Amusing Jews

Paul Golin is executive director of the Society for Humanistic Judaism and previously served as associate executive director of Big Tent Judaism/Jewish Outreach Institute. He was recently profiled on the American Philatelic Society website, and can be found on Twitter and Instagram as @JustAboutStamps. Paul is also the Ashkenazi half of a “Jewpanese”—Jewish & Japanese—household, and maintains...

Helene Siegel is a Los Angeles food writer who runs the Pastry Sessions blog. She’s the author of 40 cookbooks, including the Totally Cookbook series and Pure Chocolate. In the early 90s, Helene produced a series of Barbie books for 8- to 12-year-old girls—in a time before gender neutrality—including The Barbie Party Cookbook. Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field Producer-engineer:...

Matthew Bennett is a composer, ethnomusicologist, sound artist, and founder of the design firm, Acoustic Ecology. Matthew created and directed the Sound & Sensory Design Program at Microsoft, where he made micro-musical compositions that are heard on billions of devices every day. Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren Acoustic Ecology https://sounda...

Jennie Bunde, a native of Galesburg, Illinois, was a contestant on Jeopardy! in March of 2022. A lifelong trivia enthusiast, Jennie holds master’s degrees in biology and rabbinic studies. She shares an insider’s perspective on the show and tips for would-be contestants. Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren Final Jeopardy!: Shakespeare's Women https://w...

As the WGA strike of 2023 continues, we chat with legendary screenwriter Michael Elias, an award-winning writer, actor, and director who has written film, television, theatre, and fiction. You may know Michael as the co-screenwriter of The Frisco Kid, starring Gene Wilder and Harrison Ford, or The Jerk, starring Steve Martin, both from 1979. He also created the hit sitcom Head of the Class, which...

Mathew Klickstein is a writer, filmmaker, playwright, arts therapist, and pop culture historian whose writings have appeared in Wired, the New York Daily News, and Splitsider. He co-authored Springfield Confidential with Simpsons writer Mike Reiss, and recently published an oral history of the San Diego Comic-Con, “See You at San Diego,” and The Little Encyclopedia of Jewish Culture. Co-hosts: Jon...

Molly Surno Davis is an artist, curator, and cultural producer. She was part of the team that created TEDx and was the first Outreach Director for Kickstarter. She’s been called a tastemaker and a person to watch in the art world by The New Yorker, The New York Times, LA Times, The Wall Street Journal, Filmmaker Magazine, and more. Push Products: Creation and Cultural Programing https://www.push-p...

Valerie Estelle Frankel is the author of over 80 books on pop culture, including Hunting for Meaning in the Mandalorian; The Villain’s Journey; and Who Tells Your Story? History, Pop Culture, and Hidden Meanings in the Musical Phenomenon Hamilton. Several of her books focus on women’s roles in fiction, such as Buffy and the Heroine’s Journey; Superheroines and the Epic Journey; and The Many Faces...

Jeremy Kagan is a director, writer, and producer whose film credits include directing the 1970s box-office hits Heroes and The Big Fix, the Chaim Potok adaptation The Chosen, an Emmy-winning episode of Chicago Hope, directing, co-writing, and co-producing the 1994 Showtime movie Roswell, and much, much more. He is the author of a series of books, Directors Close Up: Interviews with Directors Nomin...

Lorna Lembeck, née Patterson, is best known for playing flight attendant Randy in Airplane! , her leading role on the early 80s CBS sitcom Private Benjamin , and voicing Dr. Susan Rand in the 1987 animated film, Ultraman: The Adventure Begins . Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren IMDb https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0666309/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1 Airplane! – si...

Joshua Dolgin, aka Socalled, is a Montreal-based pianist, accordionist, producer, journalist, photographer, filmmaker, magician, cartoonist, and puppet maker. His collaborators have included, among many others, Itzhak Perlman, Fred Wesley, Andy Statman, Irving Fields, and Matisyahu. He was the subject of The Socalled Movie, a 2010 feature documentary produced by the National Film Board of Canada....

Harris Shore is the original, live-action Mario of the Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr. commercials for ColecoVision in 1982-1983. He sits down with Amusing Jews to review the new Super Mario Bros. Movie. Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren IMDb https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0794928/ Harris as Mario – Donkey Kong Commercial https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren We talk with longtime film editor Gary Pollak, whose recent credits include the Netflix docuseries Last Chance U: Football , Last Chance U: Basketball , and Gunther’s Millions , about a dog with a trust fund and a wacky handler. IMDb https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1909602/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1 Gunther’s Millions – trailer h...

Veteran TV producer Eric Mazer is perhaps best known for his work on true crime series and the UFC. He’s executive producer of iCrime with Elizabeth Vargas and co-executive producer of Killer Siblings. His projects have aired on Oxygen, Spike, NBC, Fox Sports, TBS, Sci-Fi, History, Travel, MTV, VH1, and most of the Discovery Communications networks. Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Fi...

Dr. Reba Wissner is assistant professor of musicology and coordinator of the public musicology undergraduate certificate at Columbus State University in Columbus, Georgia. An expert on music in 1950s and 1960s television, she’s the author of A Dimension of Sound: Music in The Twilight Zone; We Will Control All That You Hear: The Outer Limits and the Aural Imagination; and Music and the Atomic Bomb...

We spend time with Noah Segan, who wrote, directed, co-produced, and stars in the 2022 movie Blood Relatives , now streaming on Shudder. Noah also has roles in Glass Onion, Knives Out, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Looper, Brick , and a bunch of other films. Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren IMDb https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0781913/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1 Bloo...

We chat with actor and author Melanie Chartoff, who starred on Fridays (ABC) and Parker Lewis Can't Lose (FOX). She played George Costanza’s recurring girlfriend Robin on Seinfeld, and voiced Didi Pickles and her mother Minka on Nickelodeon's Rugrats…and a whole lot more. Her first book, Odd Woman Out: Exposure in Essays and Stories, explores the risks of becoming an actor before becoming a fully...

Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren We chat with legendary screenwriter Michael Elias, an award-winning writer, actor, and director who has written film, television, theatre, and fiction. You may know Michael as the co-screenwriter of The Frisco Kid , starring Gene Wilder and Harrison Ford, or The Jerk , starring Steve Martin, both from 1979. He also...

Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren We sit down with singer and actress Rena Strober, the voice of Esmeraude, a member of the villainous Black Moon Clan, on the anime series Sailor Moon . Her Broadway credits include the role of Cosette in Les Miserables and a national tour of Fiddler on the Roof , playing Tevye’s oldest daughter Tzeitel. Recent telev...

Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren Joey talks about Hanukkah and its many spellings with Jonathan Friedmann, professor of Jewish music history and dean of the Master of Jewish Studies Program at the Academy for Jewish Religion California. He is also director of the Jewish Museum of the American West, president of the Western States Jewish History Ass...

Amusing Jews Ep. 1: A Festivus for the Rest of Us – with Seinfeld actor Harris Shore Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren We chat with Harris Shore, an actor, writer and director who takes his place in American pop culture as the original, live-action Mario of the Donkey Kong commercials for ColecoVision (1982), and as the original Mr. Lippman on Seinfeld...

Introduction to Amusing Jews