Jewish / Muslim Comedy Night
With Noor Cultural Centre and Holy Blossom Temple’s Anti Racism Group and Holy Blossom Temple’s Interfaith Committee
March 24, 2021, 7:00-8:15 pm
Register here today!
Pay-what-you-can – $0+, Solo – $25, Family – $50, Donate-a-Ticket – $25
This is a program to facilitate community, and price should be no barrier to anyone’s participation. We also want to ensure that our artists, lecturers, and speakers are adequately compensated for their time and effort, particularly under these economically-precarious times. For individuals, we are suggesting a ticket price of $25; and for ‘families’ (i.e. a group of people who will be logging into the session from a shared computer/electronic device), we are suggesting $50. For those who cannot afford this, or, alternatively, for those who can contribute more to a ticket, please avail of the ‘pay-what-you-can’ option. If you are able to further support the program, please also consider donating a ticket.
A Jew and a Muslim walk into a Zoom room: Interfaith Educational & Cultural Series
Holy Blossom Temple and Noor Cultural Centre have a long-standing interfaith friendship, grounded in celebration of our similarities, appreciation for our differences, a desire to understand one another, and a shared investment in combating all forms of racism and oppression.
This series is a continuation of that relationship, in the context of a pandemic that has isolated many of us from our communities, of faith and otherwise.
Please join us on Zoom for the first of six sessions of interfaith community-building through comedy, music, film, and education and discussion about the various forms of racism that both impact us and that we are implicated in.
MuJew – A Pork-Free Comedy Showcase is back March 24th with the best Muslim and Jewish comedians around! We have comics who have done Just For Laughs, Winnipeg & Halifax Comedy Festivals, JFL42, TedxTalks and more!
Featuring: Tamara Shevon, Hoodo Hersi, Natalie Norman, Syed Raza, Jacob Balshin, Brandon Ash-Mohammed, and hosted by Rush Kazi
This show is being held online as part of A Jew and a Muslim walk into a Zoom room: Interfaith Educational & Cultural Series. All our previous shows have SOLD OUT. Get your tickets now so you don’t miss out!
Rush Kazi is a Montreal-born, Toronto-based, non-binary, bipedal, carbon-based stand-up, sketch, and
musical comic. Second City trained, Rush has performed at the following festivals: JFL42, SheDot, Toronto Fringe, Leelfest, Garden City Comedy Festival, and both Toronto and Montreal Sketch Festivals, just to name a few. Rush produces Toronto’s longest-running musical comedy show Comedy Mixtape (nee Off-Key Comedy started in 2013), produces the Asian Comedy All-Stars, MuJew (A Muslim and Jewish Comedy Showcase), and Fairy Tales (Queer Comedy) all at the iconic Rivoli Pool Hall, and has run the open mic, Laughter Luau since 2012. Watch Rush’s half-hour comedy special on OutTV, which starts streaming later this year!
Natalie Norman is a Toronto-based stand-up comedian, podcaster, storyteller and Jewess. For more on Natalie check out her Instagram and Twitter @stalkingnatalie. Also, you should definitely listen to her podcast Red flags with Natalie Norman here https://redflagswithnatalienorman.podbean.com Outrageous, witty, and often political, Natalie hosts a weekly LGBTQ+, feminist-friendly show The Crimson Wave at Comedy Bar in Toronto. She recorded her second TV taping in May 2019 for the Winnipeg Comedy Festival and her debut comedy album The Big Reveal was released on Howl & Roar on July 1, 2019. In addition to the weekly show, Natalie is the co-host of the Crimson Wave Podcast. The menstruation-themed podcast was included in Blog TO’s Top 10 Toronto Podcasts and named by Toronto Life as one of the city’s most addictive podcasts. The Crimson Wave has been among the acts featured at JFL42, and was also an instrumental force in the Canadian Menstruators’ #NoTaxOnTampons campaign, writing and starring in the viral video to promote and spread awareness on the initiative to remove tax on menstruation products. The tax was successfully removed in July 2015. Natalie has also performed at Just For Laughs in Montreal, Winnipeg Comedy Festival, Sled Island, Guelph Comedy Fest, Women In Comedy Fest, Pop Montreal, Canadian Music Week, Toronto SketchFest, Feminist Arts Conference, Field Trip, NXNE and LadyFest Montreal. Most importantly, Natalie is a Spice Girls enthusiast, who loves talking about her period.
