So what can you say about a 44-year-old comedian who died? That she leaves a certain legacy of laughter, through the efforts of her brother, to those who never heard of her.
\”Everyone puts Purim on the calendar, but sometimes the spiel gets short shrift,\” says Rob Kutner, a staff writer for \”The Daily Show With Jon Stewart.\”
Who doesn\’t love old Jewish comedians? Those mamzers of mirth and halutzim of humor who paved the road from the Catskills to Vegas as first-generation entertainers.
The following excerpt is the prologue to \”You\’re Lucky You\’re Funny: How Life Becomes a Sitcom,\” (Viking, 2006) a memoir by Phil Rosenthal, creator and executive producer of \”Everybody Loves Raymond.\”
Rosenstock is one of six Jewish screenwriters who will appear on a panel to discuss how Judaism affects their work as part of The Jewish Screenwriter Speakers Series on March 29 and May 3 at B\’nai David-Judea.
Zager started out as a reporter, working for a short stint after college at a community newspaper in her hometown, Detroit. After getting married and having children, she turned to comedy. She spent 14 years as a stand-up comedian, entertaining at clubs in Los Angeles and Las Vegas.
But being a journalist was her lifelong dream.
\”I would prefer to marry someone who\’s Jewish,\” Cindy Chupack said, because most Jews have a \”built-in sense of humor, just because we\’ve had to develop one; it\’s one of our survival instincts or something.\” She finds humor really sexy, and likes Jewish family values, \”but we haven\’t cornered the market on that,\” she said.
Four \”Roseanne\” seasons and several failed sitcom pilots later, a WB executive urged Amy Sherman-Palladino to pitch an hour-long show to the network. Her response was \”Gilmore Girls,\” whose pilot featured dialogue she had scribbled during that fateful trip to Washington Depot.
Irving Brecher, my 88-year-old writing partner, stood onstage at the Arclight Cinemas on Sunset Boulevard and Vine Street after screening "Meet Me in St. Louis." Irv wrote this classic in 1944, one of seven MGM musicals he did.
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