Shticks & Giggles

Admiring your bubbies, meeting matchmakers, speaking Yiddish to your lovers: this is life as a female Jewish comic. These women put themselves out there for the world, exposing vulnerabilities and frustrations while trying to make audiences laugh along. For the latest episode of Shticks & Giggles, The CJN’s podcast about Jews and comedy, comedian Laura Leibow sat down with fellow Canadian funnywomen Natalie Norman and Rachel Manson to chat about Judaism, feminism, getting Botox and breaking through the male-dominated stereotypes of Jewish stand-ups. Credits Shticks & Giggles is hosted by Laura Leibow, produced by Michael Fraiman and distributed by The CJN Podcast Network. Our theme music is “Extra Spicy”, written by Aleksandar Gajic and performed by Beyond the Pale. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.

Between bowel diseases and mental health issues, Jews are a sickly people. But comedy runs in our veins, and at least two comics have been trying to make light out of the least funny parts of their lives. Dan Rosen was diagnosed with Crohn's at age 11, and Ryan Zeitz has bipolar II disorder. For the second episode of Shticks & Giggles, The CJN's comedy-interview podcast, the men join host Laura Leibow (who herself has suffered from addiction and ADD) to dive into the deepest parts of their lives—and re-emerge with something funny. Trigger warnings abound. Find Dan on Twitter at @dantheguyrosen and Ryan at @ryanzcomedy. Credits Shticks & Giggles is hosted by Laura Leibow, produced by Michael Fraiman and distributed by The CJN Podcast Network. Our theme music is “Extra Spicy”, written by Aleksandar Gajic and performed by Beyond the Pale. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.

Jews dominated comedy during the 20th century. But that century has been over for more than 20 years, and now the trends of stand-up have shifted toward a more diverse array of voices. It begs the question: do Jews still have a role in comedy? Do we have anything new to say? To kick off Shticks and Giggles, host Laura Leibow brings on two comics to help answer this massive question: Howard Glassman, of "Humble and Fred" fame, and Jacob Balshin, a comedian and winner of the first annual Harvey Atkin Purim Comedy Competition (with a grand prize of $2,500, somehow). Credits Shticks & Giggles is hosted by Laura Leibow, produced by Michael Fraiman and distributed by The CJN Podcast Network. Our theme music is “Extra Spicy”, written by Aleksandar Gajic and performed by Beyond the Pale. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.

What does it mean to be a Jewish comic in an era when "Jewish" is no longer synonymous with "stand-up"? To find the answer, comedian Laura Leibow sits down with the world's best and brightest Jewish comics who were willing to appear on this show. Subscribe to Shticks & Giggles, The CJN's new comedy podcast, debuting soon.