Jew Talkin' To Me? with Mike Sheer

[00:00:00] Hello Rachel. Hello Phillip, how you doing? Well it's interesting because I realize we always

[00:00:04] start these things, hello how are you and actually we are both as you can hear very much under

[00:00:09] the weather, coughing, galore so we may end up having to new to ourselves from time to time

[00:00:14] this little pre-chat. When you're listening just imagine that this was probably a two hour recording

[00:00:19] to still down into about three minutes just in coughing. And if you actually take the recording of

[00:00:25] all of our separate costs you could put together Have Anagila. Well what is the most

[00:00:31] interesting that's happening recently apart from discussing your health with any of you

[00:00:35] perhaps and so asking you are you doing? I think actually discussing my health with anyone who's

[00:00:39] subscribed for the very benefit of hearing me talk about my health is the most interesting

[00:00:44] of the week. But no, I've succumbed lately to something I thought I'd avoid but in the end I decided

[00:00:50] I needed to just really get into it and start watching it at least and that is the reality

[00:00:54] show that the traders do you know of what I speak? I don't know how to reply in a Shakespeare way

[00:01:01] and there's some reason you've asked him but yeah we have for you. Just say yes my leg.

[00:01:06] I watched obviously being me, I watched the traders UK and Australia and USA, I've watched them

[00:01:12] off. Yeah I thought you might have so I never watched it and enough people convince me actually

[00:01:17] at least try it. There's something about when you're a stand-up comedian and you want to talk

[00:01:21] about zeitgeist-detop things on stage or at least be able to reference them is useful to

[00:01:25] at least dip into these things. I decided just to watch it, I sort of fast forwarded bits of it

[00:01:30] because I didn't need to watch all the tasks and everything else but it was fascinating

[00:01:35] and the thing I was most fascinated about and this is why it sort of makes it the most Jewish thing

[00:01:39] is it's basically like an extreme version of a game I used to play when we were in use groups

[00:01:45] called Mafia so if you've not seen the traders what it is a group of people who have turned up at

[00:01:51] a stately home in Scotland and Claudia Winkleman who hosts it decides which of them is going to be

[00:01:57] a trader, which of them is going to be a faithful and if you're a trader you get to murder people

[00:02:02] in the night not actually murdering them obviously although I think this would be a great

[00:02:07] setting for an anchor to the Christie and it's definitely it feels like the first part of an episode

[00:02:12] of Black Mirror as well but I don't want to be too spoilery but in this series there is an incident

[00:02:20] where somebody does get put in a coffin. Okay do they get out the coffin? No spoilers,

[00:02:25] this is what it's anyway so their planes game and they can kill someone in the night and they

[00:02:29] then are out the game and then during the next day the rest of the people that are still alive

[00:02:35] need to decide who they think might be one of the traders and then at the end of the day they

[00:02:39] vote them off and if they're correct then they've got rid of a trader and so they're not correct

[00:02:44] they've got rid of one of their own it's very intense it's bit two intense from our one list

[00:02:48] the thing I find most fascinating about it is how emotional people are getting I mean they're

[00:02:53] they're crying when someone turns up at breakfast they're crying it's absolutely ridiculous

[00:02:58] the breakfast is amazing I mean I'd be emotional about that breakfast 100% oh I agree except I imagine

[00:03:03] they're all staying in the local travel lodge having whatever they're having and they just come

[00:03:08] together for this breakfast this feast but when we played it as kids in the youth groups if a

[00:03:13] piece is a paper in a hat and on the paper it was either written M for murder a D for detective

[00:03:19] and then the rest would just blank and you pick them out and then you're either a murderer

[00:03:23] and there I think two or three murderers may be depending on numbers and if you picked out the

[00:03:28] D you're with detective again they might have been more than one everyone then has close

[00:03:31] around is the murderers wake up choose who they're going to kill close their eyes whoever dies

[00:03:37] is then notified by whoever is running the game the detective can wake up and sort of discuss

[00:03:42] who they think it might be and they sort of have to veer people towards voting off the person they

[00:03:46] think was the murderer and if they get it right fantastic then they don't get it right it carries on

[00:03:51] so exactly that sort of game we've been in the Jewish youth groups and there was no logic to it you

[00:03:56] pick your thing out of a hat and that was it your murderer or a detective or nothing but when

[00:04:01] you asked to justify why you weren't a murderer because you could defend yourself if you were accused

[00:04:06] before voting to place was like I would never murder anyone I've been good all my life I've

[00:04:12] done this I've done that I'm the most giving I give to charity I it's like right but you could

[00:04:18] still pick a piece of paper out of a hat that has no bearing on any of that so it's such a random

[00:04:24] thing and I know Claudia interviewed them and psychologically profiled them I guess but it's so intense

[00:04:30] and by the end of the series they've accumulated an amount of money that either goes to the remaining

[00:04:35] traders or to the faithfuls but some of their reactions are just so overly dramatic and all it is

[00:04:42] is a game we used to play at RSY what was the price at RSY because presumably it wasn't 100

[00:04:48] thousand pounds or whatever I imagine prize was you got to go into lunch first because we only

[00:04:52] ever seen to play it one day going to lunch um now I mean there was nothing no prize pot we didn't do that

[00:04:59] on on RSY anyway I've got that off my chess which to be sure is the most painless thing I've

[00:05:03] got off my chess this week so how am I you Rachel what's the most Jewish thing that's happened to

[00:05:09] you this week well for it what has happened is my husband and I decided yesterday to binge watch

[00:05:17] the brilliant Jewish series Kid Sister which are highly bent if one is written by someone

[00:05:23] Nathan it starts her it's such a funny clever good show and also a way of seeing orthodox

[00:05:29] representation in a mainstream sitcom which is amazing so yeah so we watched that and there's a

[00:05:36] scene in it where her mum has taken her to the doctors and they're discussing boundaries and the

[00:05:43] mum was saying how she and her daughter were in the same boundary and then the daughter was demonstrating

[00:05:50] then fact no everyone has their own individual boundaries and then I'm said I don't like that

[00:05:56] I'm much refer it if we're in one she does like a gesture of boundarying the two of them together

[00:06:00] and mark and I look to each other and we realise that is exactly how I feel about my children

[00:06:06] that I feel like we should be within one boundary where I'm involved in every aspect of their life

[00:06:13] I'm a constant contact with them in fact if they could spend their entire 20 hours a day

[00:06:18] seven days a week in the same room as me so that I know they're there there okay I could feed them

[00:06:22] I could make sure they're fine I think that probably wouldn't even be enough yeah it was that

[00:06:25] beautiful moment of recognition between husband and wife parents of the same children when they realise

[00:06:31] that one of them is a full on Jewish mother and there's nothing you can do about it so it was kind

[00:06:36] of gorgeous I guess at some point you've just got to admit defeat on these things and go this is who I am

[00:06:41] there's no fighting it no let's embrace it but yeah we're talking about Jewish families

