Alex Edelman premiered this special as a stage show in 2018, which just to give you a sense of six years in time, is not only pre-pandemic, but also at a time when America was shocked by an anti-Semitic white supremacist march in Charlottesville. and the reaction of the then president in this regard. In 2024, when Edelman’s show finally premieres on HBO, we’re all in a very different frame of mind when we think about Judaism. Of course, that could make his story even more important to tell now.
ALEX EDELMAN: JUST FOR US: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
The essence: Edelman, a millennial born and raised in and around Boston, took Just for us to the Edinburgh Fringe in 2018, where it received a nomination for best show (Rose Matafeo’s horndog dog won that year). Following that run, she enjoyed an Off-Broadway run in 2021 that made the jump to Broadway in 2023, where it filmed in August for HBO.
Directed for the stage by the late Adam Brace and later directed here by Alex Timbers (who previously worked with John Mulaney on Oh hello!, wonderful childand baby j), with Mike Birbiglia also on board as executive producer, Edelman’s special focuses on how he decided to respond to anti-Semitic threats on social media not only through online means, but more significantly by responding to an open invitation to a meeting of white nationalists in Reinas.
“Nothing says white privilege better than a Jew walking into a meeting of racists and thinking, This will probably be fine.” Of course, he can joke about it now. Spoiler alert?
Memorable jokes: It’s not just about Edelman’s fateful decision to infiltrate a white supremacist meeting.
He warms us up with a bittersweet observation about how Koko the gorilla, who had learned sign language and met Robin Williams, reacted to learning that Williams had died in 2014. Edelman also tells us about his own Jewish upbringing, including the only time that their parents inadvertently let them celebrate Christmas and the very different career path their younger brother has followed.
But the bulk of the show revolves around how Edelman found himself answering a call for people questioning his whiteness to gather at an apartment in Queens, with the comedian jokingly recalling the various people he met there, the small talk they had, the outside hobbies they had. he had, and even the woman he found himself in love with at the meeting.
It was only after the fact that a woman Edelman dated pointed out her own white privilege for having the nerve to attend the meeting in the first place.
And then he calculated why he went, knowing that everyone there would hate him for even existing. So why do it? “I wanted them to like me,” he confesses.
Our opinion: So what’s up with that story about Robin Williams and Koko?
All of this is meant to put Edelman in context with Williams. “My comedy barely works if you’re not from the Upper West Side,” Edelman jokes. “Robin Williams crossed the species barrier”. He also says the story shows us his love for silly jokes and the lengths he will go to, taking sign language classes via Zoom, just to get it right.
I intended to write a show full of silly, silly jokes like this.
But the harsh reality of life for Jews today, whether in the United States or elsewhere, has become fraught with danger as anti-Semitism continues to rise during their lifetime. And as much as you’d like to consider yourself a basic white man (even with the baggage that comes with it), society won’t see you that way. What’s an American Jew to do? For Edelman, he could only draw on his sense of humor and hope that was enough to reach out and connect with the other side in real life. If a comedian could make a gorilla love him and cry for him, why can’t humans of different political and religious philosophies do the same?
Our call: TRANSMIT IT. Ultimately, the show wants us to be as hopeful as Edelman, while also reminding us that sometimes we need safe spaces to simply exist. And we sure need a lot of hope right now.
Sean L. McCarthy works the comedy rhythm. He also airs half-hour episodes with comedians revealing origin stories:The comic book features the latest first..
