November 18, 2008 | 1:57 am

Sandler, Stewart, “Mad Men” creator make Forward 50

The “Forward 50,” a list of prominent Jewish Americans compiled by the New York Jewish weekly has featured a whopping three Jews from the film and television industries. If this is the best they could do for their 2008 culture and media set, I’d like to know what other areas are absorbing the once flush field of Jews in Hollywood.

Not to mention, the choices therein seem a bit obvious and I’d like to think the pollsters of the Jewish A-list were a bit more creative:

While we all love Adam Sandler and affirm his hall-of-fame status in the Jewish world (it was the Hanukkah song, let’s face it), he’s a bit of old news; Jon Stewart has been hot for years now, but since he’s still hot, OKAY.

The redemptive stroke of genius this year is the inclusion of “Mad Men” creator Matt Weiner (even though the blurb omits any mention of his work on The Sopranos). Of course, my editor Rob Eshman spotted him over a year ago and I was lucky enough to catch him at the ADL conference last week discussing images of Jews on television (*will post link to story when it’s available Thursday).

If you haven’t yet seen “Mad Men,” RUN to the video store for Season One on DVD.

More from the 2008 Forward 50:

Adam Sandler
... Sandler’s “Zohan” grossed twice as much domestically as Steven Spielberg’s 2005 Oscar-nominated drama “Munich,” which likewise focused on a war-weary Israeli terrorist-hunter who finds refuge in New York City. But whereas Spielberg used Israel’s experience fighting terror as an excuse to offer a high-minded, post-9/11 morality lesson, Sandler used it as an excuse to offer a spot-on spoof of Israelis’ love of hummus, fondness for cheesy dance music and propensity for bluntness verging on rudeness.

Jon Stewart
..."The Daily Show,” Stewart’s wildly popular mock-news cable television show, is said to be the main source of news for the under-30 set. No one else in television matches Stewart, 46, at exposing politicians’ hypocrisy. There’s no disputing Stewart’s stature as the public face of a supposedly lost generation of American Jews: politically liberal, thoroughly American and proudly if ambivalently Jewish...(On John McCain visiting Israel with Senator Joseph Lieberman in tow: “You know, when you go to Israel you don’t have to bring your own Jew — there’s a wide variety of Jews there.") In October, he lampooned Congress for delaying the financial bailout plan to adjourn for Rosh Hashanah ("I mean, seriously, Utah, you’re not coming in for Rosh Hashanah?")...Last fall he mentioned to Tony Blair that his wife was Catholic and he was Jewish. When Blair asked how it was working out, Stewart replied: “We’re raising our children to be sad.”

Matthew Weiner
Matthew Weiner is ruthless. His critically acclaimed TV series on AMC, “Mad Men”...gets to the core of the American story — and the Jewish American story — through nuanced portraits of outsiders, loners and underdogs. The backdrop is a WASP-y Manhattan advertising agency in the 1960s..."Mad Men” won six Emmy awards this year, including one for best drama, but its greater accomplishment was in shaping perceptions of who Jews are and where we came from.

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Tags: adam sandler, advertising, amc, american politics, forward 50, hanukkah song, hollywood, israel, jon stewart, mad men, matt weiner, politics, rosh hashana, television, the daily show, zohan

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November 13, 2008 | 9:16 pm

Ratner not yet keen on “Conan”

Thanks to a leak by producer Avi Lerner and premature reporting by the LA Times, the assumption that Brett Ratner would direct the “Conan” film franchise is just that—presumptuous and untrue.

Sort of. Apparently, budget negotiations are still being hammered out and Ratner insists he will direct “Beverly Hills Cop 4” (seriously, another one?) before Conan production commences.

From MTV’s Splash page:

“Let me make this very clear. I am not doing ‘Conan‘ now. This is totally premature,” stated Ratner. “For now, ‘Conan’ is only a development deal. I have a deal at Paramount and I’m doing ‘Beverly Hills Cop [4]‘ first, no matter what. Avi shouldn’t be telling you or anyone else in the press what I’m doing.”

Even Paramount is upset about the “Conan” deal, as it puts their schedule and plans for “Beverly Hills Cop 4″ in a bit of jeopardy. Ratner’s involvement hinges entirely on whether Lerner is willing to wait for him to complete his Beverly Hills installment — and Lerner is so eager to get “Conan” up and running that he may be announcing another director by the time you read this. 

