April 16, 2025 • 48 mins
Episode 145: Modi's close friend (and podcast sponsor) Arthur Luxenberg returns for another episode on chesed, stuttering, and their mutual obsession with pretzels. Arthur was also featured on episode 106, which you can listen to here.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hi listeners and welcome to episode 145.
This week Arthur Luxemburg,king Arthur, came to the studio.
It was just me and him.
We had a powwow two friendschatting.
It was so much fun.
If you get a chance, also lookat the video.
He wore this insane bluecheckerboard blazer.
We had deep conversations aboutPassover programs and this will
(00:23):
be airing during Passover.
I hope everybody's having anamazing Passover program and the
entertainment where you are isgood.
I will be in Mexico for twoshows those that will see me.
I cannot wait.
I love Passover shows Arthurand I spoke about.
Of course we always have thestuttering in common.
Of course we always have thestuttering in common.
(00:44):
We spoke about why people whowent to law school and don't
practice law always introducethemselves as lawyer but not
practicing.
We had an emotionalconversation, absolutely
emotional, heartwarming, reallya connection, a bond over
pretzels, just discussing howimportant pretzels are and how
delicious they are and all kindsof textures.
(01:05):
Just discussing how importantpretzels are and how delicious
they are and all kinds oftextures.
And we really it was.
If you catch anything of thisepisode, make sure it's the
pretzel conversation.
Periel was on the sidelinegiving us talking points.
We had a great time.
Thank you very much forlistening and don't forget I'm
on tour.
There are shows everywhere,america and Europe.
We are in Warsaw, manchester,we are in Frankfurt, munich, we
(01:28):
are in Geneva and in Antwerp.
Wow, it's an amazing tour.
It's going to be two weeks ofthose shows, unbelievable.
And then we have the SummerLaugh the Laugh-Away Camp
Instead of Sleepaway Camp,laugh-away Camp instead of
Sleep-Away Camp, laugh-away Camp, with shows in Omaha, nebraska,
in Indianapolis, in Columbus,ohio, hampton Bays, which is in
(01:57):
the Hamptons, right between bothWest and regular Hampton.
Everything's available onmodilivecom.
Enjoy the episode.
Welcome to, and here's Modi.
Welcome to and here's Modi.
We are here today.
It's me and my guest and it'sArthur Luxemburg.
Welcome back.
I can't tell you how manypeople loved the episodes you
(02:18):
were on and everywhere we go,people know you say when is
Arthur coming back?
One guy I'm horrible with names, you know that, but in the meet
and greet set I went to lawschool with him and I heard his
voice.
I felt like I was in law schoolagain.
I felt like I was 23 years oldin law school and just so.
I'm so happy.
So I recently began to learnhow to use chat GPT, so I put in
(02:41):
this is what I put in for anintroduction and questions with
you.
This is what I wrote today.
This is my first time reallyusing ChatGPT.
Okay, I wrote.
I'm the number one Jewishcomedian in the world.
I have a podcast called, andhere's Modi.
Today, our guest is a friendthat I have met later in life,
which I always think is aspecial thing to meet friends
later in life.
(03:02):
His name is Arthur Luxemburg.
He is a partner at Weitz andLuxemburg Law Firm, which also
is a sponsor of our podcast.
Arthur and I share a miraculousjourney because we are both
stutterers and work in a fieldthat would never think
stutterers would work in.
I'm a comedian and he's a courtattorney and a law attorney.
(03:25):
I don't know how to say whatyou do exactly.
This episode will be airingduring Passover.
Arthur will be at a Passoverprogram in Florida and I'll be
doing two shows in Mexico.
The Passover programs arespecial, unique, niche events
that happen in the Jewish world.
Please give me five questionsto ask him.
I don't like any of thequestions, by the way, but that
(03:48):
was it.
That's a good introduction.
No, no, periel just gave me aeh.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
That was pretty good information that you fed into
there.
You'd think they would come upwith five good questions.
Give me one, one of thequestions that they gave.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Yeah, give me just one.
They went for the stutteringstuff.
I don't have it.
I don't have it.
So much for that.
So much I'm learning.
I'm learning how to use GPTReally.
How are you?
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Great, I'm great, really good to be here again.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
This is going to air Passover Nice Next Wednesday.
Beautiful yeah, in the middleof all the Pesach programs,
those of you who don't know whatthat is.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
How do you even begin to describe a Passover program?
By the way, is that going toget the full impact?
Airing this over Passover.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
Yeah, it will be.
The fans know Wednesday thiscomes out.
Fans come on, they listen to it.
They plan like a walk around it.
They plan cooking around it.
The people tell us when theylisten to this it they plan
cooking around it.
The people tell us, when theylisten to this, it's like when
they drive they put this on.
It helps them just relax.
It gives them a pause from life.
Listening to our shtos, ournourish kite, makes them happy,
(04:55):
which.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
I love it.
I love it.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
And yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
How do you prepare?
I'll tell you how we prepare.
We have a moving company come,they pick up everything in the
house and they move it into acouple of hotel rooms, either
upstate New York or Miami or, inour case, in Palm Beach.
You're going to be in PalmBeach.
Be in Palm Beach.
Yeah, it's where we've been formany, many years.
(05:20):
Our entire family is there.
We're over 40 people now andit's really an incredible time.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
So 40 people are at this Passover program.
I've been to his table so twoor three years ago I performed
at this event.
And we get there and Arthur'slike you're eating with us,
you're staying with us, thewhole thing with us, 40 people.
Leo's still new to Passoverprograms.
We show up and it's just Jewsand food and it's so unhinged
and people who don't understandhow crazy Passover programs are.
You can't explain it to them.
(05:52):
We get to your table.
Randy shows up in pink pajamasand fluffy shoes All like Chanel
.
Everything is like thousands ofdollars and her own water
bottle and her own SnappleKosher for Passover Snapple
Things that they don't have inthe program.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
I hope it was Kosher for Passover.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Whatever it was, she came with it and she's like hi
Leo, hi Moni, we're right hereand we go, we sit down with her
and we just and yeah, it's nicefor me when I have family at
like a program like this, andyou were there, it was like
having family there.
(06:34):
It was a little bit differentthan the first time we met at a
Passover program which was atthe hotel upstate, the Rye Town
Hilton.
So during Passover, people whoare well-to-do go to nice hotels
and destinations, all kinds ofplaces in Mexico and all of that
.
And then there's people who goto the Rye Hotel in upstate and
that's because they really it's.
Either it's less expensive butmore it's like either they have
(06:57):
a parent that's too old totravel or their daughter-in-law
is like in her nine and a halfmonth.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
That's typically what it is.
It really wasn't the money,because the price was almost the
same.
I mean, you had to pay forairfare.
You know, when you went toFlorida.
But going to Westchester, wherethe program at the Hilton was,
it was really because there wasa reason that you had to be
there.
And one of the fun things wasis you'd see people either in
(07:23):
the dining room or at the Minionand so why are you here?
So why are you here?
And someone would say, oh, mymother couldn't travel, or my
daughter was pregnant Exactlywhat you said or you had to be.
You know, during theintermediate days, during
Cholamoi, yeah, somewhere youhad to be at work.
There was always a reason youwere there.
It couldn't just be because itwas a great program, Right?
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Which also, by the way, one of the talking points
we have for today.
Since the last time we spoke, Itold you that I've realized
people that have law degrees anddon't practice law talk about
like they always introducewhatever they do.
Like I'm an interior director,but I went to law school.
I have a law degree.
They tell you that.
Have you noticed that?
Speaker 2 (08:10):
Yeah, there's a lot of that.
I mean, the whole practicing oflaw is an anomaly in and of
itself.
Practicing law when do you everget it right?
But yeah, I mean that's whathappens.
A lot of people have lawdegrees but never do end up
going in and working in the lawfor various reasons.
You know there's a familybusiness, you know they can't
(08:33):
get a good enough job, andthat's something else that we
should really be talking about.
But that's a very common thingthat people go to law school.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
I don't walk around saying, hi, I'm a comedian, but
I have a degree in uh,psychology from BU.
I don't say that people withthe law degree like put that I
have a law degree, I have a law.
Recently this happened to metoo.
Um, I went to get my orthoticsand the doctor is a great doctor
, dr Cement, and his husband.
(09:02):
Husband runs the practice,because I guess he was a lawyer
quit.
Now he runs this practice.
And within the first twointeractions we had, he was
telling me I'm a lawyer too.
I was a lawyer, but now I runthis practice.
It was funny.
I called him up.
I said I need to make anappointment for this.
I go.
My name is Mody Rosenfeld, hegoes.
We just saw you at the Beacon.
My parents are seeing you inFlorida, so that was right away.
(09:23):
It was already family.
Okay, it's already family.
And I get there and we starttalking right away.
I was a law degree, he goes.
I was the attorney for Enron.
Luckily I'm old enough to knowwhat the hell he's talking about
.
But that was like.
But that's a thing.
Lawyers always talk about beinglawyers, like you know.
They don't just like it's.
It's a thing.
I don't know it's a thing.
I don't know it's a thing, butwhat's the?
Speaker 2 (09:42):
typical reason that a person goes to law school,
spends three years and thendoesn't go into law, and I think
that the answer is when you goto medical school, you learn how
to be a doctor and typicallyyou become a doctor and you're
working in that profession forthe rest of your life.
When you go to law school, alot of people don't know what
(10:05):
they want to go into.
