{"id":106233,"date":"2023-09-08T16:05:24","date_gmt":"2023-09-08T14:05:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=106233"},"modified":"2023-09-03T14:16:13","modified_gmt":"2023-09-03T12:16:13","slug":"18-05-84","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=106233","title":{"rendered":"Chosen Comedy Festival Returns to Brooklyn for Second Year With Jewish Comics Poking Fun at Jews and Beyond"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>Chosen Comedy Festival Returns to Brooklyn for Second Year With Jewish Comics Poking Fun at Jews and Beyond<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/h5>\n

Shiryn Ghermezian<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Modi performing on stage at the second annual Chosen Comedy Festival in Brooklyn, NY, on Aug. 8, 2023. Photo: Shiryn Ghermezian<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The Chosen Comedy Festival took place on Tuesday night for the second year in a row at the Coney Island Amphitheater in Brooklyn, New York, and thousands attended to watch an impressive lineup of all Jewish comics ridicule them and others.<\/span><\/p>\n

The event, following last year\u2019s successful show<\/a> in the same venue, was co-hosted by Jewish comedians Elon Gold and Modi Rosenfeld \u2014 who goes by the stage name Modi \u2014 and sponsored by the UJA Federation of New York in collaboration with Thrivewell Infusion and the New York City comedy club Stand Up NY.<\/span><\/p>\n

The night began with musical performances by two bands, Emotional Intelligence and the Hasidic folk duo Zusha. Modi and Gold then took to the stage to roast the primarily Jewish audience of over 4,000 people and mock different types of Jews \u2014 Persians, Syrians, Israelis, Ashkenazim and Chassidim.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI have a connection with my Jewish audience that I don\u2019t get with anyone else,\u201d Modi told The Algemeiner.<\/em> \u201cAnd that connection is that we get to go deep and really explore our beautiful heritage and culture. [There\u2019s] thousands of years of material there to mine and when I get on stage in front of a Jewish crowd it\u2019s a very, very special deep connection and I love it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Throughout the night, Modi and Gold introduced 10 Jewish comedians on stage, some who performed during last year\u2019s event and many new faces. The comedians included Rich Vos, \u201cThe Roastmaster General\u201d Jeff Ross, Eli Leonard (a writer on HBO\u2019s Curb Your Enthusiasm),<\/em> Jessica Kirson, surprise guest David Attell, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog (puppeteered and voiced by Jewish comedian Robert Smigel), Ari Shaffir (who self-released his standup special called \u201cJew\u201d<\/a> last year), Eli Lebowicz, Eunji Kim and Josh Cahn, who joined the lineup after winning a competition<\/a> held by Birthright Israel Beyond and Stand Up NY.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The show, which was DJed by Lady Blaga, ended with an epic few minutes on stage where Attell, Ross, Modi and Gold roasted each other about everything including Ross\u2019 bald head (\u201cyou look like a mohel\u2019s mohel\u201d he was told), Attell\u2019s attire (\u201cyou look like if the unabomber hung out at Katz\u2019s Deli,\u201d Gold told him) and Gold\u2019s TJ Maxx-looking outfit.<\/span><\/p>\n

While many jokes remained Jewish-centered, like last year\u2019s show, others were intertwined with secular topics and an emphasis on Israel. Kim, who is originally from South Korea and converted to Judaism, made fun of immigrant moms while Vos joked: \u201cIf Moses walked two more f__king miles we would\u2019ve had all the oil. Forty years in the desert and he couldn\u2019t go two more f__king miles!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Modi discussed how he intensely followed the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, the HBO series Succession,<\/em> and the \u201cgenerational differences\u201d he has with his much younger husband who is a millennial.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPeople ask me, \u2018are you worried that he married you for your money?\u2019 And I said, \u2018are you kidding me? I married him for technical support!’\u201d Modi quipped.<\/span><\/p>\n

He later said about Succession:<\/em> \u201cThis family, every single room they ever walked into always had food. There were always sandwiches, pastries, a little muffin, some cut fruit \u2014 and no one else looked or touched it or spoke about it. If this family was Jewish, it is all that they would be concerned with: \u2018Where did you order this from? 2nd Avenue [Deli], I\u2019ll take it home cuz I know you don\u2019t hold by them.\u2019 \u2018Take the fruit and give it to the housekeeper\u2019 \u2013 it\u2019s all that we would be discussing and we would never have the meeting.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Gold warned that Israelis are not to be messed with and that while \u201cIsraelis return fire, Jews return merchandise.\u201d A pre-recorded video also played on two massive screens by the stage that showed Triumph the Insult Comic Dog in London asking people about British former Pink Floyd frontman Roger Waters and his antisemitism<\/a>. Earlier in the night, Ross led the audience to sing along with him \u201cDon\u2019t f__k with the Jews. If you want to hear cheers and not boos, never again f__k with the Jews.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Kosher food trucks also provided food to the audience for purchase throughout the event, ranging from smoked meats and sandwiches, to gelato and pizza.<\/span><\/p>\n

After the show, Gold was beaming with joy about the successful night and told The Algemeiner, <\/em>\u201cI think it was a lot like shul<\/em> \u2014 it was too long, but it was way funnier than any shul<\/em> outing I\u2019ve ever gone too.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTonight everyone that came on stage just really killed it and delivered,\u201d he added. \u201cAnd me and Modi had the times of our lives working with all our friends. Four thousand Jews showed up for a night of unity, solidarity, Jewish comedy, and Jewish pride and I\u2019m so happy with how it went.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Since the first Chosen Comedy Festival last year, founded by Stand Up NY owner Dani Zoldan, the show has gone on tour in Miami, Los Angeles and the Catskills. Zoldan told The Algemeiner<\/em> he hopes to take the show to other US cities in the fall and abroad next year to Israel, London and Canada.<\/span><\/p>\n

In June, Stand Up NY hosted another Jewish-centered comedy event in Los Angeles called \u201cThe Roast of Antisemitism\u201d<\/a> that included some of the same comics from Tuesday night\u2019s performance in Brooklyn.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Chosen Comedy Festival Returns to Brooklyn for Second Year With Jewish Comics Poking Fun at Jews and Beyond Shiryn Ghermezian Modi performing on stage at the second annual Chosen Comedy Festival in Brooklyn, NY, on Aug. 8, 2023. Photo: Shiryn Ghermezian The Chosen Comedy Festival took place on Tuesday night for the second year in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[26,24],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106233"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=106233"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106233\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":106404,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106233\/revisions\/106404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=106233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=106233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=106233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}