The Schmooze lies at the intersection of high and low culture. Here, the latest developments and trends in Jewish art, books, dance, film, music, media, television and theater are all assimilated into one handy pop culture blog.
The Schmooze
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Seinfeld’s New Standup
Jerry Seinfeld is really working the late-night talk show circuit these days. First he went on Letterman to talk about things that are annoying. And last night he went on Leno to talk about fat people on TV and what breakfast was like in the ’60s. Check it out:
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Billy Eichner Is the Funniest Man on the Internet
Billy Eichner is tall, gay, Jewish, from Queens, with a hairline somewhere between receding and disappearing. All of these qualities fuel his comedy. They also make the act of watching him run around the streets of New York, offering ordinary people $1 to answer questions like, “Who’s better, Meryl Streep or Glenn Close?” (and then…
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Joan Rivers Supports Surrogacy for Israeli Gay Couple
When she’s not in bed with Sarah Silverman or giving scathing fashion advice, Joan Rivers advocates for the rights of gay couples in Israel. Rivers joined Fashion Police co-stars Kelly Osbourne and George Kotsiopolous, as well as a number of Israeli celebrities in lending support to Yuval and Liran, an Israeli couple raising awareness about…
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Kutiman Conquers Krakow
Israeli Musician and video artist Kutiman (Ophir Kutiel) has outdone himself yet again. This time, it’s with the second installment in his “Thru The City” series. “Thru Krakow” is an amazingly sophisticated mash-up of musicians playing around Krakow, Poland during the 22nd edition of the Jewish Culture Festival that took place there in June 2012….
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Books Follow the Talmud or a Jewish Sharia?
Earlier this week, Yuval Elizur examined religious political power in Israel and January’s elections. Today, Lawrence Malkin discusses the tension between tradition and modernity in contemporary Judaism and its consequences. Elizur and Malkin are the co-authors of the recently published “The War Within: Israel’s Ultra-Orthodox Threat to Democracy and the Nation.” Their blog posts are…
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A Bob Dylan Farewell to the Chinatown Bus
Yesterday, we found out that Bob Dylan had been inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters for his “iconic place in the American culture.” Now we have a pretty great example of that iconic status. Over at The New Yorker, Marc Philippe Eskenazi has created an homage to another iconic American institution: The…
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Happy Birthday Neil Sedaka!
Before the Beatles “loved us do” and the Rolling Stones searched for “Satisfaction,” there was Neil Sedaka. A Jewish heartthrob from Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, he was one of the legendary Brill Building composers, along with collaborators Howard Greenfield and Carol King — also his former girlfriend, and namesake for the hit song “Oh Carol” (1959)….
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Will the Real Philip Roth Please Stand Up?
For Philip Roth’s upcoming 80th birthday on March 19, New York magazine assembled a “Literary Caucus” to assess the career of a writer that some love, others hate, but everybody who knows anything about literature respects. While Roth himself had no hand in the piece, the 28 men and five women who weighed in on…
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Bob Dylan Inducted Into American Academy
Bob Dylan has become the first rock star to be inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Because of the multi-disciplinary nature of his work, Dylan will be an honorary inductee, joining such notables as Meryl Streep, Woody Allen and Martin Scorsese. “The board of directors considered the diversity of his work and…
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When Larry King And Katie Couric Dated
Back in February, Katie Couric went on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and told the world about the time her leather skirt inspired Larry King to ask her out in the 1980s. It turned out to be a doozy of a date. “We’re driving home and I see we’re going over Memorial Bridge and that’s not the…
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Sarah Silverman Launches New YouTube Channel
Comedian Sarah Silverman has launched a new YouTube channel called “JASH,” according to The Hollywood Reporter. The channel was launched March 10 at the South by Southwest festival and is a collaboration between Silverman and fellow comics Michael Cera, Tim Heidecker, Eric Wareheim and Reggie Watts. The name stands for “Just Attitude So Hey.” “Literally,…
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