In Eli Lebowicz’s high school yearbook, there was a place where students could write the career they’d have in 10 years. He put “stand-up comedian.” He must have had some kind of prophecy, because sure enough, a decade later, he was living his dream.
Lebowicz, who is big in the Jewish world, grew up watching standup from Rodney Dangerfield and George Carlin. He also loved shows like “Seinfeld” and “Saturday Night Live.”
In the eighth grade, his school would put on “Friday Morning Live,” which was a kosher, kid-friendly version of “SNL,” and he’d act in the sketches. As a teenager, when he worked as a vendor at Wrigley Field, he would entertain customers by doing an impression of Will Ferrell’s Harry Caray from “SNL.”
“I’d say, ‘Hey, we’ve got ice cream, who wants to get crazy? Come on!’” Lebowicz said. “People would give me money without even buying anything because they were so entertained.”
It was at Wrigley Field that Lebowicz witnessed the impact that comedy could have firsthand. One of the ushers asked him to do his impression for a terminally ill customer.
“I did it for him, and he passed away a few weeks later,” he said. “Comedy is such a powerful thing. Who knew that getting kicked out of class for talking or being funny could become a viable career one day, and actually make a difference to people?”
After moving from his hometown of Chicago to New York to attend Yeshiva University, Lebowicz started performing at clubs all around New York City including Gotham, Carolines on Broadway, Stand Up New York and Comix. He opened up for other Jewish comedians like Modi, Elon Gold, Jessica Kirson, Myq Kaplan, Dan Naturman, Joel Chasnoff, and Gary Gulman, and performs at Jewish organizations, corporate gigs, Pesach programs, and bar and bat mitzvahs.
He is known for his very niche but funny jokes about living a Jewish life. Sometimes, they lean dark and sardonic, like this one he posted on Twitter: “News outlets: Antisemites are calling for a national Day of Hate against the Jewish People. Jews: Why is this day different than all other days?”
When Kanye West got in trouble for going on an antisemitic tirade, Lebowicz posted, “Great, now people are gonna say that Jews killed Yeezus.”
He also creates funny memes that are spread on Instagram (@elicomedyagram) and Facebook, like one where he put up a pair of sneakers that look like bread and said, “They had to hurry out of Egypt but didn’t have time for the sneakers to bake.”
To get into the Adar and Purim spirit, Lebowicz said, “When the Megillah ends, the King levies taxes on everyone. When it came to death or taxes, God could only save the Jews for one of them.”
Then, he offered up a Passover joke, since it’s right around the corner: “Everyone thinks we’re celebrating the fact that the Jews left Egypt, but really we’re just celebrating the fact that we left somewhere on time.”
“You can make someone’s day better when you make them laugh.
“There is a lot of Jewish humor that’s really untapped,” Lebowicz said. “There is material that’s very broad and Jewish, like bagel humor, but that doesn’t really get to the crux of it. My goal is to show that you can be clean and funny and not have fifth grade Rebbe humor. All the time, people ask me if they’re worried someone is going to steal my material. I say they have to have 16 years of yeshiva education first, so good luck.”
Lebowicz has had his fair share of interesting experiences doing standup. One time he performed at the opening of a sushi restaurant.
“I got paid in the form of a sushi gift card, which is definitely a Jewish payment method,” he said.
During the pandemic, when he had to stop performing live, he did over 100 shows on Zoom, and most of them went pretty well. But during one of them, while he was doing standup, somebody removed him from the Zoom room.
“They said they had technical difficulties,” he said. “That was a real low point. That will definitely make you reevaluate your life decisions.”
At the start of 2023, Lebowicz went full-time with comedy, and is planning on doing more live shows and podcasts, as well as contributing jokes to local papers like The Jewish Press in New York. Before, he worked in marketing, and was an account manager at B&H Photo Video, a Satmar Hasidic-owned company, for four years.
On Fridays, B&H employees would order Bravo Pizza, and one time, Eli received a funny email.
“It was addressed to me and 25 other Elis at the company, and was a blank email with the subject line, ‘Somebody ordered pizza delivery. Eli, was this you?’” he said. “I emailed every Eli back, ‘Describe working at a Jewish company in one email.’”
Lebowicz believes that when he performs comedy, he’s doing a good deed – after all, in one Gemara teaching, the sage Rav Yehoshua ben Levi is walking in the market and spots Eliyahu HaNavi, who says that a man who makes other people laugh will merit a high place in Olam Haba.
“When I perform, people come up to me and say, ‘I don’t normally laugh’ or ‘I haven’t laughed like that in a while,’” he said. “You can make someone’s day better when you make them laugh. So I’m definitely taking that piece of Gemara up there with me when it’s my time.”
To catch Eli Lebowicz live, check out his show “Remind Me After Shabbos” at Stand Up! New York on Thursday, March 16 at 8 p.m.
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