Antonia Carlotta is a film historian and niece of Universal Studios founder Carl Laemmle. She explores her great uncle’s legacy on her YouTube channel and website, Antonia Carlotta Presents: Universally Me. Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren Antonia’s website https://www.antoniacarlotta.com/ Antonia’s YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/user/AntoniaCarlotta Amusing Jews Merch Store https://www.amusingjews.com/merch#!/ Subscribe to the Amusing J...
Dec 23, 2024•27 min•Ep. 82
Alex Shvartsman is an author, translator, and anthologist whose latest book is Dreidel of Dread: The Very Cthulhu Hanukkah Board Book. His other works include the fantasy novels Kakistocracy, The Middling Affliction, and Eridani’s Crown. His short stories have appeared in Analog, Nature, Strange Horizons, and other publications. Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren Alex’s website https://alexshvartsman.com/ Dreidel of Dread - book https://www.amazon....
Dec 16, 2024•21 min
Barbara Laven is a retired trauma therapist and daughter of producer-director Arnold Laven – one-third of Levy-Gardner-Laven, the production company behind the classic TV Western series The Rifleman and The Big Valley. Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren Levy-Garnder-Laven https://www.therifleman.net/about/ Arnold Laven’s IMDb https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0491852/ Arnold Laven’s obituary https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-arnold-laven20-2...
Dec 09, 2024•26 min•Ep. 79
Liz Kleinrock is an antiracist and antibias educator and author of What Jewish Looks Like, a book for young readers co-authored with Caroline Kusin Prichard and illustrated by Iris Gottlieb. Her previous books include Start Here, Start Now: A Guide to Antibias and Antiracist Work in Your School; Eyes that Weave the World’s Wonders; and Come and Join Us! 18 Holidays Celebrated All Year Long. Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren What Jewish Looks Like ...
Dec 02, 2024•25 min•Ep. 80
Glenn Kirschbaum is a documentary writer, producer, and director whose latest film is Remembering Gene Wilder. He also wrote episodes of Unsolved Mysteries, and has overseen hundreds of hours of programming on The History Channel, A & E, Discovery, National Geographic, The Travel Channel, The Food Network, HGTV, The Weather Channel, and more. Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren Glenn’s IMDb https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1014024/ Remembering Gene W...
Nov 25, 2024•38 min•Ep. 79
Debra Caplan is an associate professor of theatre at the Graduate Center and Baruch College, City University of New York. She's the author of Yiddish Empire: The Vilna Troupe, Jewish Theater, and the Art of Itinerancy, and co-editor of The Dybbuk Century: The Jewish Play That Possessed the World. Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren The Dybbuk Century https://press.umich.edu/Books/T/The-Dybbuk-Century3 Yiddish Empire https://press.umich.edu/Books/Y/Y...
Nov 18, 2024•28 min•Ep. 78
Sam Firstenberg is an independent film director best known for his work with Cannon films, including Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo and the American Ninja series. Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren Sam’s website https://samfirstenberg.tripod.com/ Sam’s YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJpfRkG6T_kUII7sCRO5uAw Sam’s IMDb https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0278735/ American Ninja trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xrzqPLwOio Breakin’ 2: ...
Nov 11, 2024•52 min
Joel Silverstein is an artist, curator, teacher, critic, and a founding member of the Jewish Art Salon. His new book is The Brighton Beach Bible, an autobiographical painted narrative based around the Exodus story. Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren Joel’s website https://joelsilversteinart.com/mu.html The Brighton Beach Bible https://www.amazon.com/Brighton-Beach-Bible-Joel-Silverstein/dp/B0CHV3TX25 Jewish Art Salon https://jewishartsalon.org/ Amu...
Nov 04, 2024•34 min•Ep. 76
Peter Benjaminson is a former reporter for The LA Times, Detroit Free Press, and Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He’s the author of several books, including The Lost Supreme: The Life of Dreamgirl Florence Ballard; Mary Wells: The Tumultuous Life of Motown’s First Superstar; and most recently The Life and Times of Betty Boop: The 100-Year History of an Animated Icon. Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren The Life and Times of Betty Boop https://rowman.c...
Oct 28, 2024•19 min
Stan Mack is a cartoonist best known for Real Life Funnies, which ran in The Village Voice for over two decades. His new book, Stan Mack’s Real-Life Funnies: The Collected Conceits, Delusions, and Hijinks of New Yorkers from 1974 to 1995, is published by Fantagraphics. Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren Stan Mack’s Real Life Funnies https://www.fantagraphics.com/products/stan-macks-real-life-funnies?srsltid=AfmBOoo9DlUGftJJTCCD15LfqI3NsT9hFzmPoojWt...
