Amusing Jews

Ari Ashkenazi was a professor of art at Cal State Los Angeles from 1972 to 1991. He took a disability leave due to the onset of blindness, earned a certificate in rehabilitation teaching for the blind, received ordination as a Zen Buddhist monk, and worked with AIDS patients who experienced blindness as a result of their illness. He is the author three memoirs: The Skeptic: Jews, Zen, and Blindnes...

Wendy Heimann is co-founder and managing partner of Nolan Heimann, an intellectual property and strategic planning law firm for creative thinkers and business makers. She specializes in the location-based, experiential, and immersive entertainment industry. Host: Jonathan Friedmann Producer-Engineer: Mike Tomren Nolan Heimann https://www.nolanheimann.com/ Themed Entertainment Association https://w...

Howard Teman is a world-renowned tattooist and poster artist who has a series of lithographs depicting pop culture icons from film, television, music, comedy, sports, and more. He designed t-shirts for bands like Bon Jovi, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Cypress Hill, and can be heard playing piano and percussion on the Guns N’ Roses albums Lies and Use Your Illusion II. Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joe...

Jennifer Laderman and Jed Laderman are the daughter and son of television and film writer and producer Fred Laderman, known professionally as Fred Ladd, who was responsible for introducing anime to the Americas. Ladd adapted Astro Boy, Gigantor, Kimba the White Lion, Sailor Moon, and other Japanese animated series for English-language television. Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field...

Dustin Ellis is an animation writer and producer whose career began at Warner Bros. Animation, Nickelodeon Animation Studios, and Universal Cartoons. He’s best known for the holiday special Babak & Friends: A First Norooz and the PBS series Mixed Nutz. Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren Dustin’s IMDb https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0254813/?ref_=fn_a...

Gary Lassin is the founder and curator of the Stoogeum in Ambler, Pennsylvania—the only Three Stooges museum in the United States. Gary has been president of the Three Stooges Fan Club since 1986, and is the author of a new book, A Tour de Farce: The Complete History of the Three Stooges on the Road. Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren A Tour de Farce...

EC Comics, Censorship, and The Unwanted – with historian Robert L. Reiner Robert L. Reiner writes about, curates, and exhibits original comic and fantasy illustration art with a focus on popular culture, censorship, and social change. His new book, The Unwanted, is an illustrated adaptation of a previously unpublished Otto Binder story, written in 1953. Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Ange...

Artist Katie Herzog is a ranch owner and descendent of German Jewish cattle traders who established a ranch in California’s Salinas Valley over 150 years ago that is still in production today. Her artwork is found in numerous collections, including The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Thomas J. Dodd Research Center at the University of Connecticut, and the Tom of Finland Foundation. She’s bee...

Graig Kreindler is an artist known for his oil paintings depicting baseball. His work has appeared in nationally distributed books, newspapers, and magazines, including the United States Postal Service book Play Ball! His paintings hang in the Bob Feller Museum, the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center, the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame and Museum, and many other public and private collecti...

Fred Agree is a resident of Alaska and the first Jew to complete the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Fred’s Iditarod bib and other ephemera from the 1984 and 1985 races are on display at the Alaska Jewish Museum in Anchorage. He also designed the Alaska license plate for Iditarod finishers. Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren Faces of Iditarod https://f...

Kathi Diamant is a broadcaster, author, professor, and director of the Kafka Project at San Diego State University. Her book, Kafka's Last Love: The Mystery of Dora Diamant, has been translated into several languages. More recently, she authored Heart of the Zoo: How San Diego Zoo Director Chuck Bieler Earned His Stripes. Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field Producer-engineer: Mike...

Mastaneh Moghadam is a filmmaker, licensed clinical social worker, and executive director of the non-profit Cross Cultural Expressions. She wrote and directed the film The Djinn in the Pen (2020) and wrote the screenplay for Wake Up Sleeping Beauty (2023). Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field Producer-Engineer: Mike Tomren IMDb https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1886346/?ref_=nmfm_nmfm_nm...

Amanda Dell is program director of the Jewish Food Society, a non-profit organization that works to preserve, celebrate, and revitalize Jewish culinary heritage from around the world. She also hosts the Jewish Food Society’s podcast, Schmaltzy. Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren Jewish Food Society https://www.jewishfoodsociety.org/ Schmaltzy podcast...