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Tags: beverly hills cop 4, brett ratner, conan, director, hollywood, jewish directors, la times, mtv, rumors

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November 13, 2008 | 8:41 pm

Aaron Sorkin on Ari Emanuel

Last week, when Rahm Emanuel was appointed Barack Obama’s Chief of Staff, interest in his brother, Hollywood ‘superagent’ Ari Emanuel, surged. I spoke with Aaron Sorkin, one of Emanuel’s most loyal clients and creator of “The West Wing” from his nest at the Four Seasons in New York.

How long have you known Ari?
He’s been my agent for nine years.

How important has he been to your career?
On a scale of one to ten: fourteen. He’s a phenomenal agent and a great friend. He’s got a brilliant mind and a great heart; he’s really everything you could hope for.

Why do think he’s been so successful as a talent agent?
If I knew more about the agent business, I could give a more sophisticated answer. I can tell you that when it comes to television and feature films, he’s incredibly smart, loves writers and directors, is very well respected within the industry. And there’s a quality about him I can only describe by saying that, with Ari, it’s all about the bottom line—until it’s not anymore. In other words, in a business deal, he’s going to try to kill for you and it’s just going to be about putting as much money in your pocket as he can, until you tell him that there’s something else that’s important to you instead of money.

Ari has a reputation for being abrasive, cantankerous, and brash. Why do you think he’s perceived this way?
Part of the reason is Jeremy Piven. Most people know Ari from Entourage [the HBO series] and they think that that’s Ari. While Ari does speak fast, and is in no way cowardly when he’s talking to you, he’s not a cardboard cut-out. Not a stereotypical central casting agent. He’s massively smart and genuinely a good guy. That’s why clients don’t leave him. You’re not going to find anybody who used to be a client of Ari’s.

You probably know better than anyone else that Hollywood and Washington have always had informal ties; given the relationship between the Emanuel brothers, what kind of an impact do you think that will have?
A good one, I think. Rahm has been very powerful in government for a long time; Ari has been a guy that cares about things for a long time and is connected to people who can help with money. There have been any number of fundraisers Ari has thrown on behalf of Rahm or the DCCC (Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee), or for any cause that Ari feels passionate about.

Ari gained a lot of attention when he publicly castigated Mel Gibson for his anti-Semitic tirade. How much do you think Ari’s Jewishness informs his values?
It’s not for me to comment on his religious values. But a good example is that Ari did publicly castigate Mel Gibson. Also, one of his clients is Michael Moore, and when the film Fahrenheit 9/11 came out, Disney, who had decided not to release it because it was at a time when to say something bad about the Bush Administration was to fear for your life, well, they chickened out of releasing it, and Ari called Michael Eisner out on it. For an agent to do that—he’s got to deal with Disney everyday, making deals everyday—but this was more important than that. I can’t think of any other instance when a high profile agent has publicly done that with someone as powerful as Michael Eisner. He did the same thing with Mel Gibson. In both cases I agreed with him, but even if I didn’t, I’d be proud of him for speaking up when he feels that way.

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Tags: aaron sorkin, agents, ari emanuel, endeavor, hollywood, rahm emanuel, television, the west wing, writers

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November 11, 2008 | 3:55 pm

Brett Ratner [and] the barbarian

Hail the conquering hero: Brett Ratner, Hollywood’s young, commercial director du jour will take on yet another blockbuster franchise.

Out to prove he is more than his playboy image, Ratner, whom I determined is a startling dichotomy between frat-boy and filmmaker in my recent profile of him, is in final talks with Lionsgate to direct the action hero franchise, Conan. The character of Conan The Barbarian is drawn from Robert E. Howard’s classic adventure novels and the producing company, Millennium Films, have announced that casting for “the perfect Conan” is underway.

I, for one, am confident enough in Ratner’s talent that, physique aside, I’d like to suggest he both direct and star in the film. Based on personal experience, he’d make an excellent savage star.

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November 11, 2008 | 12:44 pm

Ari Emanuel is a superagent—on TV and in real life

Up until Rahm Emanuel was offered the Chief of Staff position in Barack Obama's cabinet, his younger brother Ari, the cantankerous Hollywood talent agent, was considerably better known. Most famously -- or perhaps infamously -- Ari Emanuel is said to be the inspiration for the abrasive, determined Ari Gold character on HBO's Entourage, played by Jeremy Piven.

