“King Davids” win some, lose most

A frequent contributor to our blog, Celia Soudry, attended the “King Davids of Comedy” show last week and had this to report:

Shuffling through the crowd at the Hollywood Improv on Thursday night, April 10, excited comedy-club goers eagerly fought for good seats in the packed room to hear Jewish comics deliver their sharpest witty banter at “King Davids of Comedy.”

Host Dan Rosenberg took the stage, and we soon realized that there was nothing funny about his shpeil. Self-deprecating and Jew-bashing Rosenberg made stereotypical jokes about cheap Jews getting half-off coupons to come to the show. The crowd was mixed with older folks as well as young people, and there was an unfulfilled desire for authentic Jewish humor, not just the obvious jabs.

Rosenberg then brought politics into the mix, which wasn’t the best idea after delivering such offensive remarks. “You know, Obama is half Jewish right? Half white, half black, half Jewish, half off,” he said.

After a few more dry comics bored us, grossed us out, and almost killed the high-energy mood of the night, a couple of hilarious performers emerged, Nick Thune and Louis Katz, and saved the day, but only after Jewish-Canadian comic Lahna Turner ranted about her mullet-clad vagina screaming racial slurs.  Describing her obese husband, she said, “fatties are great because you never know what you’re going to find. I found a penny once under his titty.” Receiving limited laughs, she begged the audience to cut her some slack.

The Improv saved the best for last with Thune, the only non-Jewish performer. Strumming his guitar, the handsome bearded comic tripped over his microphone cord and quipped, “you have to make mistakes every now and then so no one thinks you’re perfect.” He cleverly sang about an AIM conversation he once had in the 90s when his father first brought home an Apple computer. The then 14-year-old boy chatted with a sultry female online donning the screen-name “NsyncHottie503.”  After an in-depth conversation with the 20-something wannabe actress wildly LOL’ing and JK’ing, Thune confessed he was really just a young teenage boy. “I know who you are,” Hottie responded. “Because I’m your 57-year-old neighbor, Jim.”

From the corner of my eye I noticed the guys sitting at the table next to me. They were doubled over laughing during Thune’s entire knee-slapping routine.

The night was slightly disappointing, not just because the Jewish comics bombed, but because the people who spent $18 dollars on tickets with a two-drink minimum and stood in line for a half hour are not likely to return to this monthly show, which raises money for Magen David Adom, Israel’s national emergency medical, disaster, and blood bank service.

And that’s no laughing matter.

Nick Thune’s Instant Messenger Song: