Amusing Jews

Janice Shapiro is an author and illustrator whose new graphic novel, Honoria: A Fortuitous Friendship, is published by Fantagraphics.   Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field   Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren   Honoria: A Fortuitous Friendship https://www.fantagraphics.com/products/honoria   Amusing Jews Merch Store https://www.amusingjews.com/merch#!/   Subscribe to the Amusing Jews p...

Amy Kurzweil is a cartoonist and graphic memoirist whose latest book is Artificial: A Love Story. She previously authored Flying Couch: A Graphic Memoir, and you can find her cartoons in The New Yorker.   Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field   Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren   Artificial: A Love Story https://books.catapult.co/books/artificial/   Amy’s Website https://amykurzweil.com...

Michael Benson is the author of more than 60 nonfiction history and true crime books. His latest is Moguls: The Lives and Times of Film Pioneers Nicholas and Joseph Schenck, co-written with Craig Singer.   Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field   Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren   Moguls https://www.kensingtonbooks.com/9780806543086/moguls/   Michael’s Books https://www.amazon.com/store...

Barry Horowitz’s professional wrestling career spanned nearly four decades, including memorable runs in both WWF and WCW. His new memoir is titled, Wrestling is My Gimmick: My Life on the Wrong Side of the Three-Count.   Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field   Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren   Wrestling is My Gimmick https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/wrestling-is-my-gimmick/?srsltid=...

Ken Krimstein is a cartoonist and graphic novelist whose latest book is Einstein in Kafkaland. He previously authored The Three Escapes of Hannah Arendt; When I Grow Up: The Lost Autobiography of Six Yiddish Teenagers; and Kvetch as Kvetch Can, a collection of Jewish cartoons.   Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field   Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren   Ken’s website https://www.kenkrim...

Rob Kutner is an award-winning author and television writer whose credits include The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien, Teen Titans Go!, Ben10, and many more. His latest book is The Jews: 5,000 Years and Counting.   Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Mike Tomren   Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren   The Jews: 5,000 Years and Counting https://posthillpress.com/book/the-...

Melanie Chartoff voiced Didi Pickles and her mother Minka on Nickelodeon's long-running cartoon, Rugrats. She was also Principal Musso on Parker Lewis Can’t Lose, a cast member on Fridays, and a guest star on Seinfeld, among other credits. More recently, she authored a memoir, Odd Woman Out: Exposure in Essays and Stories.   A Rugrats Passover – commercial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpAm0b16T...

Koren Shadmi is a cartoonist, illustrator, and author of The Twilight Man: Rod Serling and the Birth of Television. Among his other books are Lugosi: The Rise and Fall of Hollywood's Dracula and A For Anonymous: How a Mysterious Hacker Collective Transformed the World.   Koren’s website https://www.korenshadmi.com/   The Twilight Man https://www.humanoids.com/series/233   Amusing Jews Merch Store...

With recent news that the long-awaited reboot of The Toxic Avenger will finally be released in August 2025, we thought it would be a good time to revisit a question some have been asking since 1984: Is the Toxic Avenger Jewish? Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren The Toxic Avenger (1984; full movie) https://tubitv.com/movies/655405/the-toxic-avenger?s...

Miriam Eve Mora is managing director of the Raoul Wallenberg Institute at the University of Michigan and author of Carrying a Big Schtick: Jewish Acculturation and Masculinity in the Twentieth Century. She’s also co-creator of JewCE: The Jewish Comics Experience, a comic book and pop culture convention celebrating diverse Jewish themes, characters, and narratives in sequential art.    Co-hosts: Jo...

Jaime Weinman is a cartoon historian and author of the book, Anvils, Mallets & Dynamite: The Unauthorized Biography of Looney Tunes.   Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field   Producer-Engineer: Mike Tomren   Anvils, Mallets & Dynamite https://utpdistribution.com/9781989555460/anvils-mallets-and-dynamite/   “The Walky Talky Philosophy of Foghorn Leghorn” - book excerpt https:/...

Steve Stoliar is the author of the classic memoir, Raised Eyebrows: My Years Inside Groucho’s House. He also wrote for TV shows like Murder, She Wrote, Simon & Simon, and Sliders, and has written and produced documentaries including Shemp Cocktail: A Toast to the Original Stooge. His latest book is Salamis & Swastikas: Letters Home from a G.I. Jew. Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey A...