"With Ari, it's all about the bottom line," said writer Aaron Sorkin, creator of the television drama "The West Wing," whom Ari Emanuel represents.

"In a business deal, he's going to try to kill for you, and its just going to be about putting as much money in your pocket as he can, until you tell him that there's something else that's important to you."

The fictional Ari Gold's renegade style is, at least, based on fact: In March 1995, Emanuel and three other International Creative Management agents were caught plotting to start their own agency. When an assistant was discovered removing company files, ICM Chairman Jeff Berg promptly fired Emanuel. In what could have ruined any promising career, Emanuel went on to create his own boutique agency, Endeavor, now considered of the most powerful in Hollywood, with an estimated $100 million in revenue each year.

But those close to the real-life agent say he is not just a TV stereotype.

"While Ari does speak fast and is in no way cowardly when he's talking to you, he's not a cardboard cut out -- he's massively smart and genuinely a good guy," said Sorkin. "That's why clients don't leave him. You're not going to find anybody who used to be a client of Ari's."

And, like his brother Rahm, Ari Emanuel sees his position as an opportunity to influence public discourse.

"I represent people that are doing things and saying things that can affect change in the way people see things and the way people talk about things," he told Charlie Rose in June 2008.

Representing the likes of Michael Moore and Martin Scorsese, Emanuel is among the best-connected in the business, and is known for leveraging his influence for public advocacy. After Mel Gibson's anti-Semitic tirade in July 2006, Emanuel publicly castigated the actor/director and called upon Hollywood to blacklist him. Politically, Ari Emanuel and Endeavor frequently host Democratic fundraisers, which have included a $2,300-a-plate dinner for Barack Obama, at Emanuel's home. With the appointment of his brother to White House chief of staff, Hollywood and Washington just got a lot closer.

"Rahm has been a very powerful guy in government for a long time, and Ari has been a guy that cares about things for a long time and is connected to people who can help with money," Sorkin said. "There have been any number of fundraisers Ari has thrown on behalf of Rahm or the DCC, or for any cause that Ari feels passionate about."

The strength in the brothers' relationship (they speak several times a day) is the product of a tight-knit family upbringing. The three Emanuel brothers credit their parents with fostering fraternal closeness nurtured at the family dinner table, where the brothers were schooled in the art of argumentation. Keeping abreast of politics, culture and history was expected, and verbal aggression was not seen as harmful, or as Rahm told Rose, "Normally a swear word is associated with epithets -- in our house, it's a term of affection."

Ari remembered his mother admonishing the boys not to fight: "She would always say, 'Don't fight. The world can't get along if the kids can't get along.'"

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Tags: aaron sorkin, agent, ari emanuel, entourage, hollywood jew, icm, jeremy piven, rahm emanuel.chicago, superagent, west wing

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October 29, 2008 | 1:10 pm

I love you, Grandma, so I tell you lies

I never lie. I never, ever lie. Except I lie to my grandmother. I lie to her all the time. The things I tell her are almost exclusively lies.

In one moment, this almost universal wrong became a right. And somewhere deep in the Valley at an elder care facility, in a room painted a hue that should be called "Trying Desperately to be Chipper," my family made the tacit agreement that a series of untruths was truly the best way to usher grandma into the next life. This place is the last stop for our matriarch, who is 91 and often forgets the names of her relatives and eats only tapioca pudding. The Ten Commandments say not to lie, but here in God's waiting room, with CNN on mute and various flowers wilting, we decide in an instant to make an exception.

Grandma tries to make conversation, but she's fading and she tends to ask the same questions again and again. With my cousins, my aunt and my new husband sitting around her room, she looked at the Mr. and asked, "Are you Jewish?"

There was some uncomfortable shifting around. There was a brief silence. Without discussion, we all nodded. Yes.

"Of course he's Jewish, Grammy," I said. What was she going to do? Leap out of bed and Google him? This first lie felt so right. I shot a look to my husband.