They know they want some kindof professional degree, or their
parents want them to have somekind of advanced degree, or
their grandparents want them to,which was my case.
They wanted me to be a doctor,but that didn't work out.
So you go to law school becauseyou don't know what you want to
do.
You waste a bunch of money andyou waste time and then you
(10:28):
decide what kind of job can Iget?
And if you don't get a goodenough job or it's not something
that really appealed to you,because you don't learn in law
school how to be a lawyer, youlearn how to approach things,
but you don't learn thepractical kind of things that
you actually do once you becomea lawyer and once you're working
(10:50):
in a law firm, whereas inmedical school and in those kind
of other things.
You actually learn how to be adoctor and do those kind of
things in your residency, inyour internship, whereas in law
you don't.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Yeah, you and I recently had dinner together and
we were driving home and wepassed by the building where you
used to work, so you and I werechatting.
You didn't really see where wewere and I turned off the
highway.
What's that building?
Woolworth building, woolworthbuilding, yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Woolworth building.
It's a good memory.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
And I saw you had an amazing memory.
So we're driving by, I'm givinghim a ride home and we drive by
the I just by chance that'swhere Waze took me and we pass
by the building.
All of a sudden you look up andyou see this building and you
just had a moment and you go.
(11:46):
I worked so hard in thatbuilding.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
You're like what, what was what?
What came over you when you wedrove by that building?
You know, mody, honestly Idon't know exactly if you
remember what we did before thatbuilding was.
Before we passed by thatbuilding, you went on for about
15 minutes in one of yourunderground locations to
material.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
He came to the comedy cellar.
He came to the comedy cellar.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
And what wasn't lost on me was being with one of my
best friends who we're going toget a bite to eat after, right,
he must have done three or fourshows that week, flying all over
the country and yet he's taken10 minutes to practice new
material.
And yet he's taken 10 minutesto practice new material.
And you never that's neversomething that you ever lose
(12:30):
working hard, putting in thatkind of energy.
So it was really fortuitousthat we then pass the building
that I first learned that Ifirst became a lawyer in in the
Woolworth building and I spentso much time and made so little
money but put in such anenormous effort when it first
(12:52):
began my career and it honestlyhad a lot of good memories and
you know that's really whatlaunched that conversation about
.
You know people think likeyou're just successful.
You know that Modi just is atalented guy that one day just
got on a stage and just becameenormously successful.
(13:13):
It doesn't happen that way.
It doesn't happen that way foranybody.
An enormous amount of training,of time, of effort, of failures
, many failures go into themagic of what ultimately becomes
success.
If you measure success in thatway and my kids always needle me
(13:36):
, you know, dad, success is notfinancial success.
It could be success in so manydifferent ways, and they're
right.
Success could take on manydifferent forms.
If you're successful in acommunity and you're doing
charity work, or you'resuccessful with a family, or
you're successful in anythingthat brings you tremendous joy,
(13:57):
that measures success, not justfinancial success.
So passing the Woolworthbuilding that night was really,
you know, just a moment for me.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
Yeah, I saw it.
I saw it in your eyes.
You're like you literallystopped and go.
I was in there till one in themorning every, every one in the
morning, every day.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Very often later than one.
I would take a subway.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
So when did you move to the, to the building you're
in now?
Those of you who don't know,Arthur is Arthur.
Luxemburg is a part of Weitzand Luxemburg.
He's the Luxemburg of Weitz andLuxemburg and an unbelievable
law firm in New York City.
And when did you move to thebuilding?
The building you have now isinsane, so that building, modi,
we continued to work downtown.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
It was a building that was originally called the
Continental Building.
It was a building that wasoriginally called the
Continental Building, which wason Maiden Lane.
Yes, and we were in thatbuilding for about 20 years.
Twice, we started out in thatbuilding.
We left.
We were working for anotherfirm when we were in the
Woolworth Building, but when wemoved, we moved to a little tiny
office in the ContinentalBuilding, 2,000 square feet.
(15:03):
Oh my God Right, we now have100.
But we were in 2,000 squarefeet.
Oh my God Right, we now have100.
But we were in 2,000 squarefeet, oh my God.
We were in basically what kindof law were you doing?
We were doing the same thingPersonal injury type of law,
which is where the asbestoslitigation really began and
where we began doing the kind ofmass torts that we did.
But we only had 2,000 squarefeet.
(15:25):
It was a tiny little space andwe grew from there and we left
that building shortly thereafterand we went to a different
building downtown alwaysdowntown in the Wall Street area
, Right Until the rents reallywent up very, very high and we
decided many years later to buya building.
So it was really only 20 years,20 years, Only 20, only 20
(15:48):
years, only 20 years.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Now you're saying only 20 years.
Right Back then, those 20 yearsseemed like a lifetime.
20 years is a lifetime.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
20 years is a lifetime Right, and we're in the
current building that we're inalso for about 20 years, so I
knew so before I met you, I knewwho you were and I knew you
were the asbestos guy.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
So I get on stage and I took a drink of water because
it was a little drama before Igot on stage with the microphone
and there wasn't good sound andRandy popped out of her chair.
Little Randy comes running outto the guy who's running the
event.
He needs good sound, he can'tjust go on stage.
And they brought me this goldmicrophone Remember the gold
microphone, of course and Istart the show and I go Right.
(16:28):
I go oh, mezzofilioma, arthur,I think we have a case.
Right, that's how I started theshow, right that's how I
started the show.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
I remember it and you just bought it.
I remember I remember.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Very funny, it was good, right, but 20 years free
advertising.
Free advertising, yes, that'sgreat, it's so good, it's great
I was thinking about during this.
This thing is airing during thepassover program season and I
want to tell you, I thinkthere's nobody in the world
that's been to more passoverprograms than me.
I've been to my different onesdifferent ones, of course.
(17:03):
There's years I remember I flewto four different ones.
I would do a show in Florida,go to Arizona, from Arizona to
Aspen, and one year it wasFlorida, arizona, aspen and then
Vieques.
Remember there was a program inVieques it's like an island
that's off of Puerto Rico oh, Idon't know, it was an island off
of Puerto Rico or somewherelike that.
(17:24):
You had to get on a prop planeto get on there, right, and they
had to get all the Jews outthere with their luggage.
Each one was on his own planeand they got there and the guy
that ran the program didn't do agood job and there was no food.
They were abandoned on theisland and I showed up like on
day seven, you know, showed uplike on day seven, you know.
(17:46):
Then, before they go back intothe other, and there was a lot
of people showed up there, a lotthe big rabbis we had there,
but it was supposed to be a bigdeal, but it ended up a big bomb
on this island, um, and youcouldn't get food.
It's not like you're in puertorico, it's, it's, it's a mess.
And then the microphone theyhad for me it was a six, six
foot to a wall.
That's why I was performing.
But it was a great show andthey loved it because they were
(18:07):
dying over there.
It was a big, big Anybody thatwas on the Vieques Passover
program.
We should have a support groupmeeting.
People were traumatized.
People were traumatized by thisPassover program.
They thought, oh, this is it,this is the next level of
Passover program.
It's Vieques, this is the nextlevel of Passover programs
(18:27):
V'ekes, the Tuchus, it's themiddle of nowhere.
We know it was a disaster, adisaster.
But I've been to every programbig, small, large, far away in
travel Mexico, aruba.
Every year I would do two orthree programs.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
But now you're stationed in one place the whole
time.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
No, we're doing two shows in Mexico, right, and this
was next to each other.
Right, I wasn't going to do itthis year.
Leo said he'll do it.
He was going to go and do theshow, no, but just to come with
me.
Oh, I can't go into this thingnow.
And so Leo said, okay, we'll dothis our last year.
We'll do these and I love them.
It's so free, you understand,to perform at these programs.
(19:09):
It's like being in theCatskills again.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
No, Depends on the program, but I can see how that
could be.
You know you're waiting all dayfor your next meal.
All day, the omelet stations.
You know the tea rooms, right?
Don't you judge every program.
All day, the omelet stations.
You know the tea rooms, right?
Right, don't you judge everyprogram by how long you have to
wait online for your omelet andwhat kind of tea room they have?
Speaker 1 (19:33):
That's the soul of Passover.
The omelet stations or the tearooms?
No, what Passover is all about.
Is it the tea room?
No, it's really not.
It's about changing your ego.
But yeah, everybody's there.
It's the opposite of what youshould be doing on.
Passover is going to thesePassover programs, right.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
I haven't stayed home in a long time, so I think the
last time.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
Spiritually.
Spiritually, yeah, passover,there's nothing going on there.
No, spiritually at the programs, yeah, you're all day long busy
with the food Whether you'regoing to feed us.
There's not a lot ofspirituality.
Okay, so that's what I wasgetting at.
Definitely true.
You have a few of the kids thatbecame extra religious, like
(20:16):
more religious than family, andthey're walking around with a
white shirt and a Gamora intheir hands with the Talmud.
They're walking around.
They're looking to see thatthey're carrying a Talmud.
Everybody else is in bathingsuits, butt naked, running
around to the pool, but he'swalking around with a Talmud
because he was a year in Israeland became really religious and
now he's walking around with aTalmud for this year.
By the next year he's not maybe.
(20:37):
But you're right, every familyhas a couple.
Yeah, that became.
Is it your mom or was it yourmom?
No, it wasn't your mom, it wassomebody else's mom at the table
, came over to me and goes I'm abig fan of yours.
(20:59):
Maybe my sister-in-law's mother.