Richard Bernstein is a reporter, foreign correspondent, and cultural critic whose latest book is Only in America: Al Jolson and The Jazz Singer.   Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field   Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren   Richard’s website https://www.richardbernstein.net/   Only in America https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/703276/only-in-america-by-richard-bernstein/   The Jazz...

Michael Skloff is a composer best known for “I’ll Be There For You,” the theme song for Friends. His music is heard on many films and TV shows, as well as on the stage, in concert halls, and even in synagogues.   Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field   Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren   Michael’s IMDb https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0804488/   “I’ll Be There For You” https://www.youtube.co...

Nancy Cohen is a “multi-un-disciplinary” filmmaker, artist, and activist. Her candid documentary, My Dinner with Abbie, was filmed with Abbie Hoffman at Sarge’s Deli in Manhattan in 1987. She is currently in post-production on a film about love, obsession, and John Lennon.   Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field   Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren   Nancy’s IMDb https://www.imdb.com/nam...

Mathew Klickstein is a prolific author, filmmaker, and pop culture historian, whose latest book is Lloyd Kaufman: Interviews, part of the Conversations with Filmmakers Series of the University Press of Mississippi. Lloyd Kaufman has been making independent movies for over 50 years as cofounder and president of Troma Entertainment, and is responsible for the likes of such schlocky “midnight movie”...

Jodi Kornfeld is rabbi of Beth Chaverim Humanistic Jewish Community in Deerfield, Illinois, and co-editor of a new book, Contemporary Humanistic Judaism: Beliefs, Values, Practices.  Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren Contemporary Humanistic Judaism https://jps.org/books/contemporary-humanistic-judaism/ Jodi's Bio https://bethchaverim.net/about-beth-...

Mathew Klickstein is a prolific author, filmmaker, and pop culture historian. Rick Geary is a renowned artist, illustrator, and cartoonist. Their new graphic novel, Daisy Goes to the Moon, is published by Fantagraphics.   Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field   Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren   Mathew’s website https://www.mathewklickstein.com/   Rick’s website https://www.rickgeary.c...

Marc Summers is a legendary television personality, best known for hosting Nickelodeon’s Double Dare and Unwrapped for the Food Network. He is the author of Everything in Its Place: My Trials and Triumphs with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and the star of a one-man stage show, The Life & Slimes of Marc Summers.   Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field   Producer-engineer: Mike Tom...

There’s an old debate about Yosemite Sam’s possible Jewish identity. Amusing Jews gets to the bottom of it!   Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field   Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren   Donald Trump Mispronounces “Yosemite” https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/08/04/trump-mispronounces-yosemite-white-house-event/3289122001/   Yosemite Sam is Actually Jewish https://www.dail...

Brothers Mark and Matthew Jacob are the co-authors of Globetrotter: How Abe Saperstein Shook Up the World of Sports. They previously co-authored What the Great Ate: A Curious History of Food and Fame. Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field   Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren   Globetrotter: How Abe Saperstein Shook up the World of Sports https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781538181454/Globetrotter...

Antonia Carlotta is a film historian and niece of Universal Studios founder Carl Laemmle. She explores her great uncle’s legacy on her YouTube channel and website, Antonia Carlotta Presents: Universally Me.   Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field   Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren   Antonia’s website https://www.antoniacarlotta.com/   Antonia’s YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/u...

Alex Shvartsman is an author, translator, and anthologist whose latest book is Dreidel of Dread: The Very Cthulhu Hanukkah Board Book. His other works include the fantasy novels Kakistocracy, The Middling Affliction, and Eridani’s Crown. His short stories have appeared in Analog, Nature, Strange Horizons, and other publications.   Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field   Producer-engi...

Barbara Laven is a retired trauma therapist and daughter of producer-director Arnold Laven – one-third of Levy-Gardner-Laven, the production company behind the classic TV Western series The Rifleman and The Big Valley.   Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field   Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren   Levy-Garnder-Laven https://www.therifleman.net/about/   Arnold Laven’s IMDb https://www.imdb...

Liz Kleinrock is an antiracist and antibias educator and author of What Jewish Looks Like, a book for young readers co-authored with Caroline Kusin Prichard and illustrated by Iris Gottlieb. Her previous books include Start Here, Start Now: A Guide to Antibias and Antiracist Work in Your School; Eyes that Weave the World’s Wonders; and Come and Join Us! 18 Holidays Celebrated All Year Long.   Co-h...