"I'm Jewish," he added, and we all looked at each other, a team of liars, all realizing at once that this was the thing to do. We were all smiling, because it was kind of funny, my Catholic blond of a husband's sudden conversion. Plus, smiling is kind of like crossing your fingers. If anyone was checking, we could say we were only joking with grandma.

As is her custom lately, she asked the question about half a dozen more times and got the same answer. I married a Jew, I married a Jew, I married a Jew. This news never failed to delight her.

"How are Buddy's grades?" Grandma asked. Buddy is my 15-year-old cousin, a great kid, excellent drummer, adequate wrestler, but perhaps not the best student, which is the only thing that concerns my grandma. That woman wants your G.P.A. even when she is almost R.I.P.

There was another moment of quiet. The smell of chicken wafted in from the kitchen next door. A few TVs were blaring in the facility, a cozy house turned hospice for six oldsters, most of who can't get out of bed. The phrase "no heroic measures" was whispered last time we were at the hospital with Grandma, and she seemed depressed and didn't want to eat or drink much. When one is at the end of days, does one really need to know one's grandson isn't going to Harvard, but more likely Cal State Northridge, like my dad, if he's lucky?

My aunt piped up. "Straight A's, mom. He's getting straight A's."

Grandma looked around the room, her cloudy eyes widening, thrilled.

She didn't know it, and we hadn't planned it, but suddenly grandma was in a nonstop, ad hoc, Make-a-Wish Foundation of the mind, where Shaq didn't need to show up and no one had to acquire a pony or two tickets to Disneyworld. Every secret wish in her heart was coming true through the magic of untruths.

"I'm going with Aunt Julie to temple," I offer during one visit. "I love services." Well, I kind of do, but let's face it, I never drive out to the Valley to go to services on a Friday night, but I would if we were living in an alternative universe, or if I didn't have two jobs, or if I wasn't really fidgety. Conceptually, this wasn't a complete mendacity.

There are also your garden-variety lies; lies you might tell your own grandmother, who still has all of her faculties and isn't knock, knock knocking you-know-where. We don't just tell Grandma exotic tales; we also involve ourselves with the basics, you know, of the "you look great in that" strain.

The nurses ask that we pick up some all-cotton shirts for Grandma that button up the front, so she won't be sitting around in the heat wearing synthetic fibers, and so the staff can easily change her top. My husband and I travel to Wal-Mart and scour the racks for something that fits this description. The only suitable garment we find is a striped oxford that screams substitute teaching or temping more than convalescing. We're running late, the striped shirt seems superior to the pink surfer motif hoodie that was our backup plan, so we buy three.

My aunt wrestles grandma into her new white button-down with red stripes and we all coo at how great she looks. There is something unsettling about a wheezing nonagenarian dressed like a small-market morning news anchor, but that's not how we put it.

"You look so adorable, Grandma" we say, in various ways, riffing on the subject for a good 15 minutes.

In a way, it's not a total fabrication. Grandma has a certain glow. Her hair, now that it's un-coiffed, is doing kind of a soft, wavy, old-fashioned almost Veronica Lake thing. Her happiness at seeing us, her quiet gratitude as my aunt spoon feeds her pudding or does her fingernails in opaque white, the way she remembers my husband's name every time she meets him, even though he's new to the family, there's beauty in all of this. Not so much in the shirt, you see, and there again is where lying is something we all wear well.

When everything hurts you, your swollen leg, your creaky joints, your lungs and most everything else, when you're sitting propped up in a button-down shirt you wouldn't have chosen in a room that you didn't decorate, when you're lonely and scared, the truth isn't always beautiful, a salve, or something that sets you free.

When everything hurts you, what you don't know can't.


Teresa Strasser is the co-host of "The Adam Carolla Show," mornings on 97.1 FM. She also co-hosts "TV Watercooler" on the TV Guide Network, airing Monday nights at 8 p.m.

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Tags: alzheimers, alzheimers, dementia, esther, grandma, hollywood jew, honesty, hospice, illusion, lie, memory, teresa strasser, thou shalt not lie, truth

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October 26, 2008 | 8:00 pm

Katie Couric at Friars Roast: ‘Palin’s wardrobe is worth three hookers and a pony’

From a New York Jew . . .


By Eddy Friedfeld

Al Roker served as Roastmaster at this year's Friars Club Roast of his "Today Show" co-host and friend Matt Lauer and opened with similarities between Lauer and Sarah Palin: "Both spend $150,000 on clothes; both got screwed by Katie Couric; and both wear women's jeans."

