By Sandi Masori
SAN DIEGO— With everything happening in the news right now, what we really need is some laughter. Luckily, for the past two nights, JFest has provided just that, with the comedy show of Alex Edelman. And oh yes, laugh we did.
First, we were treated to the comedy of Alex’s friend Danny Jolles. He was a great warm up act, getting the audience to ease into the laughter with his humorous take on weddings and marriage, being very experienced and knowledgeable on the subject since he’s been married for two and a half years. Once the audience was warmed up, he turned the stage over to headliner Alex Edelman who won a Tony and an Emmy for his Broadway and HBO comedy special Just For Us.
Alex had a lot more to say about both Jesus and Elvis than you would think to hear in a Jewish comedy show. Both “had Jewish blood” though, so why not? He also poked fun at marriage noting that no matter what a husband does for a job, to his wife he is the biggest idiot in the world. He went on to talk about how that applies to his own parents’ marriage, even though his dad, Elazer, almost won the Nobel prize in medicine for inventing a mechanical heart.
He also poked some fun at the political landscape of the moment and of course, many jokes about being Jewish.
It’s difficult to review a comedy show and do it justice. To try to write out the jokes, without the intonation and physical humor would be to do a disservice to them. At the end of the day, really all that can be said is “Was it funny or not?” And the answer to that is a resounding yes. For two hours we all got to forget our worries and troubles and giggle and guffaw our way into feeling just a little better about the world we’re in.
This year’s Jfest is almost coming to a close, with only three more events left before the season ends. The remaining three shows are tonight’s tribute to Leonard Cohen, and two shows on the 29th and 30th of this month celebrating the life and songs of Jewish Broadway composers. Every year the Jfest team scours the world of Jewish art to bring interesting events and performances to us, and every year they deliver in spades. While the actual offerings are different each year, you can always count on them to find the best talent and to deliver exactly what we need in the moment. To stay in the know about next year’s offerings, so you won’t miss any of the goodness to come, I recommend subscribing to their newsletter on their website.
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Associate Editor Sandi Masori is a theater and restaurant reviewer for San Diego Jewish World