the seen
HBO Max is producing a new com-
edy series based on the life of former
gang member-turned-Chasidic-rap-
per Nissim Black.

Black, who lives in Israel,
announced the upcoming show on
Twitter, writing that he hopes “this
series brings Joy, and dispells [sic]
a lot of the misinformation going on
out there.”
He will co-produce the show with
comedian and veteran TV writer
Moshe Kasher, who frequently ref-
erences his Jewish identity in his
work. It’s unclear if Black will star as
himself in the show, according to a
Deadline report.

“Motherland Bounce,” the name
of the series and the name of one
of Black’s recently released singles,
tells the story of how he went from
selling drugs in Seattle by age 12 to
finding a spiritual home in Orthodox
Judaism and moving to Jerusalem.

In the song, he grapples with his
many different identities.

“There’s always these questions,”
he told Hey Alma in 2020. “Like,
‘Well, are you still Black? How Black
are you? How does that work? But
you’re also Jewish? Jews are white?’
No they’re not!”
Deadline reported that the series
will be directed by Salli Richardson-
Whitfield, an actress who has most
recently directed episodes of the
fantasy epic “The Wheel of Time”
and the period drama “The Gilded
Age.” — Caleb Guedes-Reed
Esther Wayne/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images via JTA
HBO to Produce Comedy Series
About Chasidic Rapper Nissim Black
Jewish hip-hop singer Nissim Black seen performing during the Chanukah festival in
Pittsburgh on April 12, 2018.

Pete Davidson to Star in
Autobiographical Comedy Series
with a Yiddish Name
nothing.” The “Saturday Night Live” star and
current Kim Kardashian squeeze
has already made a feature-length
comedy film based on his life, “The
King of Staten Island,” with Jewish
director Judd Apatow. Davidson’s
character in that film, like in real life,
lost his firefighter father in the Sept.

11 attacks.

Davidson’s other upcoming proj-
ects including providing the voice
of Marmaduke in a new animated
film about the large dog, and
co-starring in this summer’s dark
murder-mystery comedy “Bodies
Bodies Bodies,” with “Shiva Baby”
star Rachel Sennott.

— Andrew Lapin
Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images via JTA
Bupkis — meaning nothing, abso-
lutely zilch — is one of those few
Yiddish words that have become part
of the American lexicon. It’s also the
name of Pete Davidson’s new show.

The series, which will air on
NBC’s Peacock streaming service,
Deadline reported, is a “Curb Your
Enthusiasm”-style R-rated comedy
that “will combine grounded story-
telling with absurd elements,” and
reflect Davidson’s self-deprecating
sense of humor.

The title certainly makes it seem
like Davidson, who found out his
father was Jewish later in life, will be
mining some Jewish humor for his
work — or at least aping the famous
“Seinfeld” tagline: “The show about
Pete Davidson arrives for the 2021 Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in
New York, on Sept. 13, 2021.

4 MAY 5, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM



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