The line-up at Comedy Unleashed really proves laughter is the best medicine. We caught up with MC of the night and Jewish comedian, Josh Howie, to take us behind the scenes.
Get ready for an evening of laughter and solidarity! A line-up of Jewish comedians will be performing on 7th June with no jokes off limits. Comedy Unleashed proudly presents comedians, Lewis Schaffer, Lenny Sherman, and Jonathan Kogan, alongside the evening’s MC, Josh Howie. Josh, who has been performing stand-up for over 20 years and has a column in The Jewish Chronicle, tells us more.
Hi Josh! How are you feeling about MC- ing this gig?
There is something special about the role of being an MC because you’re there to host the evening, you’re there to make people feel comfortable, to let them know that this is a safe place to laugh and have fun. But also your job is to make a connection with the audience; when I do my set of course I have to bring people with me, that’s part of the art form of being a comic, but it’s much more direct when you MC things because you get to do a bit of both and you get to find out more about the audience.
I’m excited to be there in the room with people who have a shared understanding and have come out to have a laugh. Live comedy is great because the audience can go out for a pint with the comics after the show which really breaks down those barriers which exist between the performer and the audience. It’s a very comforting feeling of being among like-minded people.
During this tough time for the community how important is comedy as a way to address big issues and offer a welcome distraction?
Some comics are political, and they talk about what’s going on or they slightly refer to it. I think it’s always good to bring people together and to be able to shine a light on issues and be funny about it. Because even in the most horrendous circumstances, there’s always going to be scope for humour, which points out the madness of the world which we are living in.
All the comics on that night are very different and have different ways of addressing things, not everyone is going to be political in that way – there’s going to be a bit of both. There’ll be an opportunity to bring people together through laughter, while addressing what has been going on.
Do you feel more at home doing comedy with the Jewish community?
I’ll let you in on a little secret… Jewish audiences are the worst audiences in the world, or should I say, the trickiest. Comedy is part
of our culture, so in a way it makes it a doubly tough audience because Jewish audiences know comedy. Also, they tend to be pretty funny themselves so there’s this attitude sometimes where they’re like: ‘Well, yeah that’s ok but my son could do better.’
It can make for a tough audience, especially British Jewish audiences because historically I think there’s a sense of playing it safe or not wanting to rock the boat, but I think that’s changing now. I’ve always been very loudly Jewish, and I think younger Jews are also willing to put themselves forward as Jews without being apologetic. And maybe that’s the only silver lining from recent events with Jewish people saying: ‘You know what, it didn’t work to try and fade into the background.’ Now we have to stand our ground and stake our claim as British Jews, and not apologise.
Comedy Unleashed is at The Hi-Fi Club, Leeds, 7th June.
Comedyunleashed.co.uk