May 9, 2008

Enter the 'World of Jewtopia'

Comedic duo reintroduce humor of their off-Broadway hit

By Paul Freeman / Entertainment Writer

Two standup comics, Sam Wolfson and Bryan Fogel, who had previously struggled to establish separate careers, turned a 10-minute scene into a show business empire.

In Los Angeles, the pair transformed their much-lauded staged sketch into a full theatrical production. "We didn't know if we had a whole play there," Wolfson said. "But it just kept going when we started writing about our crazy families."

Drawing on their backgrounds, the pair wrote "Jewtopia." "We take the stereotypes and try to put a spin on it," Wolfson said. "In the play, Bryan plays a gentile who loves Jewish women, because they make all his decisions. Who doesn't want someone to make all your decisions for you on a daily basis - tell you what to wear, who your friends are and things like that?"

After polishing the work, they reached a crossroads. "With both of our parents, it was like, 'Gee, if this doesn't work out, it might be time to think about a new career.' So we made the decision to rack our credit cards, ask our parents for loans and just put this play up on our own. Sort of a do-or-die situation, and thank God it all worked out."

After a smash run in Los Angeles, "Jewtopia" became off-Broadway's longest running hit. "Off-Broadway shows never recoup their money, so we're lumped in with Blue Man Group and 'Stomp' as the three shows that lasted," he said.

Road companies have also struck gold. There's a production in Sarasota, Fla., that just wrapped and another opening in Atlanta soon, both mounted without Fogel and Wolfson. "Having our doppelgangers in it is a bit bizarre. But it's fun, too."

Obviously, the play's popularity extends beyond the Jewish community. "It's weird," Wolfson said, "we do get mixed crowds. Everybody gets a kick out of peeking inside another person's experience, whether it's watching 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding' or Chris Rock.

"Everybody's family is nuts. Everybody can relate to the pressure to date within your own culture. So you really don't have to be Jewish to like 'Jewtopia.' But if you are Jewish, you'll probably like it a little bit more."

The success of the play spawned a hilarious coffee table book, "Jewtopia: The Chosen Book for the Chosen People." Topics include Jewish conspiracy theories, what Jews see when they look under the hood of a car, unusual bar mitzvah themes and previously unknown aspects of that most famous of Jews, Jesus.

Now the pair is presenting "World of Jewtopia," a two-man show that they will perform on Mother's Day at Cobb's Comedy Club. "It's sort of like our '700 Sundays,'" Wolfson said, referencing Billy Crystal's autobiographical stage hit. "It deals with our families, as well as a history of Judaism, told in our crazy, warped way."

There's plenty of spontaneity in this creation. "It's very interactive. It's like the Jewish Apollo," Wolfson said. "As soon as you let a Jewish crowd know that they're free to shout out whatever they want, and they're actually involved in a show, they're like a third character.

"It's almost a variety show. We've got this huge, multimedia screen, kind of like 'An Inconvenient Truth.' We do standup, read transcripts of phone conversations with our moms. It's got a ton of stuff."

Though there's an edge to the comedy, audiences don't find it offensive. "If you can't laugh at this kind of stuff, you're probably not laughing at 'Seinfeld,' 'The Producers' or 'Curb Your Enthusiasm.' Every now and then, you'll get an e-mail saying that you're the devil. But that's a rare thing."

Comedic artists such as Fogel and Wolfson, Larry David and Sacha Baron Cohen are yanking Jewish humor into a new age. "It's hipper than this kind of stuff usually is, compared to a Jackie Mason or a Neil Simon," he said. "It's a Gen X perspective. It's the attitude that changes, the themes have always been self-deprecating."

Though Fogel was raised a modern Orthodox Jew in Denver, and Wolfson a Reform Jew in Jacksonville, Fla., they have similar comic sensibilities.

"At our shows, we've had people from Israel, Mexico and Russia. And they all get it. They say, 'That's me!'" Wolfson said.

Fogel and Wolfson, who have an animation pilot in the works, will play their "Jewtopia" characters in a feature film. They begin shooting in August. Carrie Fisher and Henry Winkler are slated to play Wolfson's parents.

Not only the plot, but the title has changed. It's called "O'Connell and Lipschitz Lose Their Religion."

"A movie with the word 'Jew' in the title is not going to play well in the middle of the country. We've made it more broad, like '40-Year-Old Virgin,' 'Wedding Crashers,' 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding.'"

Wolfson and Fogel, who penned the script, will co-direct. How will team directing work logistically? "We don't know," Wolfson admits. "Everything we've done, we've sort of figured out as we went along. We like to do things ourselves ... and usually it turns out OK.

"We had years of self-doubt. There's still doubt. But people seem to like what we're doing."