The Comedy Cellar: Live from the Table - Dov Davidoff and Sheba Mason

Episode Date: November 18, 2022

Noam Dworman joins guests Dov Davidoff, Sheba Mason and Ian Wehrle from Tel Aviv. Dov Davidoff's multiple television appearances include HBO’s Crashing, and NBC’s cop drama Shades of Blue with Jennifer Lopez and Ray Liotta and The Tonight Show and Late Night with Jimmy Kimmel. He has performed two one-hour stand-up comedy specials for Comedy Central and Showtime and has a memoir published by St. Martin’s Press entitled ‘Road Dog’: Life and Reflections of a Standup Comic from the Road. He is a regular at the Comedy Cellar.  Sheba Mason and Ian Wehrle discuss their show, The Jackie Mason Musical. 

this is live from the table a comedy Comedy Cellar-affiliated podcast coming at you on SiriusXM 99 Raw Dog. And on the Laugh Button Podcast Network, I'm here with Perry Alashian-Branch. She's the show's producer, for want of a better designation. We have Dove Davidoff with us. He's a regular at the Comedy Cellar and a frequent guest here on Live from the Table. And of course, there is our unsung behind the scenes hero, Miss Nicole Lyons, who does our audio and video. Nicole, how are you? I'm great. How are you? Fine. Thank you.

I rely on Nicole because for her opinions on the show, because I feel she's sort of an everyone. Yes. And so I ask her i think if she likes what we're doing it's probably good now the only problem is is her opinions she's hard to read well she doesn't like what you're doing and so uh she's she's trying to hide it so you experience that as opacity when in fact it is it is it is uh maybe that may be. But I think she's sort of an understated person to begin with. But you may be on to something. Oh, no, she's not an easy read. But you also.

But she's from upstate New York, and that's how those people typically. That's how they typically are. You got a grin and bear it, baby. You got to get up early. She's outside from the Binghamton area, not even Binghamton. She that Binghamton was like a big trip for these people. Yes. No, no, no. Such a thing. And it's like, well, we're going to the city and this is being and what's the name of that town you're from again? Apple Aiken. But is that near Oneonta at all?

Sort of. It's maybe like an hour or so. OK, that was that was the big thing from the commune called. My mother was on is that we would get to go to only out there once a week. Once in a while, like a little house on the prairie when they would go to Mankato. Yeah, yeah. There was a movie house and only aunt and. Why did you just drop the A? Well, because I'm trying to make this more interesting. This is clearly as dull as it gets right now.

So we're trying to I don't know if you drop a couple of letters off. You got an only answer. You got a big time. What are we? What? And you seem to think that Nicole would actually tell you if she thought it was just painfully boring. Well, but but but that's the thing. I don't listen to what she's saying. I listen to how she's. Yeah. Oh, yeah.

How she's saying it doesn't seem to vary. They call it between the lines. Not a man. You can read your boy poker face, not a man. You know, she says, oh, yeah, it was very, very good. Yes. And I know that she hated it. Yes. You know, it's like when when you it's it's the same thing in show business. Nobody ever tells you the truth. If you say the way they use the word love because everybody says I loved it.

I love it. You pitch a show to a network. They always are going to love it. Yep. They're going to say that. So I'm a big fan, big fan, big fan, big fan. You know, a big fan can mean anything from leaving your voicemails for a year and a half. If this is a big fan, what's what's what's what's wrong with your cell phone? Because I haven't seen anything from your side.

If you're such a big fan, thank you. And anything from big fan to drop dead. I hate your guts. I hate your guts. I'm a big fan. But you have to listen to how they're saying it and what they're doing. Big fan. In any case. Oh, I want to I'd be remiss if I didn't mention a pretty big loss in the comedy world this week in the stand up comedy world. Bud Friedman, Gerson Friedman was his real name.

I found out I got Bud Friedman at the age of 90 died this week in Los Angeles. Bud was the founder and owner of the Improv Comedy Club. Originally in New York, it started in 1963. We had comedy and music, and then he brought it out to Los Angeles. I know, Dov, you lived in L.A. for some number of years. I don't know if you were a regular at Bud's Club or not. Well, certainly I was at, yeah, at the Improv.

Yeah. Was that Bud's Club? Or had he sold it by that time? No, I think it was. I don't think. I think it was his until, I don't know, the ever sold. Oh, I didn't know that. I didn't know that.

And I don't think he was there much because I was. Well, he hasn't been well the past, say, nine years or so. Yeah, I got you. Yeah. No, no. I'm very familiar with the club and the and the brand, you know, and now it's they have improvs all over the country. And I think I think Bud used to be much more active franchise.

I don't think Bud owned them. I think they. OK, so he sold the right i think that it was the subway of comedy yeah i think that he sold the name improv how much value it had i mean the improv there was a tv show evening of the improv so i guess that there was a time when the name improv in and of itself probably did bring some people into the door i don't know if that's still the without quality Without quality control, what good is a brand? I mean, the whole thing about, you know, when you go to McDonald's, you don't want it looking entirely different down the road with different food. Right. I mean, the whole thing about a brand is the associated value.

