Saturday, July 27, 2019

PS On CCGC and Seinfeld Including Both Jewish and Muslim Comedians ...



Kudos to Seinfeld for including comedians of all races, faiths, genders on his show - and it's actually NOT a political thing.

Remember that he very bluntly states that he will only invite people he likes and thinks are funny, and he has no problem with "offensive" humor, so his choices really have nothing to do with politics.

Also recall from the post below that Jerry Seinfeld is actually a political independent, but was very Republican until the late 2000s and is now mostly liberal, but still says some Republican-ish things.

In other words, his doing so really isn't political - if not already a personal friend, he'll invite you on his show if he likes you, thinks you're funny, and especially if he thinks what you're doing is fresh, groundbreaking, and boundary-pushing, in some way.

Regardless of whether if it's his own personal political taste, he respects the bravery in your humor and will invite you for a ride - regardless of your race, gender, or religion.


To my point, in watching this series (including catching up on old episodes we'd somehow missed), it was amazing to see how many Jewish comedians used stage names that were more Christianized, British, or "more acceptable" German names in order to blend/be accepted by white Christian society :(

Now, we know that often people change their names to "cooler" sounding stage names, but despite basically inventing the stand-up comedy routine, prior to the late 1970s, if Jewish people wanted to be in show business, they were essentially forced to change their names to something sounding more British-Isles or "acceptable" German, such as ...


Al Jolson (Yoelson)


Fanny Brice (Borach).


The Fine Brothers AKA The Three Stooges (Feinberg)


The Marx Brothers (kept their name because it was "acceptable" German, at the time)


Jack Benny (Kubelsky)


Henny Youngman (Yungman)


Milton Berle (Berlinger)


George Burns (Birnbaum)


Danny Kaye (Kaminsky)


Marty Allen (Alpern)


Jerry Lewis (Levitch)


Red Buttons (Aaron Chwatt)


Phil Silvers (Silversmith, kept but shortened his name, passes for British Isles;)


Lenny Bruce (Schneider)


Buddy Hackett (Hacker, which was an Ellis Island name change from previous unknown name)


Joan Rivers (Molinksy)


Alan King (Kniberg)


Shecky Greene (Greenfield)


Sid Caesar (Ziser, family changed to Caesar at Ellis Island)


Don Rickles (changed from unknown Lithuanian name to Rickles at Ellis Island)


Mel Brooks (Kaminsky)


Carl Reiner (kept name as "acceptable" German)


Woody Allen (Konigsberg)


Gene Wilder (Silberman)


Madeline Kahn (Wolfson, changed to "acceptable" German)

Such a shame they felt they had to change their names, isn't it?

That even post-WW2, there was still so much anti-semitism in America, they felt they had to change their names, every single time :(

And then, something magical happened in the late 70s/80s - now, Jewish comedians were out and proud with their real names (unless difficult to pronounce or remember) - and today, Jewish comedians can take credit  for not only inventing the stand-up comedy routine, but most comedic media that make us laugh today :)

In fact, though it's debatable (Carl Reiner in the above list has possible grounds for debate ) - I traced the trend of Jewish comedians using their real names back to 2 women -  my girls, Bette Midler and Gilda Radner, 1970s? 

(I LOVE Gilda, she was one of my influences as a kid  - I used to do her "Judy" skit as a child ;)


Jerry Seinfeld

Larry David

Jon Stewart (Leibowitz)

Sacha Baron Cohen

Amy Schumer

Jonah Hill (Feldstein, supposedly changed his name to distance himself from father, already in the business, to avoid preferential treatment/avoid nepotism complaints)


Judd Apatow

Paul Rudd (family changed from Rudnitsky at Ellis Island)

Seth Rogen

Jack Black

Chelsea Handler

Andy Samberg

Seth Meyers

Adam Sandler

Sarah Silverman

Billy Crystal

Julia Louis-Dreyfus

Jerry and Ben Stiller.

Howard Stern

Jon Lovitz

Robert Klein

Lewis Black

David Brenner

Garry Shandling

Gilbert Gottfried

Richard Belzer


Bette Midler

Gilda Radner

Thus, I think it's safe to say they got the last laugh, in the end :)

And then I noticed something about the Muslim comedians he featured: Aziz Ansari and Hasan Minhaj (and there are rumors of The Big Sick's Kumail Nanjiani next season).
Despite the racist/faith-predjuced heat being on Muslims instead of Jews, right now - Muslim comedians are flat out refusing to change their names to something more Christianized/British-Isle or "acceptable" German sounding from the get-go - and they don't give an F what you think about it lol.

You've got to respect that, right?

Nothing against Jewish comedians who felt they had to change their names for years - and of course, you could understand why, especially with anti-semitism, the holocaust, and WW2, but Muslim comedians/actors are essentially saying:

"Nah, I'm good. I'm not changing my name for you, like you're better than me and I'm supposed to be ashamed of myself. I'm an American-born citizen too (except for Kumail, though he IS a US citizen)"

"So if you judge me before you come you see me, based on my name, race, or religion, you may F right off, I don't want you at my show anyway."

"You clearly have no sense of humor, unless someone non-white, non-Christian, or female is somehow slurred, bullied, injured, tortured, maimed, or killed in the process."



Bravo, to the brave male and female comedians of both faiths, now using their real names - and I think I speak for all the non-Trumpers in America when I say, not only am I glad to have you here, but in fact, I PREFER your company, here, instead of Trumpers? lol

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