‘Hamburger Hummus’ Mocks Clueless Americans in Israel
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
By Maia Efrem October 7, 2015
Shalom “Hamburger Hummus”! Welcome to my list of must-see fall programing!
The follows six clueless American bloggers as they bumble their way around Israel. With titles like “Shalom, Shamericans!”, “Tech Aviv,” and “Shots Shots Shabbats,” the hilarious three-minute episodes follow the characters as they find out that yes, Israel has better medical marijuana than the United States. It’s a tech haven on par with Silicon Valley and has a dating scene full of nice (or naughty) Jewish boys and girls.
The only bad part about this series is that there are only seven episodes.
The tongue-in-cheek series is the brainchild of the New Venture Fund, a Washington D.C.-based nonprofit, and ad agency SS+K. They created the show as a way to “foster broader awareness of the people and culture of Israel [and] … showcase the innovative and culturally diverse aspects of modern Israeli life that are less well known outside the country.”
Brilliantly cast with some recognizable names like Angela Kinsey, Jillian Bell, Paul Welsh and directed by “Workaholics’s” Jay Karas, the show’s target audience are young people who don’t know much about Israel. SS+K partner and chief creative officer Bobby Hershfield said that a “web comedy series felt like a smart way to do it and we knew it would be a lot of fun to pull off,” Hershfield said. “This idea came about because we wanted to create a fish-out-of-water series putting unsuspecting Americans in a country they’ve never been, while not taking ourselves too seriously and showing some very unique aspects of Israel.”
Dear Bobby, can you make a few more episodes? Pretty please!
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
