Rob Kutner Celebrates 5,000 Years and His Tween's Bar Mitzvah

In this episode of Parenting Is a Joke, comedian and late-night writer Rob Kutner (The Daily Show, Conan, The Tonight Show) joins Ophira Eisenberg to talk parenting while producing comedy—and building epic Lego cities. Rob shares how his son’s rediscovered passion for Lego led to an IKEA-based organizing hack courtesy of his wife, complete with color-coded bins and DIY design books. He reflects on raising a sophisticated 12-year-old boy with a penchant for Frank Sinatra and Pokemon, and preparing for his upcoming bar mitzvah. Rob also opens up about balancing parenting with his writing career, including the unexpected silver lining of unemployment after the Tonight Show implosion—precious bonding time with his daughter. He and Ophira compare their anthropological backgrounds, unpack how Lego obsession evolves with age, and discuss the not-so-glamorous realities of parenting in New York. Rob also talks about his new book The Jews: 5,000 Years and Counting, offering surprising stories from Jewish history—including a Jewish sorceress in Yemen and an Ethiopian Jewish state—and pushes back on tired stereotypes about wealth and power. This episode is rich with hilarious parenting truths, obscure historical gems, and very sharp Donatello action figure fists.

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