Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

Jon Stewart Wants to Help You Make a Minyan (Minion?)

Last night on “The Daily Show”, actor Jon Hamm came on to introduce a tribute flashback segment of Jon Stewart’s best singing moments — the title card dubbed him (spot on!). Later on, Hamm (or, the other Jon, as I like to call him) sat down for an interview about his latest movie, “Minions”. What followed was one of Stewart’s most Jew-y moments in “Daily Show: history.

Stewart started the interview with an educated guess: “Here’s what I hope this movie is about: Nine Jewish men looking for a tenth, so that they may celebrate the Shabbos.”

And from there, my friends, things only got more Jewish.

When Stewart posited that “Trying to Find a Minyan” would make a great movie, Hamm reminded him that he’s about to have a lot of free time on his hands (sigh).

Which led Stewart to make the following declaration: “I will be the designated minyan maker.”

Need a 10th? Wanna pray? Looking for some tefillin? Starting August 7th, a certain Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz is your man. “I’m ‘The Minyan Man’ […] I would like that very much.”

Important questions came up later in the interview such as, “does a bear count as a minyan?” (sorry, you’re gonna have to watch to figure that one out). And what would Jewish Minions look like?

“They would make them rounder and more squishy and marginally more yellow” said Hamm.

To which Stewart replied, “we’d all end up like cartoon knishes.”

Well, Jon, here’s my parting gift to you:

Watch the whole delightful interview here:

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.

In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.

At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.

Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.

Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly. 

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.