She came over.
Very lovely lady, lovely lovelylady.
She lives in New Jersey, she'sgreat, she's great.
And she said to me I'm a bigfan of your work and this and
that, and it's been very nice tomeet you and I'm glad to see
you're here with Arthur andRandy, and I said this is my
husband.
She goes.
Oh oh, I didn't know you weresuch a metropolitan person,
(21:22):
that's what she said Is thatwhat she said?
Yeah.
She said, yeah, metropolitan.
I remember I was dying fromthat.
That's a shout out to Bubz Bubz, yeah.
And you guys didn't let hercome to the show because of
COVID.
Maybe she didn't want to go tothe show, she wanted.
Her family didn't let her gobecause they were scared.
Everybody was still in the room.
It was a tight room.
(21:42):
It was a feeder.
It was a feeder.
Yeah, it was a feeder.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
Yeah, it was a feeder .
It still is Any of those aftera wedding or after you're not
only.
You know, somebody gets sickand spreads it around.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
Yeah, you know spreader.
So still, you know it's still.
It was still fresh back then,the COVID.
Now I don't think anybody cares, right, yeah, stuttering,
stuttering.
Oh, whoa, whoa, it's heavy,whoa.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Yeah, you could fill up a whole.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
We did.
We do a series on stuff we didand the episodes we did.
People loved them and calledand they got help and every time
everybody called thatinstitution.
I sent you all the information,just so you know that people
were getting help and peoplewere enjoying the episodes.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
So you know the difference between you and me.
Yeah, okay.
So, and I said it, you know,during our last, during our last
podcast, I had a lot of therapy.
Yeah, meaning I went throughyears of therapy, really
formalized type of therapy.
You never did.
You know, your stuttering wasdifferent and I think it depends
(22:49):
on you know the quality of howyou stutter, meaning I blocked,
I listened to tapes of myselfgoing back 40 years not 40, 50
years when I was 10 years oldand I didn't remember how
difficult it was, but I couldn'tspeak and I don't think you
(23:11):
were ever in.
How was your stuttering whenyou were growing up?
Speaker 1 (23:14):
It was, it was it was a thing it was about.
I knew how to not speak or toprepare my line before before
hitting them with it.
That's right.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
Yeah, we all have our tricks.
Yeah, we all have our ways ofof getting around things, but I
learned it in a more formalizedway.
But, you know, learned it in amore formalized way.
But you know, I just want tosay that you know there's two
different ways that people viewstutterers, or people view the
whole stuttering community.
There's and it probably comesfrom the point of view of
(23:46):
parents.
You know they want to sheltertheir kids.
They don't want their kids tobe exposed to any ridicule or
any people who don't understandit, or can't you get your words
out or people being made fun ofor bullying, so they insulate
them in a way that they're neverexposed.
Or in their younger years andwhen they get a little bit older
(24:08):
, even during high school, theygo to stuttering camps like we
spoke about.
There's a very good camp thatkids go to, or there's
stuttering support groups.
Whereas my view was get as muchhelp as you can.
There's help out there and it'svery important.
(24:29):
You're not always going to beable to go to a camp for
stutterers.
You're not always going to beable to go to a camp for
stutterers.
You're not always going to beable to be in an environment
where all your friends are onlygoing to be stutterers, right,
and if that's the only placethat you're exposed to through
high school and you go tocollege, you're going to be in a
very, very difficultenvironment that you're
emotionally not going to be ableto handle.
(24:51):
So I advocate, advocate and Imight take criticism for this,
and we'll see the comments fromyour people that are watching
this, but I'm of the opinionthat do whatever you can to get
the therapy that you can to getto a point where you're more
(25:13):
fluent.
I don't want to say where youget better or you get well.
We never.
As I'm sitting here, as you'resitting here, I could have
blocked and stuttered on 50different words.
Yeah, but I know what I'm goingto block on, I know what I'm
going to stutter on, and it'sthrough my training that I got
(25:34):
around it.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
So you come to see me at the Comedy Cellar working on
the new material and you seehow I get stuck, I go with it, I
go with it.
But you see, compared to theshow I'm doing now, pause for
Laughter we're on tour withPause for Laughter and you saw
it in Fort Lauderdale, right,and it was like I got to tell a
(25:57):
story.
Arthur came to see me at theBeacon and went into a coma.
Oh God, arthur went into a coma.
What the hell did you have thatnight?
Vertigo, I had vertigo, you hadvertigo.
So, randy, didn't come backstageand there's nobody backstage
from his party, and that'susually where he is.
So I go Randy, everything.
(26:18):
Okay, he goes.
Arthur's in a coma, have funtonight, literally.
And Arthur was like this he washaving vertigo and you didn't
catch any of the show.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
No, I was really.
I took a pill.
I took meclizine.
Okay, it's like something thatyou take to and it makes you
very tired, but I guess I wasn'teating, I was tired from this
meclizine.
Yeah, I was probably dehydrated.
I literally passed out.
I know I sat in the showcompletely, you know, completely
(26:47):
out of it and, by the way, youknow you think, like someone
says, oh he passed out, like no,you don't understand.
I, like someone says, oh, hepassed out, like no, you don't
understand, I was passed out.
I know the people I was with avery dear friend literally had
to carry me out.
Oh my God.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
It was insane that I was so affected by this vertigo
and you know, but it's Mashiachenergy because you came and you
saw the show fresh in FortLauderdale and by then I already
done four or five shows.
So the show really liketightened and got better and I
moved things around and we hadthe pretzels in the back of the
wow, by the way, you ever wantto get me, you ever want to get
me a hot pretzel.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
That's it, a fresh hot pretzel, not one of those
you know.
There's like a chain of likehot pretzel places.
I don't like those, me neither.
Okay, I don't like the chain ofhot pretzel places.
I don't want to mention thenames of the chain.
It's in the airport.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
It stinks the whole place up it starts with an A.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
It starts with an A A .
I don't want to mention thename A.
Okay, it starts with an A.
Yeah, it starts with an A.
Okay, okay.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
I don't know the name of it.
I hate those pretzels.
I hate those pretzels.
I like the ones we had at theAt the Parker Playhouse.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
Yeah, whose pretzels were those?
Whosever it was no, was thattheirs?
I thought, maybe you broughtthem for me.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
No, I walked into the theater.
I walk into the theater.
You throw your eyes in thewhat's going on there?
It's a beautiful theater.
It's gorgeous.
It's redone Parker Playhouse inFort L'Oreal and they had, like
the whether you buy food anddrinks and all that.
What's it called Concession?
Concession, the concessionPassword, password.
So I see these pretzelsdingling around.
(28:33):
I was mesmerized for me when Isaid a pretzel going like that,
that dingling, that's likethat's like when they do that,
that's that hypnosis.
Yeah, I said to leo, we'rewalking in.
I go, leo, leo, make sure theyget the pretzels back, make sure
we get the pretzels back onstage.
But they bring us theirpretzels and I said, bring one
for my.
He was coming to the show tooand my father didn't even get
(28:54):
through the lobby.
He bought it himself he wasn'tgoing to walk by those pretzels.
He comes back eating one.
I had one waiting for him.
Pretzel with Diet Coke is nextlevel of my favorite food A
pretzel and Diet.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
Coke.
Do you know it's like a dyingthing, the pretzel right?
Not know it's like a dyingthing, the pretzel right?
Not like bar mitzvahs and theParker Playhouse, by the way
insane, hot, beautiful, freshpretzels.
But somehow today I love buyinga pretzel on the street with a
Diet Coke.
Okay, like after a game, oryou're walking around, it's 11
(29:29):
o'clock at night.
You get a hot pretzel.
There's nothing greater If it'shot are those carts?
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Yeah, of course, but you gotta talk to the guy.
Okay, but they're not.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
that's what I'm trying to say they used to have
them, like on, they don't havethem anymore.
That's what.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
I'm trying to say it's wet and just come out of
the frozen.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
Right, and even when they have them, they'll take it
from like underneath.
They'll throw it on some hotplate or something horrible with
his hands that he has nowhereto wash.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
Horrible, horrible, horrible.
No, but these pretzels.
This is a crazy.
No, let's get into.
This pretzel is really what isit?
A bagel from the old days, fromlike poland and all that.
It's a bagel.
You like it with salt?
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, a littlebit lightly salted.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
sometimes I get it with a lot of salt.
I shake it off, you know, justlike I give it like a shake,
like that, right, and some saltfalls off and that's positive.
And, by the way, it's the best,like when you have a couple of
people, all right, and they wantlike a section of it.
A pretzel is like perfectlysharing.
You can just pick it up offit's not like a piece of cake or
something you have to.
No, you rip off a section of it.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
Yeah, so Leo realized that I have this thing for
pretzels and we were in thehouse in Connecticut and he
loves to go shopping in the big.
There's a big supermarket thereso he buys everything and he
knows what those pretzels areand for him I'm like but he
makes, he can make you know theones in a box.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
Yeah, they're great, they're amazing.
By the way, there's salt inthere also.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
So Leo walks by Like he didn't tell me he bought them
, and he just hands me thispretzel and a Diet Coke and
walks into the bedroom.
I'm like I'm in heaven.
I'm in heaven.
Oh my God, right, is thishappening?
Right?
I'm in a house in Connecticutorgasm, the pretzel with a diet
(31:18):
coke is is wow, it's next level.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
It's just so good it just mushes in your mouth.
So good.
By the way, you got to becareful with those.