Yes. So what do I know? No one cares. But but I don't know. Yeah, I don't know. Would like a comedy club franchise Like a McDonald's franchise You got to go to McDonald's University

And learn how to make the burgers That's right And so I wondered What Bud did for this franchise There really is I think a McDonald's You are a hamburger Oh, it's a fine

Fine institution of higher learning Oh, yes McDonald's University I don't know if they call it that But something like that Oh, the university Wow Because everything has to be

The exact same Right, right, right. So with a comedy club, I don't know. You got an MBA. It's a master's in burger science. You go to a McDonald's University. But anyway, you said you had a story about Bud. I did. I do have a story about Bud. I. I probably about five or six years ago, I was writing a weekly column,

which is actually how I met Noam also. What was the column about? It was called The Chosen Ones. It was for Tablet magazine. It was sort of famous and famous ish or culturally relevant Jews. Tablet's a cultural Jewish cultural magazine. Oh, OK. And I had just just started getting into comedy.

And so I was really interested in interviewing people of the like. And so I reached out to Bud to see if I could interview him. And they said, yes, I think he had just had a book come out. And they told me to meet him in a hotel. I think this was pre Weinstein. And so I said, sure. And I showed up. Oh, my word. And when she was a firecracker.

And nobody had mentioned that. But at that point was paralyzed and in a wheelchair and had had a massive stroke and couldn't speak. I didn't know that. Yeah, the past like seven, eight years, he wasn't, you know, I didn't know that. It was. But, you know, functioning. I know that it was. But, you know, I mean, I think mentally he was totally there. But when you have a massive stroke, if it affects the side of your brain

that controls the speech, you become paralyzed and your speech becomes. It was such a crazy thing to omit from. Like, hi, would you like to interview this person? Just to not mention, just sort of prepare to communicate as best you could, because he could still masturbate, which is really the important part of this meeting. That that's what I found. No, that's the left. That was the takeaway. Now, luckily, my grandmother had had that same exact kind of stroke. So I actually didn't flinch. And I knew exactly how to rock and roll. But it was pretty crazy. And he was he was really lovely. I bet.

But not in great shape. Yeah. Yeah. My my I only interact with him a couple of times. We did a cruise together. He did like an improv at sea like this was in the nineties. And I spent a week on a cruise ship with him. How is that? It was interesting. He was fighting in the nineties. Yeah, we were on the the Westerdam Holland America Line, Westerdam. Was he was he in comedy then? I don't know much about him. He owned the club. I know he was also host of the evening at the Improv. Oh, OK. So he was sort of a performer.

He was more of the emcee. I didn't know that an active personality in comedy got you. And he had that. Yeah, it was where a monocle. Oh, I remember the monocle. Yes. Now, is that just for show or. I think so. Yeah, I think. You're sort of a dapper guy with that or is selling peanuts. Now, the classic classic move, you could just have a monocle. You sell a peanuts. Now, the classic, classic move. You could just have a monocle. You sell a peanut.

You know, the plant is being a tremendous, tremendous branding. Nothing more erudite than a bid than the peanut. I was I was watching on YouTube. Louis Farrakhan, he does like this hour long defense of Kyra. Kyra is the Kyrie. I was in Kyrie because Mr. Mr. Song. But Kyrie Irving spelled the same way. But Kyrie, how does a, you know, anti-Semitic guy?

Well, I guess, of course, he's going to defend it. Yes. So just not looking. You'd need to hear from a more legitimate source in that context. But the point is, is none of that's the point that I make. The point is, this guy looks amazing. Oh, does he look good? He's 89 years old, which I didn't realize. I'm watching him on YouTube.

I'm like, you know, he's been around. Well, I remember him from college. How old is guy like 70? I look up this guy's 89 years old and he rants about the Jews like a man half his age. Oh, oh, he's just he's as passionate as ever when it comes. I mean, not just that he looks not just that he looks good, but his his when he speaks and when he speaks passionately

about things that interest him, like like the Jewish hatred of the white shirt of the white man in general, the energy and dynamism. And you have to say you have to. Well, you know, you have to admire that. Nicole, is there any way we can pull up maybe a little clip of Farrakhan speaking about Kyrie and Kanye? It's on YouTube. You just Google search Kyrie and Farrakhan.

I don't know if you can do that or not. I'll try. Oh, look who's here. But OK, is he here already? I don't think so. Oh. That really threw me for a loop. Oh, look who's here. But OK, is he here already? I don't think so. Oh. That really threw me for a loop, but noise. Yeah, yeah.

Well, all that loathing probably keeps him young. Well, I don't know. Sweet, sweet loathing. You have that passion. I mean, we've talked about that before. If you have a passion for something, it keeps you young, right? It's like that could be part of it. So maybe part of it or maybe he intermittent fasts. So I don't know what he's doing.

