When COVID-19 hit and everything shut down, comedian Modi turned his camera on. Since he couldn’t do live shows anymore, he decided to bring some joy into the world and keep his audiences laughing by creating two original characters: Yoely, a Hasidic man who reviews secular TV shows like “The Tiger King” and “The Crown,” and Nir, an Israeli who made a lot of money in the United States and now thinks he knows it all.
In one of his first Yoely videos, which Modi put on his Instagram (@modi_live) and YouTube, the comedian jokes, “These [people] in the Tiger King are goyim from Oklahoma they come from. This is places you can’t even imagine. But the head guy in the story, his name is Joe Erotic [sic]. This is the ugliest man you ever… I never saw something so ugly.”
Later videos show Yoely running for president. Though he ultimately failed in his bid for office, Modi claimed Yoely will now be the Secretary of Simcha instead.
In a phone interview with the Journal, Modi said he chose to create an Orthodox character because the community was getting a bad rap about how they handled COVID-19. Then the show “Unorthodox” made them look bad, too. “I love Hasidim and they’re funny people. They have a great sense of humor and an amazing culture.”
Born Mordechi Rosenfeld, the Israeli native moved to the Five Towns on Long Island with his family when he was 7-years-old. When he began his career, he worked as a Wall Street international banker until he decided to pursue comedy instead. He was formally passed at the legendary Comedy Cellar in New York City in 1994.
Before the pandemic, Modi, who lives on the Lower East Side, would play for audiences around the world, from secular crowds to Jewish ones of all denominations, including Hasidim. The Jerry Seinfeld of the Orthodox Jewish community, as fans have referred to him, didn’t have much time to create content. “I was a comic who was busy working so I never really focused on Instagram and that kind of stuff. But once I began doing jokes, people loved them and commented and started to follow me.”
Now, Modi has over 27,000 followers on the site. He said that he’s gotten views from new fans in places like Israel, Australia and Sweden, and he credits much of his success to WhatsApp. “The biggest thing in the Jewish world is WhatsApp,” he said. “As soon as someone sees a video of mine on Instagram they put it on WhatsApp and it goes wild.”
he’s gotten views from new fans in places like Israel, Australia and Sweden, and he credits much of his success to WhatsApp.
Along with establishing his presence on Instagram, YouTube and WhatsApp, Modi has been doing shows on Zoom. One memorable show was for an audience in Australia of 30 people who gathered in person to watch him on a monitor. Remotely, an additional 800 viewers tuned in. “People are coming up with crazy, fun ideas and being very creative,” he said.
When the weather was nicer in New York, he performed outdoors, and back in May, he hosted the 24-hour Hatzolah telethon. “There was a big rabbi with a white beard on one side of me and a heavyset guy on the other,” he said. “Standing between them, I looked like Paul Newman. I want that at every gig now.”
While Modi enjoys performing live, he said he is happy to not have to travel right now. “I haven’t been in an airplane since March 13 and I don’t miss it,” he said. “But I’m looking forward to the live shows and seeing people’s faces when the joke hits. I want to perform in all these places where people discovered me. I want to see all these people live.”
He’s hopeful that he’ll get back there soon. For now, he’s taking everything in stride.
“When everything comes back it’ll be stronger than ever,” he said. “After the plague of 1919, we had the roaring ‘20s. I think we’ll go into again. And it’s going to be amazing.”
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