[00:06:47] this week's episode with Mike Sheer comedian actor writer Chuseo does lots different things

[00:06:54] has really really interesting an unusual family backstory that's kind of almost the opposite

[00:07:00] of Carries last week where she didn't know she was Jewish till a certain age and he was like

[00:07:05] full on brought up as a mega Jew for a number of years and then the family went a different direction

[00:07:11] I say I love the thought of a mega Jew you got a mega bus just just just one

[00:07:16] mega Jew from everything everywhere something we're doing everything but I thought it was really

[00:07:22] interesting particularly to hear the story about the question mark over the origins of his father

[00:07:28] in a very Star Warsy way and also the weird story of his moments for yes that and the often you made

[00:07:34] him is worth listening to this episode for alone we should say that there are some grown-up words

[00:07:41] used in the episode so maybe don't listen to it out loud in synagogue so sit back and enjoy the show

[00:08:01] hello I'm Philip Simon and I'm Rachel Krida we are two Jewish comedians

[00:08:06] I'm reform and in my youth group we played a game called Mafia which is a watered down version of

[00:08:11] hit TV show that traitors and I'm also dogs and in my youth group the only traitors we knew

[00:08:17] well with those who came with us just for Israel tour and then went back to the old friends afterwards

[00:08:22] this show is the audio equivalent of the traitors full of twists and turns the little

[00:08:27] list of things could lead to a massive falling out and we often start crying for no earthy

[00:08:31] reason in each episode we chat to our favourite Jews about their lives and experiences growing

[00:08:36] up and how much Jewishness plays a part are they faithfuls or faithless?

[00:08:41] Welcome to Jew Talk Enemy!

[00:08:46] Let's introduce our guest he is a Canadian comedian actor and script coach it's Mike

[00:08:52] sure hello hello thanks for having me hi Mike can you doing hi I'm good yeah I'm doing

[00:08:58] all right I'm three coffees in the day is starting to create a life for me excellent so regular

[00:09:04] this is to our podcast we'll know we always like find out how I guess self-define this

[00:09:08] Jews you'll know that Rachel's orthodox number form so Mike what kind of a Jew are you?

[00:09:13] I was thinking about this I mean I mean you know I talk about this in my act but it's like

[00:09:17] I was more Jewish in the first eight years of my life than I have ever been since then until

[00:09:24] actually Rachel I connected with you over here and you had me kind of doing Jewish events

[00:09:30] and all this kind of stuff now is the first timing years that I've been brought back into it so

[00:09:34] yeah so I would say I'm a minute but I'm like an outsider outsider Jew that one I'm an outsider

[00:09:42] Jew I'm in the outside kind of looking and picking bits out one of them being the right to do

[00:09:47] jokes about being Jewish fair enough I love that idea that brought you back to the fold that's

[00:09:53] not generally the impact I have on people you're like she's now taking this as a win that she will

[00:09:58] be bragging about for some time and I can have to start finding people to jumeify

[00:10:03] that's it it's the whole point of the podcast isn't it yes it's really just a mass conversion

[00:10:08] course so like you say you were most Jewish for the first eight years of your life

[00:10:14] would you imagine being by that so I do this joke about it that came from a conversation I was

[00:10:19] having with a old friend of mine about this basically I come from like an immigrant family

[00:10:24] from here doesn't still counts but I was like first generation Canadian and stuff so my mom is

[00:10:30] from a very traditional Jewish background and Manchester from Sheetem Hill back in the day

[00:10:35] and she had a thing when we were kids I think she was kind of like okay I'm gonna make these kids

[00:10:41] Jewish and like recreate kind of my house hold a little bit that I grew up in and then it was just

[00:10:47] kind of abandoned like later in life I got I and I still don't really know why that is but you know

[00:10:53] I do this joke about how I was circumcised but I didn't get a bar mitzva that's my experience

[00:10:58] I'm not doing waste day when you say that Mike you'll do a bar mitzva before

[00:11:01] I know I've offered you so many times like make your bar mitzva the whole thing to fill in on

[00:11:06] call up to the Torah and kiddish afterwards fish balls everything well I did I tell you I had one

[00:11:12] on the side of the road when I first moved here I was in Manchester and these kind of Jews were like

[00:11:19] from one guy who was from Brooklyn and one was from LA and they were like hanging out by the

[00:11:22] side of the road in the camper van to be dried by bar mitzva's so like I was riding my bike past and

[00:11:27] they were like hey buddy you do what you saw they had a bottle of Jamesons and I was like I am yeah

[00:11:32] if what you want to talk like let's have some whiskey we ended up hanging out and they were like

[00:11:37] and I was like yeah I never heard about that you know like let's do it right now and they did it

[00:11:40] with the to fill in and all that and then we took a photo with them and that was it I told by

[00:11:44] my mum after and she was very angry it's not so much worse if it's the other way around that you

[00:11:49] were but mitzva but not circumcised and this was an enemy on the street

[00:11:56] these guys were the scalpel going hey you're Jewish let's do it yeah that's indeed would be worse

[00:12:02] but yeah so I was studying for the bar mitzva like I went to Hebrew school for a bit when I was like

[00:12:07] nine ten years old so I did like a few weeks of Hebrew school we used to go to school when I was a kid

[00:12:13] like when I was like little so that's all those things and then eventually she just stopped kind of

[00:12:18] forcing us to go to temple and stuff and then it just all but once the kids in my school found

[00:12:24] that that I was Jewish they started to kind of bully me for it like they called me he been you know

[00:12:29] I don't know if you say these words and this podcast but all those words but I didn't know you know

[00:12:33] it's like the classic thing that kids say is like you didn't know about racism you didn't really

[00:12:37] know what it was or you didn't know about we discriminate against people for certain reasons like

[00:12:41] you don't so I never really understood it so one of the first jokes I ever did was about being called

[00:12:46] heep and not knowing what meant and thinking it was an acronym for handsome badass and all this

[00:12:51] but they were like yeah so that's another reason why I kind of feel like I've earned my stripes as a

[00:12:57] Jew it's because I did get the abuse for it at an early age so I have all the trauma that you can

[00:13:02] expect being like a new world Jew I'm gutted that the only prize you got for me is like 25 years later

[00:13:10] yeah I mean it was fun they were kind of fun they smelled like in their campervanks I think

[00:13:15] they were living in it but yeah it's fun like peanut butter and stuff but it was cool yeah

[00:13:20] it's interesting that the trauma of kids call new names is a connection you have to do

[00:13:25] doesn't because even the most atheist of Jews is still too Jewish for someone who doesn't like Jews

[00:13:31] yeah I mean this school that I was out of that time they were like proper white trash kids

[00:13:37] you know like when you have kids at that age like they're just copying what they hear in the house

[00:13:42] purely like so you know they're just saying shit that they've heard their uncles and their

[00:13:46] dads and everyone who's had you know so it was like yeah it's interesting like you say like

