Comedians in doodles, meet an up-and-coming producer, & help create a game for Rosh Hashanah!

Sunday, July 24, 2022

Hello! This week has been very hot, and I've been collaborating with comedy producers! The owner of comedy club Standup NY asked me to draw the comedians for an upcoming show. I interviewed Adam Gold, my friend and an up-and-coming comedy producer. He's my Jew of the Week, and for the first time, I published the interview as a video. 

Plus, I'm developing a game for the Jewish High Holidays (that's why honey is in the subject)! Name is TBD but maybe you can help? More on that below. I know the holidays are serious, but this game's hilarious.

Meet Adam Gold, comedy producer and connector

I met Adam Gold about five years ago when he was new to New York. Since then he has: co-wrote and produced an animated show for Adult Swim that's airing on HBO later this year, produced Zoom Bar Mitzvahs, starred in sketch comedy, produced countless shows with amazing comedians, and started working at the social network, Rizzle. He's Jew of the Week for the all-queer comedy show he's producing on Tuesday (more below). We talked about him growing up in New Orleans, how he broke into comedy with a white lie, and how he almost ended up on reality TV. Watch my first video interview here or read the recap here. 

Comedy show Tuesday in NYC: My Big Fat Gay Jewish Christmas Spectacular

Adam is producing this comedy show on Tuesday in Brooklyn. I'm going! You can get tickets below. Reply to this email if you're going so we can say hi. :)

The Chosen comedians

Standup NY is producing "The Chosen Comedy Festival" on Coney Island on August 16. So, I drew most of the lineup. Can you recognize these performers?

Mazel to Maddie and Jason

I met Maddie and Jason the same day they met each other - on a bus to Jewish adult sleepaway camp. This week they got engaged! They invented the love story cartoon product by asking for one last year. I drew them for Valentine's day, too, and I don't think I've shared it before. I'm so happy for them! 

Help shape my next product: a Jewish game!

I'm starting to think about the High Holidays (Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur). On Friday I hosted a Shabbat, pushed the limits of my apartment, and asked my peers to help me brainstorm for a game, and I think I've got it!

Working titles (Please reply to this email with ideas or feedback!!):

• Mitzvah or Shandah
• Mitzvah or Mistake 
• Bad Apple 
• Sour honey

How it works: Each person takes turns picking a card with a phrase that could be a mitzvah (a good deed) or a shandah (a disgrace). The phrases are playful and hilarious and based on real life.

Examples (I wrote almost 100 of these phrases on index cards this weekend!)

• Your aunt made an amazing dairy meal. You're lactose intolerant, but eat it anyway. - Mitzvah or shandah? 
• You go to the best bagel place in NYC and order a plain bagel with butter. - Mitzvah or shandah?
• You host a beautiful seder and take the last matzah ball so one guest doesn't get one. - Mitzvah or shandah?
• You go to gospel church and enjoy it so much, you go back. - Mitzvah or shandah?

The group discusses, but the person who picked the card gets final say. Then the group writes the name of which player would do that thing. The person with the most votes gets a "mitzvah" or "shandah" card. At the end, the person with the most mitzvah points is named the mensch. 

Do you want to help test it? Reply to this email and I'll arrange a live event in NYC or do Zoom depending on where people are located.

Thanks for reading! I'm very busy but super excited about everything I'm juggling! Bear with me as I still try to figure out the schedule of these newsletters. I think the Jew of the Week video came out well but JOW is pretty time consuming. I have another interview lined up, but it might have to go on hiatus at some point.

Doodles, Danielle