You got to set the microwavefor the right amount of time.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
Who microwaves that?
He puts that in that littleoven.
He has that little little ovenhe has.
Oh yes, leo, takes care of me.
You crazy, I never even thoughtof that.
There's no microwave, oh no,it's too moist, it loses the
hard shell.
It loses the hard shell.
The person has to have a littlebit of a crunch to the shell.
I'm learning something here.
You know that.
You know if it's mushy, oh,Modi yeah, the little.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
No, I take the thing, I stick it in the microwave, I
put it on 12 seconds, I get thatsalt out, I put it in and
that's it.
It's what, guyam, do You'resaying?
Put it in the oven, In the oven?
Oh my God, it's a game changer.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
It's a game changer.
It's a complete game changer.
It's so good.
It's like the one in the ParkerPlayhouse.
It's like it's those.
It's that because it's on thatheat and that heat is coming
from those lights.
They have those little, thoselight bulbs in the little thing
that's spinning around In thehypnosis In the hypnosis,
pretzel hypnosis, pretzelhypnosis.
(32:26):
And there's your title for theepisode Pretzel hypnosis, it,
pretzel hypnosis.
It's great, it's what it was.
No, this is what people listento this podcast for Exactly what
we just talked about.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
Because it's all about nostalgia.
Speaker 1 (32:38):
It's nostalgia, but it's also like there's no
politics in a pretzel.
Everybody loves a pretzel,that's right, right, right right
.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
You know how many people are going to comment.
Yeah, how did Luxembourg notknow that you put this in an
oven?
Well, you put it in a microwavebecause you can't wait your
daughter who is a bakery chefdoesn't she do that for you?
I call her out on it.
I call her out.
I call her out.
Jack, jack snacks.
My daughter shout out to her.
(33:07):
Yeah, she doesn't make me anyfresh pretzels.
No, and she also nevercorrected the microwave routine.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
It's not even an issue in the microwave.
It's too moist.
No, it has to be in a littlebit of an oven.
Yeah, jack Snacks.
She sent a beautiful Purim.
I saw you posted, we posted itwas delicious and it came right
on time.
I love that when the packagecomes and you already have a
coffee in your hand, I thesebeautiful cookies.
You just dink right in and youeat it.
It's so good.
(33:39):
Shout out to her.
Shout out to her Also.
Shout out to your otherdaughter.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
Yes, yes, yes, right See, there's a perfect example
Speaking of lawyers.
Speaking of lawyers.
Yes, speaking of lawyers.
Speaker 1 (33:55):
She wants to be a lawyer, like she wants to be an
orthodontist Okay.
So she's got a law degree,right, yeah, she's got a law
degree.
She killed it.
She killed it with the lawdegree, yeah.
And now she's doing stand-up.
She did, and you went.
She did an open mic yesterday.
You went to her first stand-upshow.
Speaker 2 (34:10):
Of course I did, and, by the way she calls me, last
night I didn't.
I did an open mic Told me Fouro'clock in the afternoon.
That's what I mean by justdoing it.
You know, working hard, nobodyto really watch you.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
You texted me after you saw her first show.
Yeah, what did I say?
I remember I go, it was good.
Two different shows, she diddifferent performances.
You said I don't know if she'lldo it again.
I said, wow, is he delusional?
She caught the bug caught thebug.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
She does it.
Any place, she'll get a mic.
Yeah, we were in vegas.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
She was looking for open mic places just so we
understand that her material isnot for a passover program.
Just so that is on the line,those of of you looking for this
, although she told me foranybody interested.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
She told me that she's going to be hosting a
little side corner in the tearoom at the hotel for anybody
that needs advice on anythingthat thinks that she could be
relevant in their life.
Good for her.
Good for her.
Good for her.
Speaker 1 (35:18):
Yeah, she's going to and watch her act's going to
clean up Because the cleaner shegets, the more people she can
get in front.
Life Good for her.
Good for her.
Good for her.
Yeah, she's going to and watch.
She's going to.
Her act's going to clean upbecause the cleaner she gets,
the more people she can get infront of.
So she'll be, she'll, yeah,it's going to be the next time
you and I sitting here again,you'll see there'll be a
different, by the way, andRandy's the brunt of all of it.
Speaker 2 (35:41):
You know most of the good jokes are about Randy.
Yeah, Of course me too, sheloves it too.
Speaker 1 (35:46):
She loves it too, she loves it.
She claims she doesn't.
Yeah, no, she loves it.
The more attention, yeah, yeah,yeah, my mom also I've been
talking about her a lot Very lowkey person.
Yeah, yeah, it's good.
Thank God we have them to talkabout.
Yeah, oh, my God.
Speaker 2 (36:01):
But, in any event, we were talking about stuttering
and I said and we were talkingabout how I feel about it and
about helping people who wanthelp, who want to be able to
become more fluent.
You never get well, you neverget cured to become more fluent.
(36:21):
You never get well, you neverget cured.
Modi and I are not cured, orwe're not.
We're never going to be.
It'll be something that wealways have.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
And it attacks you out of nowhere.
It attacks you out of nowhere,out of nowhere.
Sometimes Leo catches it, likehe sees I'm dealing with maybe
somebody behind the reception orsomething, and I get caught and
he knows how to finish thesentence.
Speaker 2 (36:41):
And there are some letters and there were some
words and there were some somephrases, even if it starts with
the wrong letter.
You know I have issues withcertain blended letters.
Modi has his own issues.
We laugh about what.
What he started on and what Istarted on are two different
things.
But anyway, I said that I met aguy, I met a general manager at
(37:04):
a great restaurant in Arubawhere we had dinner, and the
general manager was whatappeared to me to be a very
chronic stutterer, where hewasn't controlled, he wasn't
fluent at all and he was astutterer.
And after dinner I spoke to himand I asked him a few questions
(37:27):
.
I told him that I was also astutterer and at the end of the
conversation I asked him if hehad gotten any help and he said
no and he just wasn't in thatposition.
I offered to pay for, I offeredto pay for therapy for him if
that's something that he wantedto do.
Yeah, he never did get back tome.
He never did get back to me andyou know we started talking
(37:53):
about about chesed with Perieland I said that for me the best
kind of chesed is chesed, that Icould feel where I'm so
connected to it that the conceptof giving feels so much better.
Sure, we want to give to FIDF,we want to give to these
(38:16):
incredible charities that cameout of October 7th.
But if I know that there's afamily three miles away from me
and there are three miles awayfrom where I live in Great Neck,
or a mile away I know becausewe're involved in organizations
that deliver food to people andwe're actually delivering food
(38:38):
to people that live less than amile from where we live If I
know that there are people thatneed help whether it's
stuttering, whether it's food,whether it's any kind of help
that it's so important to beable to challenge that need.
That's so close to you, whereyou could really be impactful
(39:00):
and see the benefit of whatyou're doing and what you're
giving.
And Perrielle told me about youknow her charity and what's
important to her, and I knowModi, you know your charity and
that's the best way.
There are a lot of people thatcould build buildings and we've
built buildings.
There are a lot of people thatcould have their names up on
(39:21):
things, but the most importantand the most impactful things
that we could ever do are thethings that we could feel and
touch and impact directly.
Speaker 1 (39:31):
So chesed is those who don't know the meaning of it
is to give, but it's to givewith love.
Yeah, it's one of the Sfirot ANadiv.
Speaker 2 (39:43):
Lev A Nadiv Lev.
It's not something that's madeup or you know, rabbis told us
no, it's directly in the text.
Speaker 1 (39:52):
Look up Chesed, see what it says.
Speaker 2 (39:55):
But it's right in the text that give it with love.
If you're not giving it, ifyou're not giving it, if you're
not giving it, and on theRambam's eight levels of charity
, it's the way you give, that'severything.
Of course, anyone could write acheck, but if you give it with
an open heart and an open hand,that's the most important way.
Speaker 1 (40:14):
And giving without, without, without anybody knowing
too, that's the most, that'sthe most, that's the most,
that's the most, that's thehighest level, that's the
highest level.
Speaker 2 (40:22):
Yes, you don't know who you're giving it to.
They don't know who's giving itto them.
Right, and it's an unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (40:29):
It's an unbelievable way, and this is Passover.
This is, this is airingPassover.
This is a definite time to hitthe charities up and give it to
them.
Passover is such a big openingfor receiving amazing energy.
Right, you open the.
Speaker 2 (40:41):
Seder.
You open the Seder.
One of the first things.
One of the first things you sayKol Dechvin, you know everybody
who's needy, everybody who'shungry.
By the way, needy is not onlyhungry, is not poor.
Needy takes on meaning in a lotof different ways.
A person could be needy andcould be rich.
(41:04):
Very rich, but he doesn't havea place to go.
Speaker 1 (41:06):
And doesn't have a friend and doesn't have a
compassion from a wife ordoesn't have any laughter in his
life, he's needy for that.
Just because he has billions ofdollars and a big house and
fancy cars, it doesn't mean he'snot needy.
And the biggest question that Iask and we're all needy for
something.
Speaker 2 (41:22):
Yeah, the biggest question that I ask every single
year is right, we're sayingthis.
We're home from shul.
Any opportunity that we couldhave invited someone over is
gone.
We're sitting at a seder in ahotel where we're spending
thousands of dollars.
You're saying how, how, how areyou doing that?
(41:42):
Where are you inviting?
Speaker 1 (41:43):
them.