[00:13:50] they don't they're just being a conduit for the racism and the sort of toxicity of the

[00:13:55] olders in their house but no one knows I didn't know what they were saying to me they don't

[00:13:59] know what they're saying to me yeah you know it is a fun dynamic it brings us all together though

[00:14:04] yeah indeed so it's something that happened after they found out you would Jewish so

[00:14:08] they've been friends with you for years then suddenly went now we have a new name for him

[00:14:12] I was kind of relatively new at the school I think because it was a new school for me but it was like

[00:14:18] I had known them for a bit yeah it wasn't like a fresh in the school he used a Jew it was like

[00:14:23] I'd known them for a bit and then I think I mentioned it which is kind of fun because

[00:14:28] there's no other way they would have known so it's kind of funny maybe it was because I was

[00:14:31] going to Hebrew school or something now that I think about it maybe I mentioned that or whatever

[00:14:34] because it was at that time but yet a lot of the Jews in my neighborhood were like dark complexion

[00:14:40] except for me so like I could have gotten away with it

[00:14:43] I could have you know past is one of them if I had to say anything it's kind of funny

[00:14:49] and then there was like you know years later I went to a comedy school and there would

[00:14:55] like some kids there would try to be funny who were writing swastikos on the board thinking

[00:14:59] you was funny but I always had like my experience of Jewishness is always being I don't have

[00:15:05] a lot of fun experiences if you don't know what I mean so that's why I'm saying those those

[00:15:09] gigs and stuff and like being around Jews having fun like I never really saw a whole lot of that

[00:15:14] it was like all the cultural things I would go to was like temple where it was like you know

[00:15:18] super boring in there as a kid you just sit there and you just like oh my god so we had a

[00:15:22] local synagogue that a lot of the guys who are friends with now are Jewish from my neighborhood

[00:15:27] weirdly and we all went to this school together and they used to have a tree at the front

[00:15:32] that we all used to like hold on to and like walk around and that was like how we stopped

[00:15:36] ourselves from boredom but yeah like we all did it so we but we didn't know each other so we all have

[00:15:42] that connective tissue which is fun literally the tree of life the tree of life yeah beautiful

[00:15:51] well you talked a lot about your past Mike and what is the most Jewish thing that's happened to

[00:15:55] you recently I mean I think that it's this thing that it's going on at this exact moment which is

[00:16:01] this escalating conflict over in the Middle East which is permitting more of our everyday life

[00:16:08] here in London and there are things every once in a while that kind of awakened my feeling of

[00:16:14] Jewish identity because like I said like I don't have a big family I have some Jewish family here

[00:16:20] in UK but I don't really see them a whole lot you know they're not part of my daily life and

[00:16:24] they are actually quite Jewish in their practice and culturally but I don't really see them that often

[00:16:29] like maybe a couple times a year really you know and I live with my girlfriend is Greek so she's

[00:16:34] even Greek so I've not reminded a lot of the Jewishness except at this moment this kind of landscape

[00:16:41] we're living at the moment it's it's kind of inciting a lot of Jewish identity contemplation in

[00:16:48] me if that makes sense is that what you asked I don't know yeah I mean it is like how's it manifesting

[00:16:54] for you directly it's manifesting in me realizing I have to kind of manage because I'm having

[00:17:02] a visceral emotional reaction to stuff that I see online or that I see on the newspaper or that

[00:17:08] I might see on the street which is not a way that I really like to live because I am do get quite

[00:17:14] riled up easily so I've kind of learned to manage my environment to be in a way that doesn't really

[00:17:19] make me kick off if you know what I mean but this thing is like you can't escape it at the moment

[00:17:25] and so I have a mix of like don't get angry about that don't get wound up about that but at the same

[00:17:31] time I'm like you got to represent though you know you can't just let everything go so it's manifesting

[00:17:38] also with friends and with people who like you know whenever one of these big global things is going

[00:17:43] on I'm usually quite able to detach from it and be like oh yeah I think that is bad or that is

[00:17:47] bad but this is the first time it's being something that's really grabbed me in my gut right

[00:17:52] where I feel like I do have to chime in and make judgments and make calls on people whether

[00:17:58] I'm not going to speak to them anymore or block them or mute them you know just to protect my own

[00:18:03] I guess the word we use now is mental health yeah it's manifested like that but it keeps reminding

[00:18:08] me that I am part of this community even if I'm in the outside or is getting circumcised in a van

[00:18:15] Manchester I'm not trying you know this is still my community is this something that you've

[00:18:20] noticed happening just online or have you like have personal direct in-person experiences you

[00:18:26] mentioned that you talk on stage about being Jewish so is there something you've noticed from

[00:18:31] audiences from colleagues okay so here in the comedy world basically in my act I do a joke about

[00:18:37] not looking Jewish and what I mean when I say I don't look Jewish I mean that I don't have the darker

[00:18:42] complexion that a lot of my friends or people who have I mean none of us actually so there's a bad

[00:18:47] example but you know I do a joke about looking at my area in the face but it's like it's a

[00:18:55] joke about looking like the other guys meaning the Aryan thing right so I'm willfully playing on this

[00:19:01] stereotype and you know profiting off that stereotype in the sense that I do that joking club sets and

[00:19:07] I make money off that stereotype but in my act I before this all this thing that's happening now

[00:19:14] really it started to manifest in a really constant in your face way yeah I was doing this joke in a

[00:19:19] few places and there happened to be a few gigs in succession where people were saying things like

[00:19:24] oh you mean you have a big nose or they were saying you love money or like people were saying

[00:19:29] things like that from the crowd and it's like whoa I also sorry in Edinburgh there was a girl

[00:19:35] who goes because I was talking about not looking Jewish and then I lost my trade-a-thought and I said

[00:19:39] oh where was I and then a girl in the front says you were just saying how you're normal looking

[00:19:43] and not Jewish looking so there's like things like that right which out and you know it's

[00:19:49] you're playing on it on stage and it's all playful with ever but I'm like okay do I post about this

[00:19:54] and be like this is a problem this is showing the creeping anti-semitism that lives beneath everything

[00:20:00] but it's like I invited it and I'm taking the piss out of myself kind of so I feel like this is all

[00:20:06] fair play in the world of comedy that we have in that room at that moment to a certain extent

[00:20:11] um in terms of really hateful things that are said in a non-playful manner I've not experienced

[00:20:18] any of that on stage in fact the opposite if anything so there were since these things have happened

[00:20:23] there's been some oh I'm Jewish and then I'd say if I'm in a seller I say I came down here to hide

[00:20:29] or you know something like that but you again is playing on the whole thing yeah you know and

[00:20:33] then I've got a plush for that you know so I haven't really experienced in the stage setting any

[00:20:38] any blowback that I haven't kind of manifested through the material that I'm doing you know

[00:20:44] so that's why I feel it's a weird area they gotta want to be posting about it and going look

[00:20:47] with these people said about me because it's part of the joke I kind of encouraged it does I make sense

