Rabbi David Rotenberg got his first break performing jokes when he was 15 years old, in 1998. He had to rush out of his yeshiva’s Talmud class to get to a 7-Eleven store payphone and book the gig at the Yuk Yuk’s comedy club in his hometown of Ottawa. Over the past nearly 30 years, the Orthodox rabbi and Jewish educator chose to put his stand-up comedy career on the back burner for extended periods while he focused on his rabbinical duties and family. But he kept exercising his comedy muscles when possible, honing his material for mainly Jewish audiences, including at synagogue fundraisers. Since Oct. 7, however, the pull of the punchline proved too strong for Rabbi Rotenberg to ignore. He decided it was time to return to the comedy circuit, doing a mix of unpaid gigs and some paid slots. Rotenberg, who wears a kippah and tzitzit, describes himself as “edgy for a rabbi, but clean for a comedian,” with material that advocates for Israel, mocks antisemitism and gets his audience laughing, even with some Holocaust humour, depending on the crowd. Rabbi David Rotenberg joins host Ellin Bessner on today’s episode of The CJN’s North Star podcast to talk about how comedy can help us process these last two turbulent years.

Related links

See Rabbi Dave Rotenberg as part of the “Funny Jews” comedy performance at Yuk Yuk’s in Ottawa on Sunday Nov. 2
Learn more about Rabbi Rotenberg through his Instagram.

Credits

Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner)
Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer)
Music: Bret Higgins

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'Edgy for a rabbi, clean for a comedian': Meet the Orthodox rabbi comic mocking antisemites onstage