Maybe he had because he's a Muslim, you know, maybe they have a diet or maybe he's just got good genetics. But whatever it is, people have always undervalued the the the hatred variable, that kind of the vitriol. A lot of these in terms of longevity of a life. I mean, you talk about love and family. Nobody ever says, you know, it's good. You know, you want to live a good long time, really develop a stiff,

you know, hatred of a group of people. A lot of those Nazis lived quite a while as well. Certainly. They don't know if there's any we can make anything of it or if there's a study that's been done on this. But Nicole, how are we doing on the Farrakhan clip? If I don't think we can. OK, I'm sorry. OK, but but I would I would, you know, tell people to go look just just to search on YouTube. Farrakhan and and Kanye. And he doesn't. And now for an 89 year old to rant for an hour.

He's got a lot of energy you know i mean look we're being tongue-in-cheek about this whole thing but i think if you're passionate about anything what we learn from you know people if you if you have this message and he clearly does he's been a communicator for i don't know half a century uh you know he's a passionate guy keeps himself in shape and uh you know he doesn't look like he's that in shape. He's robust. He's sort of doughy, robust. But to be to be 89 and you're not skinny and wasting away is in and of itself. I mean, at that age, you kind of want to be a little bit.

Listen, I'm really most interested in how he got a million views on that video. But people don't like Jews. That's how we got a million views on that video. Right? Yeah. And and people especially and people do like Farrakhan. He's got a big following. He's very charming. He speaks very well. He's captivating. I'm listening to him like, you know, and then I have to remember that I'm Jewish, but I'm like, you know, those fuck. Oh, right. Yeah. But but but no, he's very,

very captivating as a speaker. OK, you know, and and he's speaking to an audience is very ready to hear it. Hmm. A lot of what he's saying. So, yeah, I know that there's a million views right there. It's a lot of views, isn't it? Well, I don't know. Is there a lot of views for famous for him is the question, right? Is it people that tune in to watch him weekly anyhow? Does he get a million views every week or did it pump up twice because of the Jews?

Yeah, but he's been famous for a long time. Oh, many, many, many years. I'm really thinking in terms of how to generate that for my right. Yeah, of course. Yeah. Well, you go hardcore anti-Semite. You'll have a rave. You'll have a social following. It's a deal with the devil.

But I mean, really, he's up on things. He's he's up on, you know, the latest what's going on in the world. And Brother Kyrie. I have an interesting since people are probably losing the thread. I can feel the audience at home. They've heard about this. I was about to do my fair. I can't.

Oh, my bad. Go ahead. And Brother Kyrie, I say to you, stand strong. Yes, that was good. And that's a good impression, man, because, you know, and we know you. He's talking about the Jews. He goes, we know your Torah. I know your Talmud and we know you and you will not break us. And I say to Brother Kyrie, but that's, you know, that's very good. That was amazing. That was very good. Yeah. So what was he saying more specifically? But does what's his reasons for not liking

because the Jews own the slave ships that brought my people in chain. That's a good that's really good. I don't think he did. But even if it were the people that work on the slave, it's not like it was just the Jews. I mean, you know, the way he wrote a book years ago called The Secret History Between Blacks and Jews, where he he said that the slave trade was largely in Jewish hands. No, I don't think that is true. But that's what he said. OK. And that's what he believes. And that the right, the ships were owned primarily by Jews, according to this thesis that he which, again, I don't think has any basis in

reality. Right, right, right. Not that that matters. But but even if it did, if you had some opportunistic Jews that are able to get this boat together and operate those logistics and and generate a business, the people on the other side buying the slaves were white, southern white southerners with cotton plantations, none of whom were Jewish. Well, that's with the exception of a few, including oddly enough, Larry David's great grandfather. This is true. Larry David's great grandfather was a slave owner and a Confederate. So, I mean, of all people, of all people, you would say that would be the least likely to have a Confederate ancestor. Larry David would would would be up in the top in your top five.

That's top five. Least ever. Least likely to have a Confederate grandfather would be hit. Awful. Yeah. Top five. And I guess George Takai would be all. Yes, he would be up there. Yeah. But and others.

But but Larry David. So it's bizarre. But yeah. But the slave trade was a regrettably. Everybody was in on it. Of course, everybody, everybody was in it from including Africans, including Jews, including you. I mean, that's I'm not saying it's not an excuse, but you're choosing one people to go down to get down on, you know,

and you had black people selling other black people into slavery and then other people capitalizing on that sale. So everybody seems guilty. Sure. Everybody has blood on their hands. Everybody has blood on their hands. And I don't even think his premise that the slave ships were largely owned by Jews is correct, but I haven't studied it. But I from what little I read, it's not.

Where does he live? I don't know. I don't know where he lives, but I'll tell you where he doesn't live. Where? Roslyn, Long Island. Great. Great. Long Island. Great. Long Island. Yeah. Jerusalem. But I don't know where he lives. I maybe maybe Nicole can look it up. Maybe she can't. I don't know where he lives. Maybe, maybe Nicole can look it up. Maybe she can't. I don't know. I can look it up. If I had to guess a guy like that, I would say the South.