[00:20:52] yeah I was just thinking that literally a couple of days before this conflict began you and I

[00:20:58] gig together in Jersey and it happened that the whole lineup had Jewish heritage like was

[00:21:04] you and I in Steve Hall and we all mentioned it on stage and it was a lovely warm room and a

[00:21:09] great audience like the whole gig was fantastic and I mean I could have obviously ever imagined

[00:21:14] what would happen when we'll broke out but it was more that like a week later we'd be as a kind

[00:21:20] of Jewish comedian community dwelling on what do we say what don't we say like is our normal

[00:21:25] band are gonna work are they gonna just stand up and scream us will they walk out of people

[00:21:29] gonna not book us just like the professional impact of that one extreme to the next and such a

[00:21:34] short space of time yeah 100% what I wanted to say though in terms of my personal life I felt a lot

[00:21:41] of repercussions in my personal life so I have a I have a buddy who is an Italian guy who was out

[00:21:47] of town for a long time he's like all the design and being an engineer so I'll probably never

[00:21:50] get this but he uh he message me he's like hey I'm back in town do you want to get some beers and go

[00:21:56] to the march today right insinuating that oh it's this was the day of the big propolice vine march

[00:22:02] that was happening a couple of weekends ago the big big one that's that happened so I'm going

[00:22:06] I'm looking at it I'm thinking okay he's casually he doesn't know I'm Jewish by the way or anything

[00:22:10] we never talked about it so he's going this is a party this is a fun party day out let's go

[00:22:15] and we'll get some cans and we'll go and and vibe out of this march and I saw this and I was you know

[00:22:21] I don't want to like I said I don't want to swear too much but I was like it made me so angry

[00:22:26] I was like this is just a street party for you and I wrote something and I said look I'm you know

[00:22:30] I am Jewish right you knew that right and he's like no I didn't know but you know there will be

[00:22:34] Jews there as well and then I said something quite bad back to him we kind of had a bit of blood blood

[00:22:39] over and he was sort of sending me photos from the thing I've Jews there and I'm going look just because

[00:22:44] those Jews are there it doesn't mean that you know whatever all that yeah so there's been a

[00:22:49] little moments like that where there's a casualness of people around me taking up the cause as

[00:22:56] something fun to do and I'm like you don't know how much it affects me that you're looking at it

[00:23:01] like that but then I think of you know the Russia Ukraine the other conflicts that are far from here

[00:23:07] but that we are privy too and that we have sort of bits of fluries of activism is a about

[00:23:13] that I have been cavalier about and I'm sort of like this is a huge learning thing for me where it's

[00:23:18] like the first time I'd be like oh shit I actually have a dog in a fight for the first time

[00:23:22] right I think for me that's a bit that really has struck me that the people posting things are

[00:23:29] doing so with a very abstract connection to it not knowing the people reading the things do have

[00:23:34] that dog in the fight that someone who has no information except what they've picked up from

[00:23:39] social media which is mainly being refuted anyway after a few days maybe maybe even a few minutes

[00:23:46] but they see the first post and that's it they jump on it and that becomes their complete

[00:23:50] focus and attention they don't care that their friends are reading that they're not doing

[00:23:55] with any sensitivity I've heard of some people I've not had this myself I have heard of some

[00:23:59] comics who they've had people contact them offering sympathy asking for advice and then posting

[00:24:04] the most horrendous things anyway yet they feel they've done their bit because they've reached out

[00:24:09] so yeah I think there's a lot of I can say willful blindness in what people are posting

[00:24:15] it exposes the disparity between the hyperbally of social media and actual feelings

[00:24:23] yeah you know so it's like like your example just that is perfect it's like can you hold those two

[00:24:29] things like those two things existing at once so both I have confirmed from my friend who's like

[00:24:34] must be going through something but also I'm getting carried away you know being hyperbolic on

[00:24:40] social media but it's like you just wish that people would kind of become attuned to the effect

[00:24:46] of their happen that has like you say yeah 100% and for me it's like my experience personally is

[00:24:52] because I know quite a lot of left to ease or you know I'm being in the arts and I'm sure

[00:24:56] it's the same for you guys I know quite a lot of people who assume my position on things is going

[00:25:01] to be the classic progressive voting for the quote unquote who's perceived by the social media

[00:25:08] landscape as the end of the day whatever all that stuff they all assume that I have that

[00:25:12] viewpoint so they come to me with hey let's go to the march like are you going to the march tomorrow

[00:25:17] and it's like I have this problem it's kind of more more low stakes but with people assuming

[00:25:22] that I like rock music like a lot of people are like like putting on you know at 2000s rock band

[00:25:28] indie rock band and be like don't you love this song like the killers and I'm like I hate this music

[00:25:33] I hate it why do you just because you know the way you just assume the way I dress or whatever

[00:25:38] I don't know other things that you assume I like this yeah that points me out okay let's pause

[00:25:43] things for a second what kind of music do you like because I would have definitely put you in that

[00:25:47] bracket right and I don't know what I'm doing to give this out sorry it's a big thing for me

[00:25:53] I have indie rock or energy I guess no I like jazz music I like world like African music I

[00:26:01] like everything except for this stuff basically but yeah I grew up on jazz and that's that's my

[00:26:06] good passion and hip hop music and rhyme and all that sorry now I'm just gonna say it just needs

[00:26:11] to like change the DJ I'm booking for your permits for party yes please do yeah the killers of

[00:26:18] the playlist please or an ecoloman doing having the gila that's what I want to hear I feel like we've

[00:26:27] already answered the next question because normally we like to check in with our guests and find out

[00:26:32] what's the Matabubular and I feel like we should sort of fit into it really nice because it's

[00:26:36] something that's so present so immediate that it's affecting how Jewish we are at the moment but also

[00:26:43] are we okay and what's going on you're if we're going to dispute that and say now actually there's

[00:26:47] something else I want to rant about but it feels like what's the Matabubular is a question we

[00:26:51] kind of should all be asking ourselves right now and each other yeah that's the Matabubular yeah just

[00:26:58] to go on about it a little bit more every day like I'm sure with you guys every day I feel this thing

[00:27:04] that's that's in the air but it's also to the point where the rant like my friend for example

[00:27:09] sent me those photos from their thing of the Jewish people and going look there's Jews they are

[00:27:13] told you so told you so so you you know you should be there too kind of thing you know and I responded

[00:27:19] saying I don't want to have this discussion over WhatsApp why you happen to be waiting for a bus

[00:27:24] you know this is something that needs to be discussed properly in a like a focus sitting down kind of

[00:27:30] let's now we're talking about this thing kind of way and also what pisses me off is that no one's

[00:27:35] clear on what we're talking about so I had another friend of mine good friend of mine who's

[00:27:40] bright guy really sensitive and intelligent guy who just started to tell me facts about

[00:27:45] Israel's military and that was the discussion oh they have this many tanks and they have

[00:27:49] it so what are we talking about what do you you just want to tell me facts about a military or