Arthur, that's the easiestquestion you've ever asked and
you're in a Passover program.
You sit next to some kid who'sin law school.
They're asking you information.
Give him some time, talk to him, encourage him.
That's the same thing.
Speaker 2 (41:57):
But that's unbelievable.
What a chidush.
What an incredible piece ofinformation.
Yeah, you're saying it's gotnothing to do with food.
Speaker 1 (42:05):
Nothing to do with food or money.
It's giving of yourself.
Yeah, giving, giving, giving Ina Passover program with rich
people?
Speaker 2 (42:12):
Yeah Right, find something you could do it.
You could do it, you could findsomething.
Speaker 1 (42:18):
Of course Always find , do it, you could find
something.
Of course, always findsomething.
Create Moshiach energy, that's.
Speaker 2 (42:21):
Moshiach energy, by the way.
What an unbelievable conceptfor us to hammer in.
But for me, my answer alwayswas I prepared for this
Kaldichfin Halachma.
I prepared for it, I gave itbefore.
So when it comes time for it,if there's nobody around the
(42:42):
Passover program for me toinvite in there's nobody happens
to be there passing through.
I did it already.
I paid.
I paid for people.
I paid for matzah.
I paid for people to have mealsand seders.
I did it already.
Speaker 1 (42:56):
So money is energy.
You gave here's some energy tothese people, but your time
speaking to them.
Call my secretary, she'll helpyou with this, and that that's
also giving.
That's a different giving.
Speaker 2 (43:08):
I don't want that concept to be lost on this group
that we're going to be talkingto over Passover and you don't
have to be in a Passover program, you could be anywhere.
We're all going to say thathalachma, and we're all going to
say that halachma, and we'reall going to wonder well, where
are these poor people that I'minviting in?
You hear what he said?
Guys, it's not about the foodor inviting someone in, it's
(43:33):
you're sitting next to someone.
You get a call, you have anopportunity to help somebody.
Use it.
If you're lucky enough and Isaw this in a situation which
I'm going to talk about Ifyou're lucky enough, right, and
I saw this in a situation whichI'm going to talk about If
you're lucky enough that youcould help somebody.
Help, wow, yeah, right, becausethat won't always be there.
Speaker 1 (43:51):
I have a friend that lives in Great Neck and he tells
me people come asking for money.
So I said to him, when they dothat, the first thing you do is
say thank you God, thank you God, thank you God.
That's the opportunity.
But it's also thank God thatI'm the one that people are
coming to ask money.
I'm not the one asking formoney.
I say thank God right away andthen deal with the problem,
whatever the situation is in,whatever you think is the right
(44:13):
way, but always be thankful thatyou're the one.
Speaker 2 (44:14):
People are coming to ask for money and I think that I
think I said it I don't know ifit was here or in some other
context, but when I pray, makeme a giver today.
Make me a giver, make me findimportant things to give.
(44:35):
Make me a giver and you knowwhat?
That's what makes it better forus.
So I was at a baseball game,okay, and I was sitting in very
good seats, I'm sure, and a veryfamous player was a few seats
(44:56):
down in a row in front of me anda little kid comes to him for
an autograph and the baseballplayer blows him off, oh, wow.
And then the father of thebaseball player even comes over
and says you know, could yousign this for this kid?
And little tiny kid, the cutestthing in the world.
This is a I'm not saying it's ahas-been player, but he's a
has-been player.
Okay, okay, it's past him.
(45:16):
Okay, won't sign it, won't signit, won't sign it and in fact
really is dismissive of thefather and the kid.
Okay, I lean over after thiswhole thing is over and I don't
care, that guy wants to listen.
I said you did something reallywrong.
I said let me tell yousomething.
If you were fortunate enough inyour life that somebody wants
(45:40):
your autograph.
They want that.
That's important to them.
You are the luckiest man in theworld, and the fact that you
blew that kid off and then youblew the father off shame on you
Right.
One day, no one's going to wantto know about you.
No one's going to want anautograph If you're lucky enough
(46:01):
that you're able to do it nowand somebody feels that that's
impactful you do it AbsolutelyWait, just to finish up on the
Passover.
Speaker 1 (46:10):
I know you don't listen to the podcast, but in
the middle of the podcast wethank you.
We say our sponsors are Weitzand Luxembourg, the law firm
that not only does well, they dogood, they're very
philanthropic.
I love that.
We came up with that.
Who came up with that?
The guy you work with?
No, the guy you work with.
Okay, we came up with that.
Speaker 2 (46:30):
I love that, and with A&H.
Speaker 1 (46:32):
I love that.
A&h provisions A lot of kosherfood that is so delicious.
Even Goyim are going to buy it.
They realize it's that good,especially their hot dogs.
Hot dogs yeah, insane hot dogs.
We haven't even touched on that.
Kosherdogsnet Nice 30% off onyour first order when you use
promo code Mody.
How insane is that?
You're so famous.
(46:53):
You have a promo code.
Okay, so hold on, I'll wrapthis up.
Oh, wow, whoa.
Oh, wow, whoa, wow, okay.
So I mean I can't thank you forbeing what that's it.
Well, don't forget, you wentinto a tizzy On what, before the
podcast began, you called yourfriend who, by the way, I'm not
going to mention who he is.
It's a guy that's very well off.
Can we cover that?
(47:13):
No, no, no, he's very well offoff.
But well, here's money.
Yeah, he's a business, he's afamily, he's good.
But you gave him yiddish kite.
You gave him.
You gave him.
The chesed you gave him was notin money.
Yeah, you gave him.
You told him here's you.
You can put on tefillin if youwant, and he puts on tefillin.
You can make the blessingfriday night and you gave that
to him.
You gave him the, the menu.
(47:35):
He's exceptional.
He's exceptional, but hedoesn't need money, but he
doesn't, he's needy forsomething for Yiddishkeit, and
you sparked his soul.
Yeah, okay, wow, passover.
Those of you on your programs,you're still in the eight days.
You can grasp that energy thatyou get on Passover, passover,
you get the energy on Passoverand then you work it off in the
(47:57):
40 days after with the Omer OnRosh Hashanah.
You work up an Elul the monthbefore and you get that energy
and boom, you get that on RoshHashanah.
So that's where you are now.
Besides that Chesed, oh my God,buy your friends tickets to see
comedy shows, especially mine.
I'm on tour with Pause forLaughter.
We are going to be in WarsawPoland.
(48:17):
Can you believe that?
In Warsaw Poland?
Can you believe that?
Warsaw Poland?
And then Manchester, and thenFrankfurt and Munich because why
not?
And then Geneva and AntwerpReparations, reparations, tour
Right Reparations tour.
Manchester.
It's going to be an insane show.
Huge theater Destination.
Make a weekend of it.
(48:38):
See you guys there.
Get your tickets.
Modilivecom Be the friend thatbrings the friends to the comedy
show, and it can't be this longagain before you come back on.
Speaker 2 (48:49):
No, this is epic every time I'm here.
Speaker 1 (48:51):
I love you, I absolutely love you.
Okay, we're out.
Thank you everybody.
Hi listeners and welcome to episode 145.
This week Arthur Luxemburg,king Arthur, came to the studio.
It was just me and him.
We had a powwow two friendschatting.
It was so much fun.
If you get a chance, also lookat the video.
He wore this insane bluecheckerboard blazer.
We had deep conversations aboutPassover programs and this will
(00:23):
be airing during Passover.
I hope everybody's having anamazing Passover program and the
entertainment where you are isgood.
I will be in Mexico for twoshows those that will see me.
I cannot wait.
I love Passover shows Arthurand I spoke about.
Of course we always have thestuttering in common.
Of course we always have thestuttering in common.
(00:44):
We spoke about why people whowent to law school and don't
practice law always introducethemselves as lawyer but not
practicing.
We had an emotionalconversation, absolutely
emotional, heartwarming, reallya connection, a bond over
pretzels, just discussing howimportant pretzels are and how
delicious they are and all kindsof textures.
(01:05):
Just discussing how importantpretzels are and how delicious
they are and all kinds oftextures.
And we really it was.
If you catch anything of thisepisode, make sure it's the
pretzel conversation.
Periel was on the sidelinegiving us talking points.
We had a great time.
Thank you very much forlistening and don't forget I'm
on tour.
There are shows everywhere,america and Europe.
We are in Warsaw, manchester,we are in Frankfurt, munich, we
(01:28):
are in Geneva and in Antwerp.
Wow, it's an amazing tour.
It's going to be two weeks ofthose shows, unbelievable.
And then we have the SummerLaugh the Laugh-Away Camp
Instead of Sleepaway Camp,laugh-away Camp instead of
Sleep-Away Camp, laugh-away Camp, with shows in Omaha, nebraska,
in Indianapolis, in Columbus,ohio, hampton Bays, which is in
(01:57):
the Hamptons, right between bothWest and regular Hampton.
Everything's available onmodilivecom.
Enjoy the episode.
Welcome to, and here's Modi.
Welcome to and here's Modi.
We are here today.
It's me and my guest and it'sArthur Luxemburg.
Welcome back.
I can't tell you how manypeople loved the episodes you
(02:18):
were on and everywhere we go,people know you say when is
Arthur coming back?
One guy I'm horrible with names, you know that, but in the meet
and greet set I went to lawschool with him and I heard his
voice.
I felt like I was in law schoolagain.
I felt like I was 23 years oldin law school and just so.
I'm so happy.