Hoodo Hersi is a Toronto-based comedian recently selected as a New Face: Canada at the Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal, where her performance aired on the Comedy Network. She has performed in clubs and festivals all over Canada and the United States, including the Winnipeg Comedy Festival and the BBC World Service Montreal Comedy Show where both of her performances will air on the CBC, the 12th annual New York Arab-American Comedy Festival, Boston Women in Comedy Festival, and Toronto’s Shedot Festival. In 2018, she was selected as an Audible New Voice at SF Sketchfest, and performed with Hasan Minhaj, Lil Rel Howery, Chris Redd, Gina Yashere, Moshe Kasher, and Maria Bamford among others. She also had the distinct honor of hosting the TEDxToronto Conference, and featuring in Sephora’s national “Get Lippie” lipstick campaign in partnership with Fashion Magazine, where she was profiled as one of the three Female Comedians Taking Canada by Storm Right Now. Hoodo is also one of the CBC’s 15 Comics to Watch in 2019.
Tamara Shevon is a Toronto-based comic who started her comedic story-telling through wine-coloured glasses in Bejing, China. Since then, she has been blazing through the Toronto scene with her characteristic wit and her lovable ability to flirt with the boundaries of socially acceptable. Tamara produces and hosts the very popular SOS Comedy Show. Tamara has performed stand-up all over China, Canada, and the United States and was second runner-up in the Beijing Improv Comedy Festival. More recently, Tamara has performed at NXNE and JFL42. In 2018, Tamara toured across Ontario with Shawna Edward for the Irritable & Confused Comedy Tour where she was the only black person at each stop. If this wasn’t obvious enough already, Tamara wrote this bio herself which is why she sounds so awesome.
Brandon Ash-Mohammed. Comedian. Writer. Future Real Housewife of Atlanta. He’s a Tim Sims Award-nominated comedian, a Telefilm New Voices Award-winning writer, and the creator of The Ethnic Rainbow (Canada’s first & only comedy show for LGBT comedians of colour). Brandon has been an opener for numerous acclaimed comedians such as Julio Torres (HBO’s Los Espookys), Chris Redd (NBC’s Saturday Night Live), Mo Amer (Hulu’s Ramy), and Cipha Sounds (Comedy Central’s The Chapelle Show). He’s made appearances at prestigious festivals such Field Trip Festival and Just For Laughs Montreal to name a few. In addition to stand-up, Brandon also excels at sketch being alumni of Second City Mainstage. He’s a seasoned performer who’s been named a Breakout Artist of 2018 by Now Magazine, A Comedian To Watch By CBC, and won an I Heart Jokes Award for Breakout Standup Of The Year. Brandon was a writer on season one of CBC’s TallBoyz and appeared in the We’re Funny That Way quarantine comedy special on CBC GEM. Most recently, Brandon released his debut comedy album Capricornication. It debuted at #1 on iTunes, raised almost 5K for various charities, and marks the first time a comedy album has been released by a Gay Black Canadian.
Jacob Balshin has proven himself to be a promising young stand-up comedian. Hes the winner of IHJ Awards Best Upcoming Comedian. Jacob has been selected to open for Mike MacDonald, Jenny Zigrino, Wil Sylvince, and Rich Vos. Jacobs stand-up comedy has been featured on Sirius XM, Rogers TV and at NXNE. He was a finalist in the Absolute Comedy Prove You’re A Comic Competition and the winner of The Harvey Atkins Comedy Competition. He will be recording for CBCs Laugh Out Loud at this years 905 Festival. Jacob has also been featured in videos by Herb and is the host of their series Seed To Smoke. You can catch Jacob every Tuesday at Comedy Bar in Toronto where he co-hosts his weekly variety show Last Call or Thursdays at Blackjack BBQ where he hosts his weekly stand-up show.
