L ifestyles /C ulture
Comedian Cory Kahaney Tackles Marriage, Family
and Aging in Katz JCC Performance
ARTS SOPHIE PANZER | JE STAFF
STAND-UP COMEDY is
a tough business in the era
of pandemic shutdowns and
limits on live performances.

That hasn’t prevented Jewish
comedians like Cory Kahaney
from taking to the stage
virtually. On Nov. 14, Kahaney
performed an evening set for
the 31st Katz JCC Bank of
America Festival of Arts, Books
and Culture. The festival, which
is based in Cherry Hill, New
Jersey, runs from Nov. 8 to
Nov. 19 and features authors,
speakers and performers from
around the country. Festival
Director Shonnie Lebovitz said
turnout has been high due to the
audience’s increasing comfort
with technology. So far, the
record for most devices tuned
in to a festival event is 193.

Kahaney is based in New
York and has performed
frequently in Philadelphia.

She was a finalist on NBC’s
“Last Comic Standing” and
appeared on “The Late Show
with Stephen Colbert,” “The
Late Late Show with Craig
Ferguson” and the 2016 season
of “America’s Got Talent.”
She has stand-up specials on
Comedy Central and HBO
and runs the monthly Ruthless
Comedy Hour on her website
(the title references the death of
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg).

“It’s very feminist, it’s
very liberal and it’s basically
Jewish-mom humor,” she said
in a separate interview.

During her festival perfor-
mance, Kahaney
joked about her two marriages, her
relationship with her children,
her body, online shopping and
more. She read a fake review
she left on Amazon for a
$15 hat her husband became
obsessed with and talked about
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM Cory Kahaney
Photo by Sue Barr
It’s basically Jewish-mom humor.”
CORY KANANEY
the time she spent an hour
making up promo codes to try
to get a discount.

“I just typed in ‘Up yours!’
and I got 15% off,” she said.

She advised one audience
member to go to Trader Joe’s
if she ever felt like she wasn’t
being heard in her marriage.

“I go to that cash register
at Trader Joe’s and the woman
will look at me with so much
empathy,” she said. “She’ll say,
‘Hi, did you find everything
you were looking for?’ And I
suddenly feel vulnerable and say,
‘I never got unconditional love
from my mother.’ And she’ll say,
‘Oh, did you look in frozen?’”
She also joked about the
pressure she was under to marry
a Jewish man after her sister came
out as a lesbian to her conserva-
tive parents: “My mother was
hysterical. She said, ‘We’ll never
dance at her wedding!’ And my
father was like, ‘Shut up, we just
saved 50 grand.’”
Other highlights included
her mother’s apocalyptic texting
style, her husband’s inability
to throw anything away, the
high price of private college and
Manhattan preschools, and the
age of her genitals.

“What I have is a classic.

Some people call it a collector’s
item,” she said to uproarious
laughter. The show was filmed on
the platform StreamYard,
which allowed some audience
members to appear on screen
with Kahaney. She took advan-
tage of the opportunity to
connect with the crowd, asking
questions and riffing on their
lives during several bits.

Kahaney said making the
transition to virtual shows
was relatively easy because she
focuses more on joke writing
than on physical comedy, and
crowd work has also translated
pretty smoothly.

“I’ll be in the middle of a
joke that’s a little bit racy and I’ll
go, ‘You know what I’m talking
about, Myrna!’” she said. “I
don’t offend anybody’s decor or
JEWISH EXPONENT
whatever, I’m more looking for
opportunities to connect.”
Hecklers haven’t been
daunted by the virtual format,
either. Kahaney said she
usually listens to what they
have to say and only cuts them
off if they interrupt too much.

“Now I’m in an area of
material where they want to
contribute, or they disagree,”
she said.

She believes it’s possible to
make fun of the pandemic,
and often incorporates COVID
jokes that tackle masks, anxiety
and loneliness.

“We can make fun of stuff
like, you know, we pretend to
be more obsessed with COVID
so that we can get the elevator
all to ourselves,” she said. “Or,
have you ever been so desperate
to find a mask that you needed
to go into the store to pick up
one thing that you used one
you found on the sidewalk?”
Lebovitz said Kahaney’s
performance provided a form
of entertainment that has been
particularly difficult to access
this year.

“We always love to do
something that is fun or funny,
and this year it’s as important
as ever to do that,” she said. “So
we were looking for someone
who would be a nice fit for our
community. We are thrilled
that Cory is willing to do this,
we know this is a tough time
for comedians right now and
we are truly honored.” l
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NOVEMBER 19, 2020
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