Oct 21, 2024•28 min•Ep. 75
Margalit Fox is a journalist and author whose latest book is The Talented Mrs. Mandelbaum: The Rise and Fall of an American Organized-Crime Boss. Her previous books include Conan Doyle for the Defense, The Riddle of the Labyrinth, Talking Hands, and The Confidence Men. As a senior writer in the Obituary News Department of The New York Times, she wrote sendoffs for some of the leading cultural figures of our age. Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren M...
Oct 14, 2024•32 min•Ep. 74
Dr. Rafael Medoff is founding director of The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, based in Washington, D.C. He’s the author of more than 20 books, including the graphic novel Whistleblowers: Four Who Fought to Expose the Holocaust to America and his latest, Cartoonists Against Racism: The Secret Jewish War on Bigotry. Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren Cartoonists Against Racism https://www.darkhorse.com/Books/3012-364/Cartoonists-Again...
Oct 07, 2024•28 min•Ep. 73
Avi Decter is managing partner of History Now and the author most recently of Exploring American Jewish History through 50 Historic Treasures. He has served as director of the Museum of American Jewish History and the Jewish Museum of Maryland, head of education at the H.F. DuPont Museum and Gardens, and special assistant to the director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren Exploring American ...
Sep 30, 2024•40 min•Ep. 72
Phil Baron is a voice actor, singer, and songwriter best known as the voice of Teddy Ruxpin. He also voiced Piglet on the 1980s Disney Channel series Welcome to Pooh Corner. Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren Phil’s IMDb https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0056295/ Phil’s Teddy Ruxpin Wiki https://teddyruxpin.fandom.com/wiki/Phil_Baron Teddy Ruxpin Commercials https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dkr_4RICL9M Amusing Jews Merch Store https://www.amusingjews.com/...
Sep 23, 2024•27 min•Ep. 71
Nolan Gasser, a composer, pianist, and musicologist, is the architect of Pandora Radio’s Music Genome Project. He’s also the author of Why You Like It: The Science & Culture of Musical Taste. Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren Nolan’s website https://www.nolangasser.com/ Why You Like It (book page) https://www.whyyoulikeit.com/ Nolan’s TEDx Talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3wzSjKKvf4 Nolan’s NASA music (GLAST Prelude) https://svs.gsfc.nasa...
Sep 16, 2024•46 min•Ep. 70
Gabrielle Newman is a cantor and emo aficionado. Her cantorial thesis is titled, “Say Anything: The Significance of the Jewish Voice in Contemporary Mainstream Music.” Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren Say Anything, “Hebrews” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Qq-LoFCjEU Say Anything, “Alive With the Glory of Love” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZGRzdywXqs Say Anything, “Died a Jew” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPH9ClhHPkk Amusing Jews Merch St...
Sep 09, 2024•22 min•Ep. 69
Eli Valley is a writer and cartoonist whose work has been featured in The Nation, The New Republic, The Village Voice, Jewish Currents, The Guardian, The Daily Beast, and elsewhere. He is the author of the critically acclaimed book, Diaspora Boy: Comics on Crisis in America and Israel, and the forthcoming book, Museum of Degenerates: Portraits of the American Grotesque. Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren Eli’s website https://www.elivalley.com/ Eli...
Sep 02, 2024•23 min•Ep. 68
Rob Kutner is an award-winning author and television writer whose credits include The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien, Teen Titans Go!, Ben10, and many more. He’s also written for the Oscars, Emmys, Writers’ Guild Awards, MTV Movie Awards, and other awards shows. His books include Apocalypse How, Snot Goblins and Other Tasteless Tales, and The Future According to Me. He’s currently working on an animated action-adventure comedy series, God’s Gang. Co-hosts: Jonat...
Aug 26, 2024•25 min•Ep. 67
Ari Richter is a visual artist and comics creator who’s a professor of fine arts at LaGuardia Community College in The City University of New York. His debut graphic memoir is Never Again Will I Visit Auschwitz: A Graphic Family Memoir of Trauma & Inheritance. Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren Never Again Will I Visit Auschwitz https://www.fantagraphics.com/collections/ari-richter/products/never-again-will-i-visit-auschwitz-a-graphic-family-me...
Aug 19, 2024•39 min•Ep. 66
Allen Frishman is the archival officer of the Borscht Belt Museum in Ellenville, New York, which celebrates the golden age of the Catskills resort era, when millions of mostly Jewish urbanites sought refuge in the mountains of upstate New York. He’s also the author of two books: Tales of a Catskill Mountain Plumber and More Borscht from a Catskill Mountain Plumber. Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren Borscht Belt Museum https://www.borschtbeltmuseum...
