PJ Grisar is a Forward culture reporter. He can be reached at [email protected] and @pjgrisar on Twitter.
PJ Grisar
By PJ Grisar
-
Culture In Tammy Faye Starlite’s Israeli chanteuse, a remembrance of Judaism — and pop culture — past
It’s unclear what circumstances brought Tamar, the mononymous Israeli chanteuse, to the dining room of Pangea in the East Village this October, but it is her feeling that the venue is quite lucky to have her. “Normally I play great concert halls,” Tamar told the crowd Thursday, “Like Leonard’s of Great Neck.” Decked out with…
-
Culture In Russia, a Jewish couple dubbed ‘Spartacus.’ In Israel, they’re doing phone sex and voicing air-raid alerts.
When the Iron Curtain fell and Soviet refuseniks were finally allowed to settle in Israel, many found some novel worries, and some familiar ones, waiting on the other side. While they looked for work, these Jews found themselves navigating a new country and a new language. But, amid the stress of assimilation they still had…
-
Culture Sarah Silverman, let’s not use the word ‘Jewface’
Sarah Silverman has once more weighed in on a perennial debate in the world of casting: who gets to play a Jew? It’s a slippery question, and also the name of a parlor game a friend of mine likes to play. Per this friend’s rules, Zachary Levi, a non-Jew who changed his last name from…
-
Culture Jon Stewart’s new show is not very funny — it is a mitzvah
The title of Jon Stewart’s new show might have had a double-meaning for almost anyone else. “The Problem with Jon Stewart” sounds like the beginning of a rant by your conservative uncle, or maybe a gripe from a pedantic comedy critic. In its current usage, there is little publicly problematic about the diminutive host, beloved…
-
Culture For Your Eyes Only: A casting memo for Jewish James Bonds
Relax on the speculation, everyone. Even you, The Onion. Bond producer Barbara Broccoli announced that she is allowing Daniel Craig a one-year valedictory period before the search commences for a new 007 in 2022. Fittingly, that means the casting department at MGM needs to wait till the end of shmita to replace the legendary spy,…
-
Culture SNL taps spooky, subversive Jewish comedian Sarah Sherman
What’s the best way to get a featured player spot on SNL? For new cast member Sarah Sherman, the secret sauce was posting an unsolicited audition tape, where, pinky raised to the corner of her mouth like Dr. Evil, she did impressions of everyone from Donald Trump to the infernal “Little Lad” from that one…
-
Culture Tobi Kahn marks a new Jewish ritual — with a new piece of art
What does tikkun olam look like? On Yom HaTzedek, a new holiday that falls on Pesach Sheni, it looks like a box. For Tobi Kahn, the renowned painter and sculptor, that box looks like a city awash in deep blue, its interior reflecting the heavens, its slot like a mailbox to God. On a Wednesday…
-
Culture William Shatner may be going to space (please alert space)
Rocket Man indeed. William Shatner, abusive Twitter gadfly and erstwhile Starfleet captain will go to space on Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin per a TMZ report. If true, Shatner, 90, some few decades older than the cast of “Space Cowboys,” would be the oldest man ever to go to space. (Unless we count the ancient David…
Explore
Most Popular
- 1
Fast Forward After Netanyahu and Cindy McCain meet, she calls out ‘desperation’ in Gaza, and he accuses her of ‘misrepresentation’
- 2
Sports Forget being caught on camera at a Coldplay concert — I was caught on Shabbat at Yankee Stadium
- 3
Fast Forward Coldplay welcomed Israeli fans onstage ‘as equal humans.’ Why are some Jewish people mad?
- 4
Fast Forward Trump lawyer who praised ‘Mein Kampf’ is now accusing Harvard of antisemitism, report says
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Hundreds of scholars call on genocide scholars group to retract declaration of genocide in Gaza
-
Fast Forward Trump says US in ‘deep negotiation’ with Hamas ahead of impending Gaza City takeover
-
Fast Forward World Zionist Congress election results are finalized, with Orthodox and right-wing slates securing majority of US seats
-
Fast Forward David Schaecter, Holocaust survivor who founded Miami Beach memorial and led survivors’ advocacy group, dies at 96
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
