as a code to alert fans he was facing…...
Slapstick Israeli comedy flick offers respite in troubled times
3+ mon, 4+ week ago (513+ words) ISRAEL AT WAR - DAY 721 It can be hard to laugh at much these days in Israel. But the cult hit comedy film "Saving Shuli San" has been giving locals a 90-minute break from the pain and trauma of the current…...
Jewish comic Gianmarco Soresi makes a punchline out of his mixed feelings for Israel
4+ mon, 1+ week ago (1022+ words) ISRAEL AT WAR - DAY 713 JTA " When critically acclaimed stand-up comedian Gianmarco Soresi introduces himself to a new audience, he explains that his father is Italian, his mother is Jewish, and that he identifies as a "cultural Jew." That, he says,…...
It doesn’t go to 11, but die-hard fans of UK’s loudest band may still enjoy ‘Spinal Tap II’
4+ mon, 1+ week ago (292+ words) ISRAEL AT WAR - DAY 707 NEW" YORK " They used to go to 11. Now it's far closer to zero. It brings me no pleasure to report that "Spinal Tap II: The End Continues," the long-anticipated big screen return for "one of England's loudest…...
Tom Lehrer, satirist who sang about ‘Hanukkah in Santa Monica,’ dies at 97
5+ mon, 4+ week ago (610+ words) ISRAEL AT WAR - DAY 661 JTA " Tom Lehrer never identified closely with his ancestral Judaism. But the famed satirist and mathematician, who died Saturday at 97, wrote one of the first popular songs about the Jewish festival of lights. "(I'm Spending) Hanukkah…...