[00:27:54] are we what's the question you're asking me or like what what is this discussion about what are

[00:27:59] we talking about here rather than just spouting off your guys are bad because of this and this

[00:28:04] and this and this like what is this where's the scum. But there's a flip side as well because

[00:28:08] if people are saying to you look there are Jews here you should be here you could also say to them

[00:28:13] look there are extremists there you shouldn't be there yes I mean it's interesting because

[00:28:19] those people like yeah the extremists were only 2% of the march but you were still there in that same

[00:28:25] kind of space which means if you're saying Jews should be there because other Jews were there

[00:28:31] that is exactly the same argument yeah what you've done it's true yeah if like this guy and

[00:28:36] you know this my friend like I wrote him a proper thing and I would once I'd calm down and I was

[00:28:40] like listen these people associated with these rallies and stuff like that they're doing this

[00:28:44] and this and this basically like what you said except without the interesting caveat it's

[00:28:48] all day I said he's like yeah but there's going to be extremists everywhere you know there's always

[00:28:52] going to be bad eggs it's like yeah but these bad eggs are like really bad you know they actually

[00:28:57] want to kill us yeah it's not casual it's not the salmonella this is yeah having said that it's

[00:29:04] like again my conflict my personal conflict is that I have let that go about other things you know

[00:29:12] other kind of like I say flories of activism that have happened here in London that are not

[00:29:17] really directly related to the UK or whatever I have let that go with other things so that's why

[00:29:22] I'm saying this is my conflict where it's a real learning curve for me sorry I find you crane example

[00:29:28] very interesting because the Jewish community not only did lots of activism for the people of

[00:29:33] Ukraine but it's still going on like in Orthodox schools on Saturday morning we're still saying

[00:29:38] a prayer for the people of Ukraine we've had a family situation so I've not been to synagogue for

[00:29:43] a few weeks and I went this week for the first time in about a month and we have like every week

[00:29:49] a prayer for the royal family and the government never prayer for the state of Israel that

[00:29:54] they should be safe and have wisdom etc etc but there's a still a better for the people of

[00:29:58] Ukraine there was a prayer for the hostages there's like a whole lot of things there were quite a

[00:30:03] lot of rallies and protests there still people collecting stuff for people of Ukraine and to me that's

[00:30:08] also quite fascinating in and of itself because actually the history of Jews in the Ukraine is pretty

[00:30:12] dark in terms of how we were treated but you know that's some time ago and here we are feeling an

[00:30:18] empathy with what they're going through so I found it quite fascinating there's also been like

[00:30:23] big Jewish protests for things like the Wiga Muslims you know etc and that activism doesn't

[00:30:28] tend to include extremists hate speech it's just like bad things are happening let's be nice

[00:30:34] yeah that things are happening let's be nice I'm gonna get that as a tattoo of my blood

[00:30:38] I don't know why survive a grandparents be thrilled to hear you getting a tattoo based of

[00:30:42] something I said oh do you know what here's a fun other Jewish thing when I was a kid my mom wouldn't

[00:30:47] let me get you know if we had school runs or whatever and they would put that they would write

[00:30:52] numbers on your arm like I wouldn't let them do that so I had a white number on your

[00:30:56] arm they wouldn't like pin a thing on your back no there was I mean this maybe only

[00:31:00] happened once but I remember it is kind of the thing but it was like yeah they would write

[00:31:04] on your arm just that whatever number you were they did pin the thing on the back for the

[00:31:08] non-Jews but yeah if the numbers and they pinned us to start a David on your back yeah

[00:31:16] my friends you were wearing that story David even without it pins on your back yeah so yeah

[00:31:20] that's what's bothering me at the moment really all that stuff and that's actually been nice

[00:31:24] to get enough my chest you're very well with service we provide since it's just we like

[00:31:28] I don't I doesn't matter to you I just don't want to pay for therapy it's an intervention

[00:31:37] well as a Jewish mother I'm always concerned about the welfare of my fellow Jews and whenever I see

[00:31:44] any of you are wonder have you eaten yet and you've experienced that quite directly every time we've

[00:31:48] picked together when I've provided you with food and the jersey all the breakfast came for me

[00:31:52] and I believe half of your lunch so yeah that was an experience of my Jewish mothering in

[00:31:57] real life but do you have any particular attachments to like a specific Jewish food or any

[00:32:03] memories around Jews and food you'd like to share with us? well I worked in Jewish Delhi it was

[00:32:09] a manager of a Jewish Delhi it might really 20s for a couple of years basically it was like a

[00:32:14] bagel shop like but it was like Montreal style bagel shop so I don't know if you've ever been

[00:32:19] to Montreal but Montreal has a really hardcore Jewish influence in terms of food and stuff

[00:32:25] Latin Cohen Montreal too so there's quite a few but yeah so a chop deliver Montreal smoked me

[00:32:32] which is like a classic thing these bagels which are like their Montreal style bagels so they're

[00:32:38] like boiled and honey water and then they were fired they were amazing I was just living off them

[00:32:44] for ages and I saw photo the other day of me someone took a meat mopping there I was very

[00:32:48] fat so that was really nice yeah locks cream cheese and locks, color bread yeah we sold all

[00:32:57] that stuff so that was like my diet for like a couple years yeah and that's still what I love

[00:33:01] actually it was just talking to her if you're the yesterday about Panzer's Delhi you want to go

[00:33:05] by there I've been there recently I've never been there before it's like you know when people

[00:33:10] excited because they've gone off to Alton Tower or Disneyland for the first time I felt like

[00:33:15] that about Panzers just because people talk about it so much and it is a really interesting space

[00:33:21] because it's almost entirely populated by Jews but it's not a Jewish Delhi it's not a kosher

[00:33:28] Delhi although they do and some really lot of kosher products and they make their own

[00:33:32] bagels and hulla and whatever and all kinds of stuff but also penty things that aren't kosher

[00:33:38] because it's not a Jewish Delhi I genuinely thought it was going to be a Jewish Delhi

[00:33:43] yeah that's what I thought so many Jews I know who go there and I don't want to profile people

[00:33:48] but I would say that out of their customers who were in there on their four five occasions

[00:33:53] I went in there recently because I was staying in the area everybody was Jewish pretty much

[00:33:58] if I were to shout and who's ready for a minion not the yellow thing the kind of prayer thing

[00:34:03] with them had 10 Jews like duck in a second okay I think that's just them knowing their market

[00:34:07] maybe yeah completely they're based in St John's word it's a Jewish but not heavily Jewish

[00:34:13] but they've gone who's likely to shop here the prices are reflective of the area

[00:34:17] they are

[00:34:19] ask you think they've come out from that angle I don't know it was my understanding that it was like

[00:34:22] the only real Jewish Delhi in London that's what I was told oh that is not the case

[00:34:28] it's really case hey oh Rachel's nagging at a spin-off episode about all the Jewish

