The first time I heard Moshe Kasher was when his first albumEveryone You Know Is Going To Diedropped.
Each episode brings comics and experts together for a discussion of todays most intriguingand yes, sometimes sensitivetopics.
For his next trick Kasher is bringing that much needed conversation to television.
Taking on the big issues with some comedy in the pre-internet stylings of talk shows likeThe Phil Donahue Show.
Heres how it went:
DEN OF GEEK: Im just going to jump right in.
I have been following your standup for a long time.
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Moshe Kasher:Aw, thank you.
People with good taste.
What can I say, Im an adrenaline junky…
Your standup is brilliant.
Well we dont have to worry.
Isnt there something like about how like Jews can only go to help for like upwards of 12 months.
What a Jewish way to do hell.
We bargained our way out of eternity.
Itll be like 12 months.
Itll be bad but well get through it then go on up to whatever bar there is in heaven.
I hope thats what heaven is like.
Just a giant bar.
But only for the Jews, obviously.
Then they walk by some Muslims, and the Muslims are all bowing at a Mosque.
Then they walk by this really fortified wall and the Jew asks, Whos in there?
And the guys like, Shush shush, thats where the Christians are.
They think theyre the only ones in here.
I start that at every Christian party I go to.
Comedy Central just bought [Live in Oakland] and re-aired it earlier.
Its kind of funny, first of all, to watch yourself from five years ago.
There were parts that Im like, Wow, thats a great joke!
There are other parts where Im like, Ew, I would not tell that joke anymore.
There are also parts of it where Im like, Oh, I looked really young.
And theres also parts where you watch how your person has slightly changed.
This high-level intellectual conversations that are funny but very calm.
I was thinking to myself, Oh man, its certainly not by design that I did that.
When you are onstage doing standup, its like you times ten.
Some people are the exact same on as they are off, but Im not.
I am going to do another special this year of standup.
I dont think so.
I could be wrong.
The thing about podcasts that is so awesome is that theres no production pressure to perform.
I was just on [Joe] Rogan last week for three hours.
Thats a fucking crazy thing.
Is it possible for a person to be ten out of ten funny for three hours?
Actually, I think Rogan does a really good job of balancing all that stuff.
You dont have that luxury in television, especially a half-hour show.
But what you do have is the ability to make it really joke after joke and point after point.
Twenty-two minutes is pretty difficult to get over a conversation plus a field piece or two.
Weve so far been really successful in the first two episodes in finding a way to do that.
From what I understand you also have the audience, you encourage them to participate in the conversation.
Yes and so far thats been very cool.
It is like an open-sourced television show in that way.
We have gotten suggestions from Reddit users for questions, weve read them on air.
Maybe Im overly optimistic, but I hope not.
I take it back, not every Antifa person wants things to be funny.
I think thats what my book was.
My book was a book that was, I thought very very funny, but it was a trick.
Ive been laughing for the first two-third of the book.
I think thats like the power of comedy.
That is the thing that has happened.
So your show is the anti-model of that.
I really hope so.
I really think we can kind of tease out these conversations.
Like cultural appropriation is an issue I struggle with personally.
Its an issue that I have definitely struggled with taking seriously.
Culture borrows from culture.
Thats how culture is and has always been, right?
So engaging with the topic in the way that we did, doing a deep-dive of reading.
I mean I am reading an amount that is not pleasant and each and every week it starts over.
You throw all that information in the trash bin and just start over with a new topic.
Its like what the fuck are you talking about, thats the stupidest thing Ive ever heard, right?
So its not really about going, Dont do that!
Its about going, Think about this.
Is there anything you are staying away from in the show?
There are definitely some topics that I am not interested in doing.
I think Israel and Palestine.
I have a strong feeling that we will never have an Israel/Palestine conversation.
So maybe that will be my last episode.
I dont think we are trying to do the political news cycle.
Im not trying to talk about [Donald] Trump every week.
I dont really care about that.
Thats what I want to do.
Its a lot more sincere than a lot of my standup for sure.
Its humor writing as opposed to being about coming up.
You flew right past the comedy part, theres only a small mention.
Is that the next book?
Oh yes, completely.
I did that on purpose.
I didnt want to do that.
I wanted to tell the story as it was.
What was after that molten bath what emerged form the iron.
Your first book is definitely that.
Maybe I am wrong…
No you are definitely right.
Its not confessional comedy at all.
I never really was a confessional comedian and I am still not a confessional comedian.
Its all good comedy if its funny.
Any comedy is the best form of comedy.
Yeah, I dont think that at all.
The way I view is as a writer and then also a comic.
Yeah, I think that is right.
I wanted that difference to be true when I wrote that book.
I was really happy about it.
I think that maybe that is a theme of the show.
Like, these different identities coming together.
Not just my own, but also everybodys from these different polarized identities coming together.
[Problematic]is one hundred percent a comedy about big things.
Actually, I dont know what people like.
I know I like that.
I enjoy reading stuff that makes me laugh and also makes me feel stuff or makes me sick.
Especially the Jewish humor tradition of gallows humor and turning dark into light.
That Shalom Aleichem book,Some Laughter, Some Tears.
I thought that summed up the Jewish experience pretty perfectly.
Im hoping the show is more laughter than there are tears.
Problematic with Moshe Kasher premieres April 18th at 10:00 p.m. on Comedy Central.