I'm going to guess Georgia. And I would say I'm going to say Georgia, I think. Yeah, it sounds like an Atlanta, maybe. Like an Atlanta, Georgia. Atlanta, Georgia. It's coming. Or maybe Detroit, because I think like, I think Detroit or Chicago is another, because I think like I think Detroit

or Chicago is another because I think he's with Elijah Muhammad, who I think was from that area. The president used to have a big presence in Brooklyn, too, right? Not sure. OK, we're going to keep playing this game. I like this. So where what's your final answer? My final answer? He was I think he might have been born overseas. Was he born overseas? What are you saying? I have no idea.

I don't know how Dan knows as much about Farrakhan. I'm born in New York City. OK. Well, you know, born in New York City. OK. I know because I know he used to be a Calypso singer. So I thought maybe he was unbelievable. Why do you know so much about Farrakhan? I don't know. I've been following the guy, you know, years ago. He was like years ago back in the in the 90s.

We're talking about he was going to come to UPenn where I was a student. Oh, it was a I don't know if he ever came or he didn't come. It was a big brouhaha brouhaha where like the Jewish students were saying, we don't want him. Right. And a lot of the black students, not all were saying, how dare you try to shut down Farrakhan? And and so it was a big thing even then. Right. You know, so so you know, he's been around a long time and he's been obviously around well before then. Right. That's when I first got wind of him. So where does he live now? Chicago.

I said I think Chicago was one of my guests. But he also bought a house in Arizona. How many children does he have? The minister Farrakhan is a fertile man. I mean, if it's any to look at him, I think he could have kids now. He's very far. So I'm going to he's got at least eight kids. A lot of those guys have a lot of kids. He's catching up to Nick Cannon. How many?

He has nine, nine kids. It's a heavy, heavy load, boy. Hill grows. That is a lot of kids. And yeah. Anyhow, Nicole, any thoughts about the show so far? Well, again, I see what I'm telling you. I'm the wrong person asks. I don't know who this person is. Very out of the loop.

You don't know who Minister Farrakhan is. I do not. I don't. I mean, it doesn't surprise me that she doesn't know that. Most people, I think, of this generation don't know Farrakhan. But you've surmised given the discussion that we've been having that he is he's a he's a he is a a follower of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, who is what they call it. What's the name of that? No, but it's no, no, no, no. Well, like a Muslim, but it's a brand of Muslim. I think if I was a black Muslim or I don't know what they call it, it's not like traditional Islam, I don't think. But it's something that's Perry. I was looking this up.

Their brand of of Islam. And so as I understand it. Well, I guess what Muhammad Ali got involved. Oh, he was in the nation of Islam. The nation. Yeah. The nation of Islam, the nation of it. That's it. The nation of Islam, the nation. That's what it is. Yeah. OK, so, Nicole, you learn something today. There you go. I always learn from the show.

I guess that brings us to. Well, first of all, one quick thing for the longtime listeners of the show. You know that years ago, Chris montella was a co-host yes kristin montella she uh used to work here at the comedy cellar she was a co-host for the first several years of this podcast i have not seen her in about five or six years big steve king who was the security guard around the corner died and we talked about this on a previous episode and there was a memorial service for him around the corner at the village underground and chris montella was there i had not seen her in about five or six years i see her i expect a big greeting oh and

i gotta oh hey dan how you doing and and continued walking yes yeah i was a bit crestfallen i must say fallen i saw the look on his face uh know, you haven't seen somebody in five years. I didn't necessarily expect. What I expected, but I didn't expect that. Well, you didn't expect the nod, a passing nod. I had it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I hear you say that. Yeah. Somebody you saw a few days ago on the train.

Yeah. Yeah. You know, look, I mean, obviously. Well, how did it end? That's it. Did you know? I didn't know. I mean, before that, like, how did it end? That's it. Did she? You know, I didn't know. I mean, before that, like, how did she how did she leave the show? Like, did she leave under good? Oh, yeah. I think it was about at the time she got married and she just wanted to move on, you know, wasn't bad at all.

According to the guy you're asking, according to the girl who gave him a stiff, icy shoulder. But yeah, no, I got. Is she is she still does she still perform? Is she still she was never before? She used to manage here. Oh, well, and she was on the podcast. She worked here as a manager.

Well, you didn't. That was not. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. That was not clear. And she then became a co-host. No one thought she'd be good on the podcast. She was kind of snippy dippy is I guess maybe that that incident illustrates. But she was a bit snarky, a bit, you know, whatever. And it's a fun counterpoint personality. Yeah. And so she had she was the co-host.

God, I think she did roughly what you do before you. Well, I was just going to say, I can only imagine how you. But she wasn't. Drive me when I'm not around. How I describe. Yeah. And positive, mostly positive in most ways. I don't in fact, I think entirely positive. That's nice. OK.

Anyway, so I have Chris Montell's listening, which I don't think she is. Know that you heard me profound and positive. And deeply, I thought that we had a little something more than that. But why didn't you say I'm so happy to see you? You were just. Well, I it's first of all, that's not in my nature. And I was I was I felt rejected. So I didn't.

I just walked out and that was that. And with your wounds. I mean, I know I feel like we're like futzing around here waiting for. Well, then we will start. Well, let's talk about futzing. I call genius podcast. I want to hear. Perhaps there's a bit of a linguistic issue.