[00:34:32] do this always

[00:34:36] I'll take you

[00:34:38] but it's I mean half of the shot oh not half but maybe like a third is an organic green

[00:34:43] grosser and that's great okay amazing fruit and vegetable like honestly amazing

[00:34:47] vegetable if there's a random fruit vegetable you'd like to try they've got it and all

[00:34:51] beautifully presented and it's very rustic and lovely I think that like Chinese broccoli

[00:34:56] you know the one that looks like side trans flyers from the 90s do you know those ones

[00:35:01] like I don't listen about but I'd say yes yeah probably yeah if anywhere had it it'll be

[00:35:06] that they have every color of tomato you can imagine oh nice I feel like they should be

[00:35:10] spun through the episode now but it wasn't experience to go there I want to show

[00:35:15] out also this place in Burham Market I just remember called shook essay duke you know

[00:35:22] this is how my aunt is like my aunt and uncle are like in the Jewish community and

[00:35:27] Manchester so hardcore that they are best friends with the guy who owns that place whose

[00:35:33] name is camera members name now but I know his wife but yeah they do like that these like

[00:35:38] Israeli wraps that are being the same yeah they're it I mean again they're very expensive

[00:35:43] and the price seems to go up every month but they're really really good I love sabir

[00:35:47] I had some yesterday did you know most Jewish marketstool to have in a non-Jewish market

[00:35:53] because the word shook is market so they've basically gone what should we call our marketstool

[00:35:59] we'll just call it market which is everything I'm going to the market I'm going to

[00:36:03] it also sound fun and yeah you put something in in Hebrew it does sound fun mostly don't look

[00:36:10] on Twitter for proof of that but mostly it does there's a place in a rascal Balagan

[00:36:15] and Balagan just means mess everything's chaotic it's a mess but you call you Russian Balagan food

[00:36:21] fantastic yeah right do you speak fluent Hebrew not fluent no I've got family there so I

[00:36:28] grown up speaking a little bit back and forth I can understand a lot more than I can speak but

[00:36:33] I also I've just got this weird thing where certain words really spoke to me when I learned

[00:36:39] the mushuk was one of them I always remember the word for computer was muck chef

[00:36:43] that's a hard one to remember yeah but it's an interesting because it is it kind of means

[00:36:49] the thing that thinks for me that's what that's right my wife

[00:36:56] in my head chef is sit I'm a muck make sit so you make your mate to sit at the computer

[00:37:02] muck chef computer yeah muck chef you know it's such an illogical logical thing in my hand

[00:37:09] but when I learned Hebrew I was doing the vocabulary rather than the grammatical verbs and things like

[00:37:15] that that's just how I remember certain words and some of them just really stick with you

[00:37:20] and Balagan shook muck chef. That sounds like a town in Ireland. Yeah also I think Hebrew

[00:37:27] changed the words quite a bit so we always remember Col Noah was cinema he'd go to the

[00:37:34] Col Noah but now I think they would probably just say cinema or internet there's no word for internet

[00:37:39] they just were in terms of this internet. Yeah yeah this is yeah I love the word languages do

[00:37:44] there when they throw in a bit of the English because like yeah my girlfriend's Greek and when you're

[00:37:48] here talking on the phone in Greek yeah it should be like blah blah blah blah internet or something

[00:37:54] you're like you guys didn't get your own word for that like so my primary school we did

[00:38:00] a bit of written which means that we had Hebrew lessons that were immersive like only in Hebrew

[00:38:05] the teacher would only speak Hebrew the whole lesson so when we finished primary school we were

[00:38:09] all pretty fluent even for our school magazine you'd have to write your stories to contribute

[00:38:15] from your Hebrew classes in Hebrew so we was quite a bit but then the second year school I went

[00:38:20] to didn't focus on modern Hebrew it focused on biblical Hebrew so by the time I left to do my

[00:38:25] gap here in Israel like when I finished high school I spoke like Shakespeare I couldn't really

[00:38:30] remember so much of the conversational Hebrew so it caused hilarious moments until I kind of got

[00:38:38] my ear back in but you know because I'd grow up with it the whole time. I think I was surprised

[00:38:43] like when I went into the world of work before deserted the world of work the world of comedy

[00:38:47] I was really surprised by how many people didn't speak a second language at all like had no

[00:38:53] access to anything other than English even if they learned it at school they didn't kind of focus on

[00:38:58] it yeah my family being refugees was really like inter languages and very linguistically

[00:39:03] able my mum speaks to an extent I think about eight or ten languages so I found that really hard

[00:39:09] to understand when I met people who just don't have any gross or anything else. I'm going

[00:39:15] to play that to my parents because my parents love Philip more than me. Yeah classic in any language

[00:39:23] because we travel so much you know we go to we always have to go to Europe to work or

[00:39:27] whatever and I'm trying to talk about this my actual bit I've gotten like progressively annoyed

[00:39:33] really bad but you just sort of like can we just all talk one language like I don't even mind

[00:39:38] like learning another one if that's like all we're gonna do like I just why would we

[00:39:43] like because especially in Europe which is so small you think it's like when they got the year

[00:39:46] row instead of their own currencies that should have just been one European language yes yeah

[00:39:51] you're on a language is that they have now which would you pick well Spanish because it's the

[00:39:56] one I know the most of so that I already have a head start yeah Spanish is also in the same

[00:40:01] alphabet so like I'm learning I've been learning Greek very very slowly for the last

[00:40:05] day years very slowly but the problem with like learning that is like you have to learn the

[00:40:10] alphabet first right which is actually pretty soon learn the alphabet I mean you can read

[00:40:14] the word and you're like you're sort of like okay I've done my bit now I've translated into

[00:40:18] something else but then it's still you don't know what that word means do you know what I mean

[00:40:21] well yeah my sounds love in Greek now so you get all the sounds you can get the sounds and

[00:40:25] you know what you're saying but you don't know still don't know what it means now you have to do

[00:40:28] two to set like two translations and that's the same with Hebrew because you've got Hebrew letters

[00:40:33] then you've got the vowels which are the dots and the dashes and then you learn that and then

[00:40:37] you go to a wager and they've taken away the vowels so you've got to guess what the word might be

[00:40:41] and then someone easier note to say they've gone to the shops but they've written that in script

[00:40:45] not in block which is also very different and could be quite squiggly in the right form of

[00:40:50] a bit of a lot of caligraphic I don't know is that word so it feels as different levels to learning

[00:40:54] and I guess with English there's capital letters and lowercase letters as well and it's

[00:40:59] italic and italics but it's kind of a little bit.

[00:41:02] an underlined.

[00:41:05] I'm striking.

[00:41:08] it grows everything.

[00:41:10] nice and it's not doing ancient history and they've had to learn Greek for some reason we just had

[00:41:15] a test this week so I went on google translate and I sent him good luck in Greek and then

[00:41:20] he didn't like exactly what you're saying that he could read the letters but yeah no idea what

[00:41:24] it was.

