Creating Jewish comedy in a post-October 7 world with Elon Gold - opinion

American-Jewish stand-up comedian and actor Elon Gold, who has been one of Israel’s fiercest defenders over the years, is in Israel now to make a movie, but it’s not his first visit here since the war started. Following the October 7 massacre, he has been here many times, helping Jews around the world, including in Israel, to find ways to laugh again in the face of the war.

“When I open my shows in the last year, here or in America, my opening line is, ‘It’s so good to be here with my fellow genocidal apartheid colonizers,’” he said, in an interview from his Tel Aviv hotel room.

“And everyone cheers. They laugh and they cheer because they realize that I’m exposing the lies. And then I go, ‘Colonizers? Jews? The only place we ever colonized was the Catskills. My zayde was a bungalow colonizer.’ And it’s like, just to expose that lie and that ignorance, and that hatred, and I love that because you’re making fun of the idiots who are hating on us for blood libel reasons.”=

Gold, who is well known to fans of Larry David’s Curb Your Enthusiasm, where he had a role as the head of Hulu, specializes in irreverence, although behind that there’s a Jewish heart that beats loudly.

Before we really start the interview, he goes into a very funny, politically incorrect riff, which is mostly unquotable in a family newspaper, on his thoughts about various current issues. Then he moves into Judaism, discussing why Jews have never had a tradition of converting others: “What’s the commercial for Judaism? Tired of that excess flap of skin on your penis?”

ISRAEL IS central to his world, and not just since October 7. “Do you know, for every single morning for the last 25 years, the first thing I do every morning is turn on The Jerusalem Post? But like, as a worried Jewish mother. I turn it on with trepidation, and anxiety, with, like, ‘Please, God, I hope everything’s OK there today.’ Since October 7, I’m checking it not once a day, but several times a day.”

Gold, who wears a dog tag with a message about bringing back the hostages, said that after the massacre and the outbreak of war, many US Jews who had a minimal feeling of attachment to their heritage before are now also checking the news from Israel frequently.

He doesn’t judge them for their previous indifference at all. “I was that guy years ago, who didn’t care about Israel,” he said. Born and raised in New York, he knew his mother was born in British-Mandate Palestine, but Israel was not on his mind much.

That changed once the First Intifada started. “I said, what’s going on, they’re blowing up Jews on buses and in stores and in pizza parlors. And I did a deep dive into the conflict, the history of modern Israel, biblical history, everything. Studied, read everything… 

“I started realizing it’s not about land or occupation, those are just buzzwords. Those were the buzzwords of that time. The new buzzwords are apartheid, colonizers, genocide…

“But no matter what, there will always be these words that are used to vilify and demonize Israel, and it’s just mistruths. Blood libels are as old as the Jewish people. People now use Israel and the Jewish state as an excuse to hate and an excuse to kill Jews.”

Understanding what was really going on during the First Intifada led him to “start fighting for Judaism and the truth.” The hypocrisy of social-justice warriors appalled him. “I became obsessed with the cause, with Zionism, and now for years.”

Making Jews and Israelis laugh again

HE FELT an especially strong sense of mission after October 7, in terms of trying to find a way to make Jews and Israelis, reeling from the biggest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, laugh again. “I like to find the funny in the hate,” he said. “I like to make fun of bigots and antisemites. It’s like Mel Brooks said, ‘My only weapon against the Nazis was to mock them.’”

He gave a concrete example of how he was able to poke fun at antisemites, like when a group of thugs began attacking people outside a Los Angeles synagogue on Pico Boulevard this year. “I went onstage a week later and did a whole bit about it. So what’s the angle? The angle is never on the victims who got beaten up or on the fear, which is a valid fear we’re all feeling, or on the antisemitism.”

He explained that the angle he chose was an inside joke that Jewish Los Angelenos would get. “I said that these thugs didn’t go anywhere near Elat Market, which was right next door.” He explained to me that it is a kosher market, owned by Iranian Jews.

“They know not to mess with the Persians.” He imitated the Persian owner threatening the violent protesters, saying, in a heavy accent, “If you dare come into my store, you will be the only person to ever leave Elat Market without a bag of nuts.” You have to hear Gold do this bit to get it; in his voice, it’s really funny.

This is a perfect illustration of how he has managed to keep the laughs coming. As he found his skills as a comedian challenged by the rising tide of antisemitism, he decided to go off in some new directions.

He moved out of his comfort zone by creating a podcast, Stars of David with Elon Gold, in which he interviews celebrities about what’s going on in the world. It is sponsored by UNPACKED, a division of OpenDor Media (jewishunpacked.com/podcast-series/stars-of-david-elon-gold), and it has a unique description:

“Step into a world where laughter meets heart… navigate the joys and quirks of Jewish life in an eight-episode podcast that’s as heartfelt as it is hilarious.” His guests have included iconic comedian Howie Mandel, Israeli actress Swell Ariel Or, and singer/activist Montana Tucker."

“I did it partly to answer those people who keep asking me why all my Jewish friends in Hollywood are keeping silent. Look, some people are keeping much too silent, but some people just aren’t into posting on social media… People do things in different ways.”

Some are donating to Jewish causes or expressing themselves through their comedy, or in many other ways, he said. Mandel, who does not focus on social media, came on Gold’s podcast and “you could see how shaken up and upset he was by October 7, by the Supernova festival, by this global rise in antisemitism, and he was expressing himself.

Gold is proud that the Stars of David podcast is currently number one on Apple’s list of Jewish-themed podcasts.

THE MAIN reason for Gold’s current visit is that he has a key role in a new Israeli film, The Badchan by Gidi Dar, which is written by Dar’s frequent collaborator, Shuli Rand – the two teamed up on the now-classic Ushpizin. It stars Rand as a down-on-his-luck badchan, a person who is kind of like a wedding clown, who gets the festivities amped up and gets people laughing at ultra-Orthodox celebrations. Gold plays a Yiddish-speaking badchan from the US who is brought in to take a job from Rand’s character.

“Gidi and Shuli make magic when they get together. My prediction is that this is going to be, not because of me, but because of them, this is going to be a legendary, iconic Jewish cultural film, like a Fiddler, cause there are songs, there’s everything.”

Once he is done filming, he will head back to the US and is excited about a gig on December 29 at the Paramount Theater in Huntington, Long Island. “I’ve got some new stuff I’m looking forward to doing in my show.”Before he had to get back to work, Gold said, in a serious moment, “I love that everything I’m doing in comedy and show business is so connected to Israel and Judaism.”

Information about Gold’s upcoming gigs and podcasts can be found at instagram.com/elongold.