So I recently began to learnhow to use chat GPT, so I put in
(02:41):
this is what I put in for anintroduction and questions with
you.
This is what I wrote today.
This is my first time reallyusing ChatGPT.
Okay, I wrote.
I'm the number one Jewishcomedian in the world.
I have a podcast called, andhere's Modi.
Today, our guest is a friendthat I have met later in life,
which I always think is aspecial thing to meet friends
later in life.
(03:02):
His name is Arthur Luxemburg.
He is a partner at Weitz andLuxemburg Law Firm, which also
is a sponsor of our podcast.
Arthur and I share a miraculousjourney because we are both
stutterers and work in a fieldthat would never think
stutterers would work in.
I'm a comedian and he's a courtattorney and a law attorney.
(03:25):
I don't know how to say whatyou do exactly.
This episode will be airingduring Passover.
Arthur will be at a Passoverprogram in Florida and I'll be
doing two shows in Mexico.
The Passover programs arespecial, unique, niche events
that happen in the Jewish world.
Please give me five questionsto ask him.
I don't like any of thequestions, by the way, but that
(03:48):
was it.
That's a good introduction.
No, no, periel just gave me aeh.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
That was pretty good information that you fed into
there.
You'd think they would come upwith five good questions.
Give me one, one of thequestions that they gave.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Yeah, give me just one.
They went for the stutteringstuff.
I don't have it.
I don't have it.
So much for that.
So much I'm learning.
I'm learning how to use GPTReally.
How are you?
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Great, I'm great, really good to be here again.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
This is going to air Passover Nice Next Wednesday.
Beautiful yeah, in the middleof all the Pesach programs,
those of you who don't know whatthat is.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
How do you even begin to describe a Passover program?
By the way, is that going toget the full impact?
Airing this over Passover.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
Yeah, it will be.
The fans know Wednesday thiscomes out.
Fans come on, they listen to it.
They plan like a walk around it.
They plan cooking around it.
The people tell us when theylisten to this it they plan
cooking around it.
The people tell us, when theylisten to this, it's like when
they drive they put this on.
It helps them just relax.
It gives them a pause from life.
Listening to our shtos, ournourish kite, makes them happy,
(04:55):
which.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
I love it.
I love it.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
And yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
How do you prepare?
I'll tell you how we prepare.
We have a moving company come,they pick up everything in the
house and they move it into acouple of hotel rooms, either
upstate New York or Miami or, inour case, in Palm Beach.
You're going to be in PalmBeach.
Be in Palm Beach.
Yeah, it's where we've been formany, many years.
(05:20):
Our entire family is there.
We're over 40 people now andit's really an incredible time.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
So 40 people are at this Passover program.
I've been to his table so twoor three years ago I performed
at this event.
And we get there and Arthur'slike you're eating with us,
you're staying with us, thewhole thing with us, 40 people.
Leo's still new to Passoverprograms.
We show up and it's just Jewsand food and it's so unhinged
and people who don't understandhow crazy Passover programs are.
You can't explain it to them.
(05:52):
We get to your table.
Randy shows up in pink pajamasand fluffy shoes All like Chanel
.
Everything is like thousands ofdollars and her own water
bottle and her own SnappleKosher for Passover Snapple
Things that they don't have inthe program.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
I hope it was Kosher for Passover.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Whatever it was, she came with it and she's like hi
Leo, hi Moni, we're right hereand we go, we sit down with her
and we just and yeah, it's nicefor me when I have family at
like a program like this, andyou were there, it was like
having family there.
(06:34):
It was a little bit differentthan the first time we met at a
Passover program which was atthe hotel upstate, the Rye Town
Hilton.
So during Passover, people whoare well-to-do go to nice hotels
and destinations, all kinds ofplaces in Mexico and all of that
.
And then there's people who goto the Rye Hotel in upstate and
that's because they really it's.
Either it's less expensive butmore it's like either they have
(06:57):
a parent that's too old totravel or their daughter-in-law
is like in her nine and a halfmonth.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
That's typically what it is.
It really wasn't the money,because the price was almost the
same.
I mean, you had to pay forairfare.
You know, when you went toFlorida.
But going to Westchester, wherethe program at the Hilton was,
it was really because there wasa reason that you had to be
there.
And one of the fun things wasis you'd see people either in
(07:23):
the dining room or at the Minionand so why are you here?
So why are you here?
And someone would say, oh, mymother couldn't travel, or my
daughter was pregnant Exactlywhat you said or you had to be.
You know, during theintermediate days, during
Cholamoi, yeah, somewhere youhad to be at work.
There was always a reason youwere there.
It couldn't just be because itwas a great program, Right?
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Which also, by the way, one of the talking points
we have for today.
Since the last time we spoke, Itold you that I've realized
people that have law degrees anddon't practice law talk about
like they always introducewhatever they do.
Like I'm an interior director,but I went to law school.
I have a law degree.
They tell you that.
Have you noticed that?
Speaker 2 (08:10):
Yeah, there's a lot of that.
I mean, the whole practicing oflaw is an anomaly in and of
itself.
Practicing law when do you everget it right?
But yeah, I mean that's whathappens.
A lot of people have lawdegrees but never do end up
going in and working in the lawfor various reasons.
You know there's a familybusiness, you know they can't
(08:33):
get a good enough job, andthat's something else that we
should really be talking about.
But that's a very common thingthat people go to law school.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
I don't walk around saying, hi, I'm a comedian, but
I have a degree in uh,psychology from BU.
I don't say that people withthe law degree like put that I
have a law degree, I have a law.
Recently this happened to metoo.
Um, I went to get my orthoticsand the doctor is a great doctor
, dr Cement, and his husband.
(09:02):
Husband runs the practice,because I guess he was a lawyer
quit.
Now he runs this practice.
And within the first twointeractions we had, he was
telling me I'm a lawyer too.
I was a lawyer, but now I runthis practice.
It was funny.
I called him up.
I said I need to make anappointment for this.
I go.
My name is Mody Rosenfeld, hegoes.
We just saw you at the Beacon.
My parents are seeing you inFlorida, so that was right away.
(09:23):
It was already family.
Okay, it's already family.
And I get there and we starttalking right away.
I was a law degree, he goes.
I was the attorney for Enron.
Luckily I'm old enough to knowwhat the hell he's talking about
.
But that was like.
But that's a thing.
Lawyers always talk about beinglawyers, like you know.
They don't just like it's.
It's a thing.
I don't know it's a thing.
I don't know it's a thing, butwhat's the?
Speaker 2 (09:42):
typical reason that a person goes to law school,
spends three years and thendoesn't go into law, and I think
that the answer is when you goto medical school, you learn how
to be a doctor and typicallyyou become a doctor and you're
working in that profession forthe rest of your life.
When you go to law school, alot of people don't know what
(10:05):
they want to go into.
They know they want some kindof professional degree, or their
parents want them to have somekind of advanced degree, or
their grandparents want them to,which was my case.
They wanted me to be a doctor,but that didn't work out.
So you go to law school becauseyou don't know what you want to
do.
You waste a bunch of money andyou waste time and then you
(10:28):
decide what kind of job can Iget?
And if you don't get a goodenough job or it's not something
that really appealed to you,because you don't learn in law
school how to be a lawyer, youlearn how to approach things,
but you don't learn thepractical kind of things that
you actually do once you becomea lawyer and once you're working
(10:50):
in a law firm, whereas inmedical school and in those kind
of other things.
You actually learn how to be adoctor and do those kind of
things in your residency, inyour internship, whereas in law
you don't.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Yeah, you and I recently had dinner together and
we were driving home and wepassed by the building where you
used to work, so you and I werechatting.
You didn't really see where wewere and I turned off the
highway.
What's that building?
Woolworth building, woolworthbuilding, yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Woolworth building.
It's a good memory.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
And I saw you had an amazing memory.
So we're driving by, I'm givinghim a ride home and we drive by
the I just by chance that'swhere Waze took me and we pass
by the building.
All of a sudden you look up andyou see this building and you
just had a moment and you go.
(11:46):
I worked so hard in thatbuilding.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
You're like what, what was what?
What came over you when you wedrove by that building?
You know, mody, honestly Idon't know exactly if you
remember what we did before thatbuilding was.
Before we passed by thatbuilding, you went on for about
15 minutes in one of yourunderground locations to
material.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
He came to the comedy cellar.
He came to the comedy cellar.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
And what wasn't lost on me was being with one of my
best friends who we're going toget a bite to eat after, right,
he must have done three or fourshows that week, flying all over
the country and yet he's taken10 minutes to practice new
material.
And yet he's taken 10 minutesto practice new material.
And you never that's neversomething that you ever lose
(12:30):
working hard, putting in thatkind of energy.
So it was really fortuitousthat we then pass the building
that I first learned that Ifirst became a lawyer in in the
Woolworth building and I spentso much time and made so little
money but put in such anenormous effort when it first
(12:52):
began my career and it honestlyhad a lot of good memories and
you know that's really whatlaunched that conversation about
.
You know people think likeyou're just successful.
You know that Modi just is atalented guy that one day just
got on a stage and just becameenormously successful.
(13:13):
It doesn't happen that way.
It doesn't happen that way foranybody.
An enormous amount of training,of time, of effort, of failures
, many failures go into themagic of what ultimately becomes
success.
If you measure success in thatway and my kids always needle me
(13:36):
, you know, dad, success is notfinancial success.
It could be success in so manydifferent ways, and they're
right.
Success could take on manydifferent forms.