[00:41:25] yeah that's great funny.

[00:41:27] no Greeks really interesting actually because they had a couple of languages so they have like

[00:41:32] a posh version of Greek and then they have like the people's Greek and then they only recently

[00:41:37] kind of combined them into one language because like they only became like emancipated and sort

[00:41:42] of able to have their own culture like fairly recently but this isn't a Greek podcast Greek talking

[00:41:49] speak Greek.

[00:41:51] it's all Greeks to me.

[00:41:52] I was just thinking that being someone reconnecting with their Jewish self and having a Greek

[00:41:56] partner is going to be very awkward, come funnicker in a few weeks.

[00:41:59] yeah why?

[00:42:00] the funnicker story is all about the defeat over the Greeks who were forcing us to convert

[00:42:06] and stuff.

[00:42:07] oh right so I didn't even know that.

[00:42:09] there you go.

[00:42:09] I'm just the worst.

[00:42:11] I'm the worst Jew.

[00:42:12] if I had the worst Jew you've had on this podcast.

[00:42:14] not by any.

[00:42:15] I like the worst Jew.

[00:42:16] what's the worst?

[00:42:17] I mean actually.

[00:42:18] yeah this is the most interesting I've done.

[00:42:21] so I know we went to Thessaloniki which is in like Northern Greece and they

[00:42:27] there's some statistic like it was used to be 75% Jewish.

[00:42:32] yeah I was.

[00:42:33] and then they shopped all the Jews to the Germans so like in general Greece as a country really

[00:42:39] was like they're over here and so they're Jewish population just tanked it so yeah they're not

[00:42:46] I don't know if he'd into the stereotype but they got rid of all the Jews and eventually

[00:42:49] their economy tanked.

[00:42:51] yeah just put that out there.

[00:42:53] maybe we're better with money than they would have thought.

[00:42:59] obviously it's very traumatic time in that moment everyone's arguing with everyone else

[00:43:02] about quite serious matters to be fair but we like the

[00:43:05] unimportant fudes in our lives, the bagel or bangle debates that really don't matter

[00:43:11] but kind of take a look at it.

[00:43:13] it doesn't matter and it wouldn't matter.

[00:43:16] which one do you go for in that picture?

[00:43:18] bangle the correct one.

[00:43:20] i go.

[00:43:20] yeah the issue goes by gul.

[00:43:22] i go bagel we've fooled an out over it but we've made up because she's a bigger person than me

[00:43:28] they're supposed to say that.

[00:43:30] i wasn't but if you are.

[00:43:32] is this really where they're?

[00:43:34] now we got a lot of people in there.

[00:43:38] in Canada they put a lot of people in Canada a lot of people call it bagel.

[00:43:42] they go go like can i get a bagel, toasted bagel?

[00:43:45] is what i heard when i worked in the bagel shop many years ago they did

[00:43:49] like let me get a toasted bagel with butter you know.

[00:43:54] yeah i've got to have ever been more angry in my life than i am at this second.

[00:43:59] that's the thing even if i heard bagel i'd want them to say bagel.

[00:44:02] you just yeah you just want to I mean it's just such an

[00:44:05] and i objectively said i'm not just saying to say bagel.

[00:44:08] it's a weak word.

[00:44:10] i think it's a triangle because they don't want to upset my wife you

[00:44:14] says bagel and me who says bagel so they come up with a new word which is

[00:44:18] triangle.

[00:44:19] triangle.

[00:44:19] i don't know where i think like it's like

[00:44:22] springles but they are.

[00:44:23] they didn't.

[00:44:24] springles actually maybe maybe it's that.

[00:44:26] they just are trying to yeah they just want you to give them springles.

[00:44:29] so we want to know if there's anything

[00:44:31] if there are any fused in your life that you wanted to share with us.

[00:44:35] well like i was saying you know what i said to you before or when

[00:44:38] you said if somebody really pisses me off their dead to me which is

[00:44:42] it's kind of how i am a bit like i don't i don't really do fused

[00:44:45] which i never really even realized until you until i saw that question.

[00:44:48] yeah i don't really argue with people i mean if all right i don't like

[00:44:51] fused with i don't know if someone doesn't disagree if someone disagrees

[00:44:54] with me i can either justify it from their perspective or if i can't just

[00:44:58] defy it for their perspective then i just yeah that's that person no longer

[00:45:02] is this in my life.

[00:45:03] which i have to say it probably the most nourish response because

[00:45:07] it's like bagel-bigled plus you know you've got it's not going to be a few

[00:45:13] this person is dead to me yeah yeah they're in the ground.

[00:45:16] i've very phrased dead to me or ready for your other most

[00:45:18] nourish thing anyway right i'd love to hear it in your day.

[00:45:21] oh quick get good will translate we'll have it in Greek in yiddish.

[00:45:27] yeah what chronos what chronos is death i can't agree

[00:45:31] or fenos so it be fenos to me be fenos stand move or something

[00:45:37] doesn't sound as intimidating does it.

[00:45:39] well it's interesting fenos is like like that's my girlfriend's sister's husband's name

[00:45:44] that's like a common name that you have in Greece.

[00:45:46] this is how well it's right that's how you can balance your magic and Jewish

[00:45:49] they are in a lot of ways.

[00:45:50] yeah you just name your kid fenos.

[00:45:52] you just walk up to him and snap your fingers.

[00:45:55] yeah yeah it's running the infinity god.

[00:45:58] you're going to get a reference if you've seen Marvel by the way.

[00:46:01] yeah which i think will definitely be muze.

[00:46:04] i'm just googling dead to me.

[00:46:08] even like like i'm always interested in like online

[00:46:11] huge like i don't have the capacity to do that.

[00:46:15] to like into like let go like that.

[00:46:17] like to to be able to like argue with someone on Twitter and then

[00:46:20] i walk away and i kind of live and don't normal life.

[00:46:24] i'm kind of like an angry person so it's like i have to really be careful

[00:46:27] about where i put that and like how much i get invested in things.

[00:46:31] but it's like yeah because i get so volatile that i have to really kind of manage

[00:46:35] that and i'm not really a fun answer to that question but that's this kind of how

[00:46:39] like you are.

[00:46:40] that's right you don't have to have fudes.

[00:46:41] you only do wish to do your right so it's fine.

[00:46:43] yeah exactly.

[00:46:45] that's where the gap is.

[00:46:47] now i'm pat now i'm a passive aggressive going.

[00:46:50] you can be a passive aggressive too.

[00:46:51] really?

[00:46:52] okay if you see that.

[00:46:53] you're going to cool comments.

[00:46:54] yeah if that's what you want Rachel.

[00:47:00] i feel like i can hear children playing really loudly.

[00:47:02] actually do you want to know something fun?

[00:47:04] a comedy fact Ben Clovers you know Ben Clover?

[00:47:08] yeah his children might be some of the voices that you hear.

[00:47:11] play.

[00:47:12] there's a school across the street for me and they go there.

