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(New York Jewish Week) — Common listeners of Conan O’Brien’s podcast typically anticipate to listen to the comic interview A-listers comparable to Michelle Obama and “Fleishman Is in Bother” star Lizzy Caplan.
However the former late-night host interviews “common” folks, too, and sandwiched between two latest episodes — that includes “The Workplace” star Ed Helms and “You” star Penn Badgely — listeners can hear O’Brien crack jokes about Jewish life with a New York rabbi.
David Schuck, who’s the rabbi at New Rochelle’s Conservative Beth El Synagogue Middle, appeared on the Dec. 29 episode of “Conan O’Brien Wants A Pal,” the place he mentioned his job as a congregational rabbi.
“I truthfully didn’t anticipate to be chosen to be on his podcast,” Schuck informed the New York Jewish Week by way of electronic mail. “I simply thought it might be a thrill to fulfill him, and it was.”
Schuck stated that he has “all the time been a fan of Conan,” including that anybody can fill out a kind on-line to be thought-about a visitor on the present.
“He is an excellent comic with a wealthy mental life and he appears sincerely fascinated by different folks,” Schuck stated. “The beauty of Conan is that so far as I may inform, he’s who he appears to be. There was no pretense with him or something performative that modified when the audio was not being recorded.”
In a single phase of the episode that was featured on the comic’s YouTube web page, O’Brien joked about unintentionally mistaking foreskin for calamari at a bris — eliciting each groans and laughter from Schuck and O’Brien’s crew.
Schuck then shared that he buried his son’s foreskin behind residence plate at a baseball subject in Central Park.
“What a horrible picture,” O’Brien stated.
Conan, who’s an Irish Catholic, stated he grew up in an space of Boston the place he was surrounded by synagogues. “A lot of my buddies have been Jewish,” O’Brien stated. “I believe I went to many extra bar mitzvahs after I was a child than first communions or every other Christian ceremony.”
“You ended up in a great place, in Hollywood,” Schuck joked.
“What the hell?” Conan stated laughing. “Tone it down, David. It’s not true, there aren’t any Jewish folks in Hollywood. It’s all Mormons. It’s the Mormons that management Hollywood.”
O’Brien requested Schuck if he wears something exterior of synagogue that might determine him as a rabbi, or if Schuck can “go undercover.”
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The rabbi replied that he does get acknowledged continuously, including that when he runs to the grocery retailer for some chips, he may then discover himself “counseling any person in aisle six round a most cancers prognosis.”
“When I’m not in New Rochelle or Westchester, I by no means inform folks I’m a rabbi, ever,” Schuck stated.
Schuck informed the New York Jewish Week that he didn’t let his synagogue know upfront that he can be on O’Brien’s podcast.
“Individuals have been stunned, and so they have been excited to listen to us set up a honest reference to each other,” Schuck stated. “In a wierd approach, folks have been touched that Conan felt genuinely grateful for the methods by which rabbis serve their communities.”
On the podcat, O’ Brien riffed on New Rochelle, saying that he grew up fantasizing about dwelling there as a result of “The Dick Van Dyke Present” was set within the upscale northern suburb of New York Metropolis.
“If I may dwell in New Rochelle and be married to Mary Tyler Moore and write comedy,” O’Brien stated. “Properly, a type of got here true.”
The rabbi added that Conan is all the time welcome to go to New Rochelle.
“I guess I may persuade the mayor, Noam Bramson, to present him the important thing to the town,” Schuck informed the New York Jewish Week. “I make a imply cholent if Conan needs to share a Shabbat meal with us. In any other case, it will simply go down as an exciting alternative to talk with somebody whom I like.”
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