I want I want to talk about the ping pong picture. We can talk about the picture. Should I should I briefly? I didn't think it would be used. You were apparently profoundly affected by it. Yeah, because to me it wasn't a big deal. But there is a picture. Wait, wait, I just I need to pull it up so I can read exactly what you wrote. Because speaking of linguistic twists,

I don't know if it was the wording, but this made me scream. Yes. With laughter like how old? Yeah, well, that's very funny. Well, Dan posted a picture on Instagram. Yes, I saw it from 1984. I'm in high school freshman year playing ping pong with Mark Lodstein, who was one of my classmates. Lodstein, Wong, Herman Huang and some other guy.

Italian last Italian last name. We're looking on. I had no idea. I remember actually playing ping pong freshman year. I don't remember anybody taking a picture of it. This picture winds up on eBay somehow. That is tremendous. I mean, this is historic images on it. Well, this is a very historic image. Well, the historic Natterman-Lotstein. You're talking about Lotstein, Wong, Natterman and Patino.

I mean, this is some game. And then Dan in the caption, Dan writes how of how a photo of me playing ping pong in gym class with at Mark Lodstein wound up on eBay. Only God knows. As if Lodstein were a significant presence in anybody else's life. Now it's tremendous. And then I wanted to buy it, but it's no longer available, I think. So somebody bought it.

Or it didn't make the bid or somebody put it on for nine million. You know, what was the bid on? 50 grand. Oh, so sweet. Somebody bought it. If you're the one who bought that picture, I didn't. Probably one of your fans bought the picture. I don't think anybody bought that picture. Somebody bought that. And does it can you tell?

I didn't know it was on eBay because I would have bought it. Can you tell it's me? I mean, it's sort of a. Yeah. Well, it says that it's you. I know it says in the back, it says the photo. It probably says I wouldn't have paid. You know what? How much? I'd love to know what. The what? I'm looking it up. I'm looking at Dan Natterman. Who posts that?

Maybe it was in the local newspaper or something. But who cut it out and put it on eBay? Yeah, I don't know. And why would they, you know? No, maybe the original image. It's not a it's so historic. A newspaper. What are they selling? The newspaper clipping if it was in the original photo. How did you find that? Because Mark Lodstein told me. Mark Lodstein. I wish we could have call in.

Lodstein said you can't look what I found. I was looking for like some ping pong pictures for something I was doing. And that's really I just popped up. But on eBay of all places, I figured it popped up on Facebook. When you Google it, you get to the eBay link.

But wow. I can't find that's good stuff, boy. That's good stuff eBay link, but. Wow. I can't find that's good stuff, boy, that's good stuff. Oh, here it is. What? Well, she's screaming. You got it here on eBay. Well, I'm going to know what is going on here. Can we show the picture or no, Nicole? No, we can't. OK, Nicole, I'll tell you, Nicole doesn't sugarcoat it.

She'll tell you. No, we can't. She's Nicole, I'll tell you, Nicole doesn't sugarcoat it. She'll tell you. She's not saying, OK, let me try. No, no, no, no, no, we can't. Don't know. 1984 press photo. Mark Lotz seen in Daniel. Now that's like ping pong in gymnasium. That is tremendous.

The seller. Interestingly enough, who's the seller? Historic images. Oh, one. Nobody buy this. I'm buying it before anybody can buy it well but oh i thought we were live for a second but i'm also interested in why the seller and and who owns historic images that's the name of a company or are they suggesting this in fact is a historic? I think maybe both like his company, like he. This company. Yeah, he's a collector. And then he takes his historic images to eBay.

And so the great game between so we're not talking about Kasparov, the, you know, what Gary who'd be interested in that. Exactly. Exactly. We're talking about the Lodstein, Wong, Nadaman and Patino. It would be a great image on a T-shirt, for example. It would be tremendous image as far as I'm concerned. I'm just wondering what the

general public would be clamoring for that. Maybe we'll find out. Maybe we'll have our first piece of merch. Listen, oh, we oh, you should you bid on it. You make T-shirts. I need to log out, but I'm going to buy it. And by the way, not I'm as good at ping pong, too. He's good at it. I'm not bad.

Ping pong was like a big thing. Remember, like Susan Sarandon bought like a ping pong club. Yeah, I've been there. Yeah. Yeah, she's an investor over there. It's a cool club. So what's going on with Mr. Dorman? He's gallivanting around Tel Aviv. As we know, Noam doesn't need a big excuse not to do the podcast.

He's three sheets to the wind wandering his way up Mount Masada. If he has an excuse not to do the podcast, he's not going to hesitate to use it unless we really harass him. All right. Well, we can get started and then he can chime in if he joins.