[00:47:15] oh that's right.

[00:47:16] i'm glad you back that up with the next explanation.

[00:47:18] this is like there's an event.

[00:47:23] that's an interesting way to lead into the next question which is to find out your

[00:47:29] six degrees of can't eat bacon who's your most

[00:47:32] interesting Jewish personal connection.

[00:47:35] so other than Philip and I, who have you got an interesting history with?

[00:47:39] i think it's Philip and me.

[00:47:41] oh sorry i thought you were going to do that.

[00:47:43] what was that?

[00:47:46] Philip and I you would say.

[00:47:48] i'd say Philip and me.

[00:47:49] that's not right.

[00:47:50] it's just to say eyes.

[00:47:51] yeah but if you take in this sense if you take Philip out of it

[00:47:54] which i think Rachel's wishing she could do right now.

[00:47:57] but if you took Philip out of it

[00:47:58] the same.

[00:47:59] yeah i'm going to name who is your favorite um i mean it's always fun to find out

[00:48:03] someone you respect as Jewish.

[00:48:05] like well let me say my uncle i'll say because he's he's uh yeah he's an

[00:48:09] interesting UK Jew story so he's originally from born and raised in blackpool

[00:48:14] but his background, his people are the East End brick Lane Jews.

[00:48:19] right i've been me yeah some of them migrated up to blackpool.

[00:48:22] he comes from a very working class Jewish background but he

[00:48:27] became a millionaire through ingenuity uh or in june ingenuity.

[00:48:33] business acumen, business acumen and he did this all day um but yeah he

[00:48:40] he basically started a kitchen and bathroom out fitting company

[00:48:45] from his garage in blackpool that then he yeah he just built it and built it and

[00:48:51] became super wealthy so he he's an it's he's a really interesting story i like

[00:48:55] hang out with him and hearing about his journey in all that.

[00:48:59] yeah and basically he started out selling like uh buying

[00:49:02] cupboards and selling them out of his garage and then just people started to

[00:49:07] he got more demand for that and then he opened a factory where they were building the

[00:49:11] stuff and then so yeah so he's a yeah he's an interesting guy and then there's like

[00:49:15] you know which i'm talking about in my act that was well it was like my dad who when i was

[00:49:20] growing up he was always really wired into the Jewish

[00:49:23] experience of suffering and you know what we've gone through and what we've overcome

[00:49:29] but then my mom kind of in later years is like because he's he's dead now but she was like

[00:49:35] i don't think he was Jewish to be honest like we we think i talk about this in the act but

[00:49:38] we think he lied about being Jewish just so that she would marry him because we didn't really

[00:49:42] know his family very well but we met his sister and my sister did a bit of family tree

[00:49:47] digging and found out that they were from Hamburg and there's no mention or any record of

[00:49:51] Jewishness on that side at all but he was always very like yeah we we are of we overcome

[00:49:56] we are strong people but it's like it was just implicated that he was faking it which is kind

[00:50:01] of funny really unusual for someone not Jewish to pretend to be Jewish as opposed to the other

[00:50:06] way around yeah but all they shows a sign of the times because back then you could say you were

[00:50:12] Jewish and the people like okay you're Jewish whereas now you have to have Facebook friends in

[00:50:17] common you've gone to the same school you know the way of tracing the lie now would have been oh yeah

[00:50:23] actually not to name drop but i was talking to John Clees about this where he was telling me about

[00:50:29] how his family like his grandfather whatever their name was cheese and then they changed the

[00:50:35] pleas because he was getting made fun of so much in school but we were talking about how like

[00:50:38] back in the day you could just change your name so my name isn't even sheer like that's not my real

[00:50:43] last name what was sheer SCH REER and then my dad changed it to sheer so on his birth certificate

[00:50:52] it just said he had the original one but then he changed his last name to sheer and just started

[00:50:57] using that and then that became our family yeah you could you could back in the day just kind of

[00:51:03] be like okay I'm this now it's quite fun I mean there were definitely reasons people would change their

[00:51:07] names and I guess John Clees is on the lower end of the necessity you know there's people

[00:51:14] fleeing pogroms and they wanted to mask their identity or maybe the people at Ellis Island in

[00:51:20] America didn't know how to spell or pronounce their names yeah being bullied a bit because of a few

[00:51:26] cheese puns well my mom's last name is she uses Lewis which was her grandfather's first name

[00:51:33] so they when they came over from uh Eastern Europe it was I think from Belarus or something they were

[00:51:39] from but their last name was Grenovsky and then when he was coming into the UK he couldn't

[00:51:43] speak the language or whatever so yeah they said he said Lewis Grenovsky so then he said Lewis is my name

[00:51:50] needed Google translate I think they were that to mention or not mentioned that I lived in

[00:51:57] Belarus because like makes Philip so happy to say uh Jutsal could be been though like always it is

[00:52:04] that I thought it would be a bonding between me and you I feel like someone could make a really good

[00:52:09] Wikipedia page about me after this well that's nearly all we've got time for but how will our

[00:52:17] audience know what you're up to if you never call you know right normally we allocate 20 seconds

[00:52:22] to do this but for you that's it yeah so I got a website mychair.net and if you go on that website

[00:52:30] you can see all the things that I'm doing so I run workshops on writing I do stand up comedy I work as an

[00:52:37] actor I am also a presenter all that stuff is on there and you can find me on IG at at Mike Sheer

[00:52:45] comic so it's two is sheer like the cliff drop yeah in general that's usually my name on things

[00:52:53] is Mike Sheer comics so you can find me on those things how long was that was that 30 I was

[00:52:58] a cool 30 oh well yeah well I absolutely love this and from now on I'll always think of Mike

[00:53:04] as the Jew he'll never order a bagel in Hebrew because it's all Greek to him hey very nice and that's

[00:53:10] Mike Ramadhi used to say when she wanted to end my telephone calls you must have better things

[00:53:14] to do than talk to me and you must have better things to do than talk to us which is a good thing

[00:53:19] a savvy we've come to the end of this week show we'd like to thank our fantastic guest Mike Sheer

[00:53:25] follow him on social media. Follow us on social media. At Philips comedy. At Rachel Kriga.

[00:53:30] At you talking without the G don't forget to subscribe like and share the show with everyone

[00:53:36] you know. And join us next time on Jew talk and I mean

[00:53:40] Jew talk and to me was hosted by me Philip Simon and me Rachel Kriga.

[00:53:49] We're used by Russell Wolkin and Josh by our mothers. It was Russia at the time I think

[00:53:55] and then later became Belarus but you live there? Yeah when my husband I first got married we live

[00:54:00] there and it had just stopped being Russia and it had a lot of issues because of that but that's

[00:54:04] all for another show. You said you said not the show it's been mentioned in about 19% of these

[00:54:10] podcasts. If you slow those bits together you'll get the whole story. You should do a compilation

[00:54:14] video about all of the bingo subjects for Rachel's card. Derby fun.