If you're successful in acommunity and you're doing
charity work, or you'resuccessful with a family, or
you're successful in anythingthat brings you tremendous joy,
(13:57):
that measures success, not justfinancial success.
So passing the Woolworthbuilding that night was really,
you know, just a moment for me.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
Yeah, I saw it.
I saw it in your eyes.
You're like you literallystopped and go.
I was in there till one in themorning every, every one in the
morning, every day.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Very often later than one.
I would take a subway.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
So when did you move to the, to the building you're
in now?
Those of you who don't know,Arthur is Arthur.
Luxemburg is a part of Weitzand Luxemburg.
He's the Luxemburg of Weitz andLuxemburg and an unbelievable
law firm in New York City.
And when did you move to thebuilding?
The building you have now isinsane, so that building, modi,
we continued to work downtown.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
It was a building that was originally called the
Continental Building.
It was a building that wasoriginally called the
Continental Building, which wason Maiden Lane.
Yes, and we were in thatbuilding for about 20 years.
Twice, we started out in thatbuilding.
We left.
We were working for anotherfirm when we were in the
Woolworth Building, but when wemoved, we moved to a little tiny
office in the ContinentalBuilding, 2,000 square feet.
(15:03):
Oh my God Right, we now have100.
But we were in 2,000 squarefeet.
Oh my God Right, we now have100.
But we were in 2,000 squarefeet, oh my God.
We were in basically what kindof law were you doing?
We were doing the same thingPersonal injury type of law,
which is where the asbestoslitigation really began and
where we began doing the kind ofmass torts that we did.
But we only had 2,000 squarefeet.
(15:25):
It was a tiny little space andwe grew from there and we left
that building shortly thereafterand we went to a different
building downtown alwaysdowntown in the Wall Street area
, Right Until the rents reallywent up very, very high and we
decided many years later to buya building.
So it was really only 20 years,20 years, Only 20, only 20
(15:48):
years, only 20 years.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Now you're saying only 20 years.
Right Back then, those 20 yearsseemed like a lifetime.
20 years is a lifetime.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
20 years is a lifetime Right, and we're in the
current building that we're inalso for about 20 years, so I
knew so before I met you, I knewwho you were and I knew you
were the asbestos guy.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
So I get on stage and I took a drink of water because
it was a little drama before Igot on stage with the microphone
and there wasn't good sound andRandy popped out of her chair.
Little Randy comes running outto the guy who's running the
event.
He needs good sound, he can'tjust go on stage.
And they brought me this goldmicrophone Remember the gold
microphone, of course and Istart the show and I go Right.
(16:28):
I go oh, mezzofilioma, arthur,I think we have a case.
Right, that's how I started theshow, right that's how I
started the show.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
I remember it and you just bought it.
I remember I remember.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Very funny, it was good, right, but 20 years free
advertising.
Free advertising, yes, that'sgreat, it's so good, it's great
I was thinking about during this.
This thing is airing during thepassover program season and I
want to tell you, I thinkthere's nobody in the world
that's been to more passoverprograms than me.
I've been to my different onesdifferent ones, of course.
(17:03):
There's years I remember I flewto four different ones.
I would do a show in Florida,go to Arizona, from Arizona to
Aspen, and one year it wasFlorida, arizona, aspen and then
Vieques.
Remember there was a program inVieques it's like an island
that's off of Puerto Rico oh, Idon't know, it was an island off
of Puerto Rico or somewherelike that.
(17:24):
You had to get on a prop planeto get on there, right, and they
had to get all the Jews outthere with their luggage.
Each one was on his own planeand they got there and the guy
that ran the program didn't do agood job and there was no food.
They were abandoned on theisland and I showed up like on
day seven, you know, showed uplike on day seven, you know.
(17:46):
Then, before they go back intothe other, and there was a lot
of people showed up there, a lotthe big rabbis we had there,
but it was supposed to be a bigdeal, but it ended up a big bomb
on this island, um, and youcouldn't get food.
It's not like you're in puertorico, it's, it's, it's a mess.
And then the microphone theyhad for me it was a six, six
foot to a wall.
That's why I was performing.
But it was a great show andthey loved it because they were
(18:07):
dying over there.
It was a big, big Anybody thatwas on the Vieques Passover
program.
We should have a support groupmeeting.
People were traumatized.
People were traumatized by thisPassover program.
They thought, oh, this is it,this is the next level of
Passover program.
It's Vieques, this is the nextlevel of Passover programs
(18:27):
V'ekes, the Tuchus, it's themiddle of nowhere.
We know it was a disaster, adisaster.
But I've been to every programbig, small, large, far away in
travel Mexico, aruba.
Every year I would do two orthree programs.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
But now you're stationed in one place the whole
time.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
No, we're doing two shows in Mexico, right, and this
was next to each other.
Right, I wasn't going to do itthis year.
Leo said he'll do it.
He was going to go and do theshow, no, but just to come with
me.
Oh, I can't go into this thingnow.
And so Leo said, okay, we'll dothis our last year.
We'll do these and I love them.
It's so free, you understand,to perform at these programs.
(19:09):
It's like being in theCatskills again.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
No, Depends on the program, but I can see how that
could be.
You know you're waiting all dayfor your next meal.
All day, the omelet stations.
You know the tea rooms, right?
Don't you judge every program.
All day, the omelet stations.
You know the tea rooms, right?
Right, don't you judge everyprogram by how long you have to
wait online for your omelet andwhat kind of tea room they have?
Speaker 1 (19:33):
That's the soul of Passover.
The omelet stations or the tearooms?
No, what Passover is all about.
Is it the tea room?
No, it's really not.
It's about changing your ego.
But yeah, everybody's there.
It's the opposite of what youshould be doing on.
Passover is going to thesePassover programs, right.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
I haven't stayed home in a long time, so I think the
last time.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
Spiritually.
Spiritually, yeah, passover,there's nothing going on there.
No, spiritually at the programs, yeah, you're all day long busy
with the food Whether you'regoing to feed us.
There's not a lot ofspirituality.
Okay, so that's what I wasgetting at.
Definitely true.
You have a few of the kids thatbecame extra religious, like
(20:16):
more religious than family, andthey're walking around with a
white shirt and a Gamora intheir hands with the Talmud.
They're walking around.
They're looking to see thatthey're carrying a Talmud.
Everybody else is in bathingsuits, butt naked, running
around to the pool, but he'swalking around with a Talmud
because he was a year in Israeland became really religious and
now he's walking around with aTalmud for this year.
By the next year he's not maybe.
(20:37):
But you're right, every familyhas a couple.
Yeah, that became.
Is it your mom or was it yourmom?
No, it wasn't your mom, it wassomebody else's mom at the table
, came over to me and goes I'm abig fan of yours.
(20:59):
Maybe my sister-in-law's mother.
She came over.
Very lovely lady, lovely lovelylady.
She lives in New Jersey, she'sgreat, she's great.
And she said to me I'm a bigfan of your work and this and
that, and it's been very nice tomeet you and I'm glad to see
you're here with Arthur andRandy, and I said this is my
husband.
She goes.
Oh oh, I didn't know you weresuch a metropolitan person,
(21:22):
that's what she said Is thatwhat she said?
Yeah.
She said, yeah, metropolitan.
I remember I was dying fromthat.
That's a shout out to Bubz Bubz, yeah.
And you guys didn't let hercome to the show because of
COVID.
Maybe she didn't want to go tothe show, she wanted.
Her family didn't let her gobecause they were scared.
Everybody was still in the room.
It was a tight room.
(21:42):
It was a feeder.
It was a feeder.
Yeah, it was a feeder.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
Yeah, it was a feeder .
It still is Any of those aftera wedding or after you're not
only.
You know, somebody gets sickand spreads it around.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
Yeah, you know spreader.
So still, you know it's still.
It was still fresh back then,the COVID.
Now I don't think anybody cares, right, yeah, stuttering,
stuttering.
Oh, whoa, whoa, it's heavy,whoa.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Yeah, you could fill up a whole.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
We did.
We do a series on stuff we didand the episodes we did.
People loved them and calledand they got help and every time
everybody called thatinstitution.
I sent you all the information,just so you know that people
were getting help and peoplewere enjoying the episodes.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
So you know the difference between you and me.
Yeah, okay.
So, and I said it, you know,during our last, during our last
podcast, I had a lot of therapy.
Yeah, meaning I went throughyears of therapy, really
formalized type of therapy.
You never did.
You know, your stuttering wasdifferent and I think it depends
(22:49):
on you know the quality of howyou stutter, meaning I blocked,
I listened to tapes of myselfgoing back 40 years not 40, 50
years when I was 10 years oldand I didn't remember how
difficult it was, but I couldn'tspeak and I don't think you
(23:11):
were ever in.
How was your stuttering whenyou were growing up?
Speaker 1 (23:14):
It was, it was it was a thing it was about.
I knew how to not speak or toprepare my line before before
hitting them with it.
That's right.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
Yeah, we all have our tricks.
Yeah, we all have our ways ofof getting around things, but I
learned it in a more formalizedway.
But, you know, learned it in amore formalized way.
But you know, I just want tosay that you know there's two
different ways that people viewstutterers, or people view the
whole stuttering community.
There's and it probably comesfrom the point of view of
(23:46):
parents.
You know they want to sheltertheir kids.
They don't want their kids tobe exposed to any ridicule or
any people who don't understandit, or can't you get your words
out or people being made fun ofor bullying, so they insulate
them in a way that they're neverexposed.