Is this Noam? Oh, there he is. Okay. Well, we can get started. You can get and he can chime in if he joins. Is this known? Oh, there he is. OK, well, big of the time. I mean, from Tel Aviv, Israel, the capital of the world, Jewish conspiracy. Or is it Jerusalem? I'm not sure. I think they have offices in Tel Aviv. Yes. Yes. As well as Great Neck, I believe so. Yes, of course. And Toronto. Yeah. Noam Dorman. Hello. Hello, Noam. I hope you're sober enough to do the podcast. Are you? I don't know if I am or not. I'm greetings from Tel Aviv. Greetings. What hotel are you at,

by the way? Hotel Simba. Simba, anyway. I hope you have a good... Thanks for asking, Dan. I'm sure everybody at home is familiar with the name of the hotel. Well, they're our sponsor. We have to... Oh, I didn't know that. I made that up. Oh. I felt that. Is Coleman in the room with you? He's under the bed.

He's under the covers. No, Coleman's in the room with me. No. Okay. Sheba Mason, everybody allowed to reintroduce her. As I was saying before, she's a comedian. She also runs a room. She's a producer of comedy shows. And with her is Ian Whirl. Is that the correct pronunciation?

Yes. Can I ask a question? Is anyone involved in this media engagement at the moment not Jewish? Well, Dove's mother. Dove's mother. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I grew up in a working class environment, so I don't have any of the Long Island aspect, but Jewish and Jewish. It's worldly, but it's not Jewish.

Worley is is is with her. Are you a stand up? No, no, no. OK. Anyway, they are playing Jackie Mason. Sheba is producing and starring in a movie. And did you write it? A musical? No. So my mother wrote it. It's a play.

It's a it's a musical comedy with a cast of eight. And it's about her 10 year relationship with Jackie Mason. And it has toured off Broadway. It's been on Broadway, Chicago, Long Island. And he's been in the show for like 10 years off and on playing Jackie Mason. And he looks like Jackie Mason a little bit. And he does the voice and everything else. And you play your mother.

I play my mother and I get pregnant with myself. But she wrote all the music and stuff like that, except for one song, which is called The Finger, which is where he explains what really happened on The Ed Sullivan Show that night. Well, so where is this playing? This is the show now. It's at Caroline's. It's part of the New York Comedy Festival.

Whoa. Sunday matinees a three. And what does he hate Caroline's? No, I don't think so. I mean, he's I know. Noam is very does not mind if other clubs get plugged on. No, it's very secure. I mean, we're looking at it as a theater, not a comedy club, because it's a matter of my competitor.

And we don't know our competitors. Yeah, we would love to do it at the Village Underground on Sunday matinees. Village Underground is a big stage. There will be blood. The movie there will be blood. Yes. You are my competitor. Yes. Yes.

I have a milkshake and you have a milkshake. That's right. There's a thing in me that cannot be happy for another man. So I cannot take pleasure in the success of another man. So do you consider this basically an is it an homage to Jackie Mason or is it a no holds barred kind of a thing where we are we going to come out of this musical saying that Jackie is a great guy or a flawed man or a deeply flawed man? How are we going to what are we going to think when we come out of this musical saying that Jackie's a great guy or or or a flawed man or a deeply flawed man how are we gonna what are we gonna think when we come out of this musical well he's like a uh it's like Odysseus you're gonna say wow that guy had some troubles but he had some successes and and look what we got out of it we got Sheba Mason out of it is it Sheba Mason in the music character Sheba Mason is a little girl in the musical no but you see my

mother get pregnant so I get pregnant with myself. But she told us I am or anything. No, no, that's not. Did he did he say like Odysseus? Yeah. He compared Jackie Mason to Odysseus. Do I have to pretend? Do I have to pretend that I know what that meant? I did.

The other way that was Homer talking about Greek diners. I thought you guys knew some Greek stuff. Homer's Odyssey, Odysseus. I don't know. I, I don't know if I was home. We're talking about Greek diners. I thought you guys knew some Greek stuff. Homer's Odyssey, Odysseus. I don't know. I, I don't know if that was the best analogy or not, but I. He runs into the Cyclops, Ed Sullivan. He runs into the tentacular, you know, her mother. You know, he runs into all these all these problems in his life come up. Can you get rid of this guy?

The travails that the journey do she is this cathartic for you? Or is it painful? Um, it's cathartic. I don't, you don't really feel any more pain about it. Yeah. You know, it's kind of like. Yeah. He died.

Was it a year ago? How long? We had you on the show shortly after he passed. Yeah, you had me. I think it was like right after he passed. It was like August 18th or 19th. You had me. So that was like a year and a half ago.

Yeah. And this is really a tribute was like a year and a half ago. Yeah. And this is really a tribute to the life and legacy of Jackie Mason. You know, he's played by a really cute guy, you know? Oh, yeah. We have people that are lifelong fans of his that come to the show and they're coming back this week with their entire families. So, you know, it's it's an approved it's a Jackie fan approved show. Oh, wow. And you get I love Jackie. You get into any of the drama where your mother got pregnant with you.

Yeah. And what was Jackie's reaction to that? Is that and is that delved into. I'll give him one of the lines. The New York Times referenced the song that we used to sell that event when he was in court for a paternity suit that his mother took, that she was mother in real life, took him to. And the title of the song is I Never Met This Yenta. I Never Met This Yenta.

