By Nick A. Zaino III Globe correspondent, Updated November 21, 2024
You might be part of the chosen people. But comedian and writer Eitan Levine wants to know, are you the “most chosen”? That’s the facetious question at the center of his live game show, “That’s So Jewish,” which he brings to Laugh Boston Nov. 25. The three contestants for the Boston edition will be comedians Dan Crohn and Josh Goldstein, who will go up against Rabbi Sarah Noyovitz. All three will be vying for the title of “most chosen” by running a gauntlet of extraordinarily silly challenges.
It’s a five-round contest, and after three rounds, one contestant is ousted. “Then it’s a head-to-head duel,” said Levine, “where the two remaining contestants have to, I’m not going to say what, but they’ve got to do something that involves figuring out what the audience thinks is Jewish and not Jewish.”
In the end, whoever has the most points wins. “The winner gets to be crowned ‘Most Chosen Person,’ and gets to take a picture with the certificate of a tree that I planted in Israel for them,” he said. “They have to give me the certificate back, though, so I can use it at the next game.”
“That’s So Jewish” evolved from a popular man-on-the-street segment on Levine’s TikTok, and he’s been developing it as a monthly show at Improv Asylum’s New York City location for the past eight months. Contestants may have to play “Is This Dog Jewish?” in which they are shown a photo of a dog and asked to determine its religion. A similar pictorial challenge is “Russian Oligarch or Guy From My Synagogue.” Levine sets a deliberately light-hearted and open approach he hopes a general audience can appreciate.
“It’s apolitical,” he said. “You’re able to go to ‘That’s So Jewish’ if you are a Hasidic dude from Borough Park, New York, or if you met a Jew once, and you’re from Provo, Utah. I’m very proud of the fact that we’ve been able to make a show that represents the Jewish community and not how people perceive the Jewish community. And there’s a big difference.”