Aug 12, 2024•33 min•Ep. 65
Joe Alterman is a jazz pianist who’s performed at such prestigious venues as the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Birdland, and Blue Note with his own trio and alongside legends like Houston Person, Les McCann, Dick Gregory, and Ramsey Lewis. Downbeat describes his sound as “rooted in the blues, and with a touch reminiscent of the great pianists of the 1950s—Red Garland, Ahmad Jamal, Bill Evans.” Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren Joe’s website http...
Aug 05, 2024•32 min•Ep. 64
Margie Haber is a renowned acting coach whose celebrity clients include Brad Pitt, Halle Berry, Tiffany Haddish, and many others. She runs Margie Haber Studio in Los Angeles and is the author of two books, How to Get the Part Without Falling Apart and F*ck Your Comfort Zone: Take a Risk and Become the Lead in Your Own Life. Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren F*ck Your Comfort Zone https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/F*ck-Your-Comfort-Zone/Margie...
Jul 29, 2024•25 min•Ep. 63
Esther Friesner is a prolific and award-winning science fiction and fantasy author known for her humorous style and thematic focus on gender equality and social justice. Her many books include the Nobody’s Princess, Sphinx’s Princess, the Chicks in Chainmail series, and Threads and Flames, a YA novel about a Jewish girl caught up in the tragedy of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren Esther’s Wikipedia page https...
Jul 22, 2024•30 min•Ep. 62
Aaron Fruchtman is a musicologist and composer whose work examines Jewish film composers during Hollywood’s Golden Age. He holds degrees in music composition from Berklee College of Music and the University of California, Riverside, and a doctorate in musicology from UC Riverside. He also earned an Advanced Studies Certificate in Music for Motion Pictures and Television from the University of Southern California. Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren ...
Jul 15, 2024•35 min•Ep. 61
Jeff Treistman is founder of the Jewish Comics Library of Seattle and the author and publisher of Graven, the library’s newsletter. He also has a Substack blog, Son of the Wicked Child. Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren JCLS Website https://sites.google.com/view/jewish-comics-library/catalog?authuser=0 JCLS Catalog https://www.librarycat.org/lib/JCLS2023 JCLS – GoFundMe https://www.gofundme.com/f/jewish-comics-library-of-seattle-stimulus-package/d...
Jul 08, 2024•25 min•Ep. 60
Andy Muchin is an occasional freelance writer and host of the Sounds Jewish radio show, which has aired weekly since 2010. Sounds Jewish is available on Mississippi Public Broadcasting, Radio-J.com, and PRX, the Public Radio Exchange. Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren Sounds Jewish https://exchange.prx.org/series/32262-sounds-jewish Some of Andy’s journalism https://forward.com/authors/andrew-muchin/ https://www.jta.org/author/andrew-muchin https:...
Jul 01, 2024•32 min•Ep. 59
Jerry Sroka is an actor, writer, and producer known for his roles in Godspell, Antz, The Wild Thornberrys, and many more. His latest film is Our (Almost Completely True) Love Story, co-written with and co-starring his wife, Mariette Hartley. Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field Producer-Engineer: Mike Tomren Jerry’s IMDb https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0820293/ Our (Almost Completely True) Love Story - website https://ouralmostcompletelytruestory.com/ Our (Almost Completely True) Love...
Jun 24, 2024•27 min•Ep. 58
Seymour Chwast is one of the most highly-regarded graphic designers in American history. In 1954, he founded the design group Push Pin Studios with Milton Glaser, Edward Sorel, and Reynold Ruffins. Seymour has executed hundreds of advertising campaigns, designed multiple popular typefaces, and illustrated numerous books. His new book, an illustrated adaptation of Mark Twain’s War Prayer, was just published by Fantagraphics. Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field Producer-engineer: J...
Jun 17, 2024•20 min•Ep. 57
Jeffrey Braer is a creative marketer, media developer, and brander of food, themed entertainment, consumer products, and companies. His long list of brand partners includes Barbie, Apple’s Beats, ABC, Disney, Doritos, Sanrio, Amazon, Mattel, NBC, Universal, Toyota, Sony, UPN, Betty Crocker, McDonald’s, Good Humor, General Mills, Minute Maid, Coke, Smurfs, NASA/JPL, and many more. Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren Jeffrey’s IMDb https://www.imdb.co...
Jun 10, 2024•38 min•Ep. 56
Theodore Bogosian is an award-winning independent filmmaker and television producer who’s been directing, producing, and writing long-form documentaries for PBS, the New York Times, Discovery, and other networks since 1978. His latest documentary, Live at Mister Kelly’s, about the famous Chicago nightclub, is a collaboration with David Marienthal, the son of Mister Kelly’s co-founder, George Marienthal. Co-hosts: Jonathan Friedmann & Joey Angel-Field Producer-engineer: Mike Tomren Theodore’s...
Jun 03, 2024•28 min•Ep. 55