So he goes on and says he denies the entire thing. And then, of course, the blood test proves that it's entirely legitimate. He has to pay child support for 20. She's sort of into it. She's she's sort of like Rhea, the Titan goddess of fertility. There you go. Look at this, dig it deep.

So the song starts off with him like totally denying it. And then by the end of it, he says, all right, I guess the baby's mine. You know? So, you know, it's a real story about real people. So, you know, there's even a song in it called Celebrity Seekers where you see him being surrounded by celebrities and how annoying slash fulfilling that can be. You know, we have a song called The Jews on the Media, you know,

now you do the Jackie voice the whole time. Once in a while we bring it up, you know, if we have to bring it out, then we'll do it. If you want to hit, we'll give it to you. You need to hear. That's good. There's even a nightclub scene where he does part of his act, you know? Oh, wow. Wow. With his real jokes. And can you do that legally now that he's dead?

Well, you know, it's Jackie's joke. So it's not like he's a comedian stealing his job. You know what I mean? Yeah. But I had to find somebody that can play Jackie. I'm not an attorney, but I don't know what the legalities of that would be. But I won't. We have several on our staff. It's OK. OK. But you know, I do. This sounds really interesting.

But you're not the only one. There it is. You're not the only one. I tell you this. What's your name? This. He is Willie. He's playing me.

But let me tell you something. He's no Jackie Bates. There. I don't know. We'll have to have a Jackie. We'll have to have a Jackie. Because quite frankly, I'll be honest with you. How this man makes a living.

This Ian Wilkins. He does. He does do my jokes. I'm not even alive. So this show seems to run represent the Greek mass of comedy and tragedy. So, you know, it's funny.

It's almost Dionysian. Almost. Nice. If Jackie drank, if Jackie drank wine, then it would be Dionysian. Wait, so you've been doing this for 10 years? No, I'm dwarven. So did Jackie, he was familiar with the show? Well, tell the folks what Jackie said about the show in its early carnation.

Well, in a very early carnation. Incarnation. Incarnation. Because, you know, my mother is a playwright. She's written other plays. And, like, she was an artist when she was dating him, too, and songwriter and stuff. So she wrote, like, about her three seasons with Jackie Mason.

She had a few, like, a little musings, some musings about it. He would date her every time he would come down to Florida. And then he would go back and date other people in New York. Date her. He was a real, you know, hound. Anyway, so there was one incarnation where he actually introduced the show and he said, I can't believe this yet finds me so interesting that she wrote a play about me and he was really cute about it.

But, you know, they were still having sex at that time. Yeah. So this is after you were like, well, well, after you were born, obviously, that he was still on and off with your mom. No. So he was with her for 10 years and then I was born. And then then he stopped. Right. But didn't you? Oh, but the play was when she was first dating him, like the first three years in a little bit about in the show's current iteration. It's only been running 10 years. But there are early scenes that Ginger, her mother, had written as far back as 30 years ago.

Right. But did he see the one that you're doing in the past 10 years? That was my question. No, he never saw that one. But there's a funny story. He did meet him briefly and told him that you were... The funny story about the girlfriend. Oh, he had a girlfriend who was like an Asian girl. They were in the New York Post

because he was... 2014. He was like hitting her with a phone and she accused him of cheating on her. But he started hitting her in the middle of the night with a phone. But in his defense, that's the only thing you could really do with AT&T phones. And like so she actually ended up coming to see the play at his age. He was still screwing this much younger girl. Yeah. Or I don't know, attempting to screw. Yeah. But she came to commiserate with other people that had been screwed by Jackie. And now no one's going to do another Greek reference

as if we haven't enough as he's made his point. No, but there is something Greek about the full circle nature of all of this. No, totally. Daughter of this legendary comedian and processing, you know, all of the distance, but also the you know, it's it does feel like there's a lot there. There's a lot, you know. And I don't know if this is interesting or not, but we also dated for like seven and a half years. Such a thing. And where are you from?

From New Jersey. Mind your business. Then you had a weird accent. He has a weird voice playing Jackie Mason. Yeah, you know, you get lost in the middle of that. He almost sounds southern sometimes, right? It just seems a little weird. How does he know? Why do you know so much about words?

Very well, he's trained in the theater. Thank you. Thank you. Why do you know so much about Greek mythology? He mentioned one word. I think he mentioned one or two words about Greek mythology. No, I said Dionysus. He knew his drinking. I know Dionysus. I study myths, man. I study myths.

You know, I mean, you probably don't remember, but I'm also a former employee of yours. Two weeks before you turned the Village Underground into the Comedy Cellar, I was an audio engineer in the Village Underground. I was hired for two weeks, and then they said, we're turning it into the comedy cellar. Oh, I was an audio engineer in the Village Underground. I was hired for two weeks and then they said, we're turning into a comedy place.

I said about two weeks. It's not that I don't remember. I know. Let's be honest about it. I don't know. I have no idea who I'm talking to. There's less work than a competent person does in a day. It takes two weeks to plug in a thing.