Trina Robbins is a pioneer underground cartoonist and comics herstorian who has been writing comics, graphic novels, and books for nearly half a century. She was the first woman artist to draw a Wonder Woman comic, created the teenage superheroine Go Girl!, and has written numerous books on women in the comic book industry, including the illustrated biography, Lily Renée, Escape Artist: From Holoc...

In 1971, Steve Capper was one of five wisecracking friends called the Waldos who originated the term 420 at San Rafael High School in Marin County, California. He now runs the website, 420waldos.com, documenting the history and cultural influence of the 420 phenomenon. Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren 420 Waldos - website https://420waldos.com/ For...

Larry Kuperman is director of business development at Nightdive Studios, which acquires, updates, and re-releases classic video games for modern platforms. Previously, he was business development manager at GameStop, where he acquired new PC game titles for the company’s electronic software distribution platform. Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren Ni...

Sabba Rahbar is a public speaking coach, communication strategist, and founder of Speak with Confidence. Before that, she was a celebrity gossip blogger and editor-in-chief at Socialite Life, managed content and social media for the food website Cooking Panda, and was a digital platform manager for entertainment clients, including DC Comics, IMDbPro, HBO Max, and Warner Bros. Video Games. Co-hosts...

Elizabeth Schwartz is the author of The Sweet Fragrance of Life and Other Horror Stories. She’s also the vocalist of the klezmer group Yale Strom & Hot Pstromi, the subject of a Romanian documentary film, Searching for Schwartz, and co-creator of the award-winning audio dramas The Witches of Lublin and Debs in Canton. Elizabeth contributed a chapter on klezmer vocal technique to Shpil: The Art...

Greg Laemmle is president of Laemmle Theatres, a family-owned and operated art house theater chain that has operated in Los Angeles County since 1938. He’s the subject of the 2022 documentary, Only in Theaters, and is one of the few exhibitors with membership in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren About...

Maggie Rawling Smith is a writer, filmmaker, and activist. She directed the documentary Tucson Salvage, co-written with her husband Brian Jabas Smith, co-adapted Brian’s collection of short stories into the Amazon Prime series Spent Saints, and directed the documentary Whole Enchilada, about the roots of Tucson’s desert rock music. She is also the author of a forthcoming young adult novel Catamopu...

Lloyd Kaufman is a director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and co-founder of Troma Entertainment. Lloyd has directed numerous feature films for Troma, such as The Toxic Avenger, Class of Nuke ‘Em High, Sgt. Kabukiman N.Y.P.D., and Tromeo and Juliet. He is also the author of several books, including Make Your Own Damn Movie!, Direct Your Own Damn Movie!, Produce Your Own Damn Movie!, and Sell Your...

Rebecca Clarren is an award-winning journalist who’s been writing about the rural American West for more than twenty years. Her articles have appeared in Mother Jones, High Country News, The Nation, and Salon.com. She has also authored a novel, Kickdown, and a new non-fiction book, The Cost of Free Land: Jews, Lakota and an American Inheritance. The Cost of Free Land: Jews, Lakota, and an American...

Ben Nadler is an illustrator, writer, and comics artist. His books include Heretics!: The Wondrous (and Dangerous) Beginnings of Modern Philosophy, The White Snake, and, most recently, The Jewish Deli: An Illustrated Guide to the Chosen Food. Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren Ben’s website https://www.bennadler.ink/ The Jewish Deli https://www.chron...

Actor and writer Stephen Tobolowsky is known for playing insurance agent Ned Ryerson in Groundhog Day, Commissioner Hugo Jarry on the HBO series Deadwood, Principal Earl Ball on the ABC series The Goldbergs, and a whole lot more. He also has a podcast, The Tobolowsky Files, and is the author of three books: Cautionary Tales, The Dangerous Animals Club, and My Adventures with God. Co-hosts: Jonatha...

Brad Pomerance hosts the travel show Air, Land & Sea and the genealogy series Generations, both on the cable network Jewish Life Television (JLTV). Brad also hosts Uncovered in the Archives, which he developed for PBS-affiliate KVCR in Southern California. Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren Brad's IMDb https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3165699/ Air, La...