Years ago, Eli Lebowicz was opening for such comedians as Elon Gold and Modi (Rosenfeld) and I would see him become more confident at each show.
Two months ago, he decided to take the plunge and do comedy as his main profession.
“Deciding to do comedy full-time was part exciting and part downright terrifying,” Lebowicz told The Jewish Press. “Friends and family have been really supportive, and I could tell a lot of them are wishing they themselves could pursue something they were more passionate about. Though some are very passionate about accounting. And some are thinking that I can still take the LSAT if comedy doesn’t pan out.”
On March 16, Lebowicz headlined for the first time at StandUp NY on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, with his show, “Remind Me After Shabbos.”
The sold-out crowd laughed many times as he made jokes about everything from the lulav and etrog to gematria.
Lebowicz doesn’t curse or make any jokes people would deem inappropriate, and he said when he was hired to perform at one synagogue, organizers noted that “We had a comedian in 1986 and he swore the whole time…” and it was the worst Tisha B’Av they ever had.
Lebowicz, who has been married for nearly ten years, said people give advice that is understandable, such as “Never go to bed angry.” But he said he also gets some advice that doesn’t make much sense, like, “Never get in a fight on a boat,” or “Make sure you wash all the forks.”
He said people are free to critique Israel, but it should be honest and fair. Lebowicz got one of the biggest laughs of the night when he told people how they should point out flaws of Israel. One patron knocked over his beverage, laughing at the following joke:
“Don’t criticize Israel for doing ethnic cleansing, it doesn’t do that,” he said. “Criticize Israel for being the startup nation in technology but stills sells chocolate milk in a bag. Don’t criticize Israel for going against the UN; criticize Israel for going against health standards by thinking it’s okay to have a cat working at a shawarma stand.”
He also said Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East, proven by the fact that it has elections every week.
Lebowicz also said due to the Holocaust, some will not buy a German car. He said he wondered how far the concept extends, as the Jews have had many enemies in history.
“You’re wearing a shirt made of Egyptian cotton on Pesach? You’re eating a Greek yogurt on Chanukah? …” he mimicked people questioning.
He joked about being at the airport during Sukkot and having to go to the bathroom at LaGuardia Airport with a lulav and etrog.
“Is this thing you’re carrying dangerous?” he recalled TSA agents asking him of the lulav.
An American Airlines employee asked if you plant it.
“No, you idiot, you shake it?” he said he replied.
Lebowicz, who has worked in marketing and was once an account manager at B&H Photo, told The Jewish Press he realized it was time to do comedy full-time a few years ago.
“One of the biggest signs from the universe that I should be doing it full-time came after doing a virtual Zoom show in December of 2020, for a great organization called Daily Giving,” he said. “I did very well, opening for comedian Elon Gold on this show. A day or two later, I emailed him telling him about some of the bits I liked, especially about his religious Rodney Dangerfield bit. It ended up leading to a 25-minute phone call, where he was so kind and effusive with praise about my joke writing and how funny I was…”
He said he had to wait to see that he could get gigs in a post-pandemic world.
He also said that his time working as an usher at Wrigley Field in Chicago, where he’d do impersonations of Cubs announcer Harry Caray, gave him a sense of fearlessness when he saw his comedy could have such a positive impact on people.
As he is doing more and more appearances, Lebowicz is becoming more popular.
“Recently we’ve been getting a lot of calls from organizations asking about him,” said Dani Zoldan, owner of StandUp NY. “It’s been a pleasure to see him gain fans and mature as a comedian.”
Lebowicz said he has gained a lot from watching Gold and Modi perform many times, when opening for them.
“I’ve gotten to see firsthand how a simple gesture of physicality can completely help make a bit stronger, and without that gesture, it may not even get a laugh,” Lebowicz said. “There’s a lot you can learn by watching the two of them work.”
He said among the shows he’s performed at, he especially enjoyed doing comedy for Young Israel of St. Louis, as well as a Conservative synagogue in New Jersey, where his material still translated well with the audience. He said doing 100 Zoom shows during the pandemic helped him get experience and he could see from people’s nostrils if they liked it.
Lebowicz also unleashes some zingers on social media.
“Great, now people are gonna say the Jews killed Yeezus,” he tweeted last October. “Yeezus” was the sixth studio album of the rapper Kanye West, now known as Ye.