And he turns into a car. No, no. Well, where's now I'm smirking at? Well, because he's trying to get a sentence out. I'm sorry. Now I'm. That was good. They're going to laugh at home. It was good what he did. You were you going to say you didn't remember?

You don't remember everybody that worked there? I't see anybody so i can't tell you can't see you can't see it's dark it's dark you see us on the camera it's very dark but the cameras are side shots i can't i i can't it's so small i wouldn't expect you to i wouldn't expect you to anyway um the greek the greek god of memory that that's Mimosa. And that was one of the nine muses is a memory. This man knows he knows a great, great, great. The most like mnemonic. Yeah, mnemonic. You got you got. I will be darned.

It's all coming together. So. So. Yeah. So are you still running that room, by the way? The Three Monkeys, I think it's called. That's your room. You're you're it's a bar, but you do shows there. So I don't know if you want to plug that. I mean, no, no, I'm is not insecure. Well, how could he be insecure?

I mean, when you run the comedy cellar. Yeah, it's very hard to be threatened. No, I'm as a heavy. Well, mostly I'm here to plug the play. OK, Jackie Mason musical as an extension. Yeah, we got extended because it was so busy. Oh, wow. Discount. Yeah. If you get tickets before Thanksgiving.

Yeah. Where can people get tickets? The Jackie Mason musical dot com. And like, what is the discount code? H.A.N.K.S. Thanks. You put in the discount code? H.A.N.K.S. Thanks. You put in the discount code. Thanks. You'll get a discount.

I met I met Sheba's mother at Three Monkeys. And she kind of she's it looks just like Sheba. I mean, she's she's a little spark spitfire, you know, with big, big hair. And and, you know, very, very sweet woman. I enjoyed meeting her. And then your father or your stepfather, the rabbi or the cancer. Yeah, you met him, too. Anyway, I handpicked you that night because they were coming.

That's right. I actually said they're coming. Can you perform? Because I knew they would they would find you special. Is your mother Jewish as well? Yeah. Remember, my mother read your book and wrote a really good review for you. Oh, that's right. She did, yes.

Which, by the way, is available on Amazon. Iris Spiro before COVID, available on Amazon. I go, which parts of this are true? He goes, well, not the part where I was like screwing a much younger girl. That part's not true. He's like, other than that, the whole thing is about me. No, I didn't say that. I mean, if I said that, it's not true. In fact, it's one of the few parts, the whole thing is about me. What's the name of the book? I didn't say that. I mean, I know if I said that, it's not true.

In fact, it's one of the few parts of the book that is true. But the part that's not true is that I the character in the book won an Oscar for best original screenplay. That part's not true. And had it, you know, and that part's not true. And you got to have some poetic license. So it's not an autobiography. It's it's a novel. I used my life. life as fodder,

but it wasn't autobiographical. It was autobiographical elements, but it wasn't an autobiography. It's not an autobiography. Noam, can I ask you what you're doing in Israel? I'm a guest of the Israeli government. They're trying to convince me to be pro-Israel. Well, they don't have to work too hard for that, but I know just in Israel.

Right. I was there for about a month. What has the food? The food in Israel is quite good. We have not had it. We've been eating these kosher restaurants. Why? Because the Israeli government

is putting... I don't know. But on the whole, the trip has been fantastic. Oh, good. Can you give us a couple of highlights? Yeah. I walked through a Hezbollah tunnel.

Wow. Amazing. Oh, wow. Yeah. I went all the way up to an Iron Dome battery. We met the guy in charge of the Gaza interface that allows goods to go back and forth. We spoke to a lot of interesting people. Wow.

You're going to have to tell us all about that. I think we'll wait until Noam gets back to hear more details, but I think we need to wrap this up. I'll have to consult the Greek god of Terminus. Is Morpheus

a Greek god? Kronos Kronos. If you're running out of time, that's Kronos. But the god sleep sleep, right, was Morpheus. Maybe I don't know that one. You want to say you get morphine from it might be. Yeah, like Morpheus. Well, somebody can look that up because, no, I'm saying no one seems tired. And it's it's late there in Israel.

It's like two in the morning for no. Oh, shit, is it? It's one forty four. I think this is a part associated with sleeping dreams. Ancient Greece must be where morphine comes from. Probably is very nice. All right. Let's go to sleep. Thank you for listening and watching those of you who are, I guess, watching us the video podcast at Comedy Cell seller.com for all your comments suggestions

um thank you uh sheba what did you guys talk about for the first 25 minutes we talked we talked about netanyahu in net oh is he who's who's who's what's going on there politically no just quickly is he is he going to be the president okay we don't know minister prime minister i think i think he is yeah we talked about Farrakhan before you got here. We talked about Farrakhan, how he looks amazing for 89, and he's still vigorous and dynamic. He had had cancer, too, like 20 years ago. Nicole, any thoughts?

Nothing for me. Okay, once again, Binghamton, New York. Podcasted, well, they're very tight-lipped up there. PodcastedComedySeller.com for comments and suggestions. Thank you, Sheba. Thank you, Ian Worley. Thank you, Dov Davidoff. We will see you next time.

Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.