The capacity crowd at the New York Hilton Grand Ballroom boasted dozens of celebrity guests --Lauer's co-hosts, and Donald Trump, Martha Stewart, Howard Stern and "The Queen of Soul" Aretha Franklin, who sang the National Anthem.

The roast had a surprise guest, as Tom Cruise led off the skewering of Lauer, joking about all the great advice he gave to people over the years: (Referring to his own Oprah couch-jumping debacle) "You told me, don't be glib -- you're in love, talk about it -- you told Jeff Zucker, if you cut Jay Leno while he's still hot -- people will love you for it -- you told O.J. if they took your stuff, go get it -- and when Katie Couric asked you -- should I jump to CBS..."

"Lose my number, you glib putz!" he finished.

Cruise did not stay for the rest of the program, despite Lauer's offer to get him a "booster seat."

"I haven't gotten this much applause since CBS executives heard a rumor I was leaving," Katie Couric said. "Tom Cruise left because he was jealous. He wanted to be the only good looking man in the room people thought was gay. Sarah Palin's wardrobe -- in Elliot Spitzer dollars that's three hookers and a pony. Al Roker is Barack Obama's second favorite weatherman, after Bill Ayers."

Meredith Viera said: "When Martha Stewart found out I was part Portuguese, she offered me a job -- cleaning her barn. Let's talk about Matt Lauer's achievements as a journalist," Viera added, pausing for a second,"that's enough."

NBC President Jeff Zucker said "When I got the call to speak in front of a few hundred people, I thought I was going to anchor the CBS Evening News... Matt Lauer is a great journalist- all the other guys care about is accuracy and integrity... Matt did a guest spot on "Will and Grace" which is appropriate because both characters were based on him... Matt spent four years at Ohio State University without getting a diploma- that's like going to Apex Tech and leaving without the free set of tools."

"I've never been to a show where the fat lady sang first," "Roastmaster General" Jeffrey Ross told the crowd, referring to Ms. Franklin; "she never forgets an R-E-C-I-P-E." He referred to Sarah Palin as a "GILF" -- "a governor I'd like to forget," and told Abe Vigoda to change his Facebook status to "resting in peace."

"Al Roker claims he's had his stomach stapled. To what? A refrigerator?"

Turning to the guest of honor, Ross said: "Matt Lauer is my favorite TV personality, which is ironic because he has no personality... you're the winner of a Daytime Emmy Award which is the equivalent of not winning an Emmy Award... your interview style is flatter than Martha Stewart's souffle which serves three to five -- just like Martha Stewart."

"A lot of viewers, or people who hold up signs outdoors, wonder if Matt and I are close," NBC news anchor Brian Williams said. "We're not."

Referring to the "Where in the World is Matt Lauer?" segment, Williams said, "Matt goes on that trip every year and it was so great- the first year." He also commented on Lauer's "freakishly tailored suits." "A lot of the outfits Matt wears on The Today Show they also make for men."

"I really don't understand financial issues," Williams said. "We just call it all a crisis. But Jeff Zucker did double NBC stock. You can now buy two shares for what one used to be."

Bob Saget told the crowd "I've hidden the matzah somewhere in this room" and Richard Belzer said that Matt Lauer "was born to a Jewish father and an inflatable mother."

Gilbert Gottfried, who told Roker "I thought you were Florida from "Good Times," told his usual palate of unprintable jokes, but this time told the audience he had heard them from Today Show co-host Ann Curry, who covered her face with a napkin.

Lauer thanked the crowd and the comedian for the dubious honor, thanking his roasters. "Brian Williams thinks of himself as an amateur comedian, and we think of him as an amateur journalist. He pointed out that at NBC they had obituaries completed and ready to roll on 11 of the people on the dais, and was thankful "that I didn't invite my mother."

Eddy Friedfeld is a film and entertainment journalist and teaches The History of Comedy in America at Yale and NYU

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Tags: al roker, aretha franklin, friars club, gilbert gottfried, howard stern donald trump, jeffrey ross, jeffrey zucker, katie couric, martha stewart, matt lauer, meredith viera, new york, roast, sarah palin, tom cruise

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