Or in their younger years andwhen they get a little bit older
(24:08):
, even during high school, theygo to stuttering camps like we
spoke about.
There's a very good camp thatkids go to, or there's
stuttering support groups.
Whereas my view was get as muchhelp as you can.
There's help out there and it'svery important.
(24:29):
You're not always going to beable to go to a camp for
stutterers.
You're not always going to beable to go to a camp for
stutterers.
You're not always going to beable to be in an environment
where all your friends are onlygoing to be stutterers, right,
and if that's the only placethat you're exposed to through
high school and you go tocollege, you're going to be in a
very, very difficultenvironment that you're
emotionally not going to be ableto handle.
(24:51):
So I advocate, advocate and Imight take criticism for this,
and we'll see the comments fromyour people that are watching
this, but I'm of the opinionthat do whatever you can to get
the therapy that you can to getto a point where you're more
(25:13):
fluent.
I don't want to say where youget better or you get well.
We never.
As I'm sitting here, as you'resitting here, I could have
blocked and stuttered on 50different words.
Yeah, but I know what I'm goingto block on, I know what I'm
going to stutter on, and it'sthrough my training that I got
(25:34):
around it.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
So you come to see me at the Comedy Cellar working on
the new material and you seehow I get stuck, I go with it, I
go with it.
But you see, compared to theshow I'm doing now, pause for
Laughter we're on tour withPause for Laughter and you saw
it in Fort Lauderdale, right,and it was like I got to tell a
(25:57):
story.
Arthur came to see me at theBeacon and went into a coma.
Oh God, arthur went into a coma.
What the hell did you have thatnight?
Vertigo, I had vertigo, you hadvertigo.
So, randy, didn't come backstageand there's nobody backstage
from his party, and that'susually where he is.
So I go Randy, everything.
(26:18):
Okay, he goes.
Arthur's in a coma, have funtonight, literally.
And Arthur was like this he washaving vertigo and you didn't
catch any of the show.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
No, I was really.
I took a pill.
I took meclizine.
Okay, it's like something thatyou take to and it makes you
very tired, but I guess I wasn'teating, I was tired from this
meclizine.
Yeah, I was probably dehydrated.
I literally passed out.
I know I sat in the showcompletely, you know, completely
(26:47):
out of it and, by the way, youknow you think, like someone
says, oh he passed out, like no,you don't understand.
I, like someone says, oh, hepassed out, like no, you don't
understand, I was passed out.
I know the people I was with avery dear friend literally had
to carry me out.
Oh my God.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
It was insane that I was so affected by this vertigo
and you know, but it's Mashiachenergy because you came and you
saw the show fresh in FortLauderdale and by then I already
done four or five shows.
So the show really liketightened and got better and I
moved things around and we hadthe pretzels in the back of the
wow, by the way, you ever wantto get me, you ever want to get
me a hot pretzel.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
That's it, a fresh hot pretzel, not one of those
you know.
There's like a chain of likehot pretzel places.
I don't like those, me neither.
Okay, I don't like the chain ofhot pretzel places.
I don't want to mention thenames of the chain.
It's in the airport.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
It stinks the whole place up it starts with an A.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
It starts with an A A .
I don't want to mention thename A.
Okay, it starts with an A.
Yeah, it starts with an A.
Okay, okay.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
I don't know the name of it.
I hate those pretzels.
I hate those pretzels.
I like the ones we had at theAt the Parker Playhouse.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
Yeah, whose pretzels were those?
Whosever it was no, was thattheirs?
I thought, maybe you broughtthem for me.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
No, I walked into the theater.
I walk into the theater.
You throw your eyes in thewhat's going on there?
It's a beautiful theater.
It's gorgeous.
It's redone Parker Playhouse inFort L'Oreal and they had, like
the whether you buy food anddrinks and all that.
What's it called Concession?
Concession, the concessionPassword, password.
So I see these pretzelsdingling around.
(28:33):
I was mesmerized for me when Isaid a pretzel going like that,
that dingling, that's likethat's like when they do that,
that's that hypnosis.
Yeah, I said to leo, we'rewalking in.
I go, leo, leo, make sure theyget the pretzels back, make sure
we get the pretzels back onstage.
But they bring us theirpretzels and I said, bring one
for my.
He was coming to the show tooand my father didn't even get
(28:54):
through the lobby.
He bought it himself he wasn'tgoing to walk by those pretzels.
He comes back eating one.
I had one waiting for him.
Pretzel with Diet Coke is nextlevel of my favorite food A
pretzel and Diet.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
Coke.
Do you know it's like a dyingthing, the pretzel right?
Not know it's like a dyingthing, the pretzel right?
Not like bar mitzvahs and theParker Playhouse, by the way
insane, hot, beautiful, freshpretzels.
But somehow today I love buyinga pretzel on the street with a
Diet Coke.
Okay, like after a game, oryou're walking around, it's 11
(29:29):
o'clock at night.
You get a hot pretzel.
There's nothing greater If it'shot are those carts?
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Yeah, of course, but you gotta talk to the guy.
Okay, but they're not.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
that's what I'm trying to say they used to have
them, like on, they don't havethem anymore.
That's what.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
I'm trying to say it's wet and just come out of
the frozen.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
Right, and even when they have them, they'll take it
from like underneath.
They'll throw it on some hotplate or something horrible with
his hands that he has nowhereto wash.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
Horrible, horrible, horrible.
No, but these pretzels.
This is a crazy.
No, let's get into.
This pretzel is really what isit?
A bagel from the old days, fromlike poland and all that.
It's a bagel.
You like it with salt?
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, a littlebit lightly salted.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
sometimes I get it with a lot of salt.
I shake it off, you know, justlike I give it like a shake,
like that, right, and some saltfalls off and that's positive.
And, by the way, it's the best,like when you have a couple of
people, all right, and they wantlike a section of it.
A pretzel is like perfectlysharing.
You can just pick it up offit's not like a piece of cake or
something you have to.
No, you rip off a section of it.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
Yeah, so Leo realized that I have this thing for
pretzels and we were in thehouse in Connecticut and he
loves to go shopping in the big.
There's a big supermarket thereso he buys everything and he
knows what those pretzels areand for him I'm like but he
makes, he can make you know theones in a box.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
Yeah, they're great, they're amazing.
By the way, there's salt inthere also.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
So Leo walks by Like he didn't tell me he bought them
, and he just hands me thispretzel and a Diet Coke and
walks into the bedroom.
I'm like I'm in heaven.
I'm in heaven.
Oh my God, right, is thishappening?
Right?
I'm in a house in Connecticutorgasm, the pretzel with a diet
(31:18):
coke is is wow, it's next level.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
It's just so good it just mushes in your mouth.
So good.
By the way, you got to becareful with those.
You got to set the microwavefor the right amount of time.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
Who microwaves that?
He puts that in that littleoven.
He has that little little ovenhe has.
Oh yes, leo, takes care of me.
You crazy, I never even thoughtof that.
There's no microwave, oh no,it's too moist, it loses the
hard shell.
It loses the hard shell.
The person has to have a littlebit of a crunch to the shell.
I'm learning something here.
You know that.
You know if it's mushy, oh,Modi yeah, the little.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
No, I take the thing, I stick it in the microwave, I
put it on 12 seconds, I get thatsalt out, I put it in and
that's it.
It's what, guyam, do You'resaying?
Put it in the oven, In the oven?
Oh my God, it's a game changer.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
It's a game changer.
It's a complete game changer.
It's so good.
It's like the one in the ParkerPlayhouse.
It's like it's those.
It's that because it's on thatheat and that heat is coming
from those lights.
They have those little, thoselight bulbs in the little thing
that's spinning around In thehypnosis In the hypnosis,
pretzel hypnosis, pretzelhypnosis.
(32:26):
And there's your title for theepisode Pretzel hypnosis, it,
pretzel hypnosis.
It's great, it's what it was.
No, this is what people listento this podcast for Exactly what
we just talked about.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
Because it's all about nostalgia.
Speaker 1 (32:38):
It's nostalgia, but it's also like there's no
politics in a pretzel.
Everybody loves a pretzel,that's right, right, right right
.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
You know how many people are going to comment.
Yeah, how did Luxembourg notknow that you put this in an
oven?
Well, you put it in a microwavebecause you can't wait your
daughter who is a bakery chefdoesn't she do that for you?
I call her out on it.
I call her out.
I call her out.
Jack, jack snacks.
My daughter shout out to her.
(33:07):
Yeah, she doesn't make me anyfresh pretzels.
No, and she also nevercorrected the microwave routine.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
It's not even an issue in the microwave.
It's too moist.
No, it has to be in a littlebit of an oven.
Yeah, jack Snacks.
She sent a beautiful Purim.
I saw you posted, we posted itwas delicious and it came right
on time.
I love that when the packagecomes and you already have a
coffee in your hand, I thesebeautiful cookies.
You just dink right in and youeat it.
It's so good.
(33:39):
Shout out to her.
Shout out to her Also.
Shout out to your otherdaughter.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
Yes, yes, yes, right See, there's a perfect example
Speaking of lawyers.
Speaking of lawyers.
Yes, speaking of lawyers.
Speaker 1 (33:55):
She wants to be a lawyer, like she wants to be an
orthodontist Okay.
So she's got a law degree,right, yeah, she's got a law
degree.
She killed it.
She killed it with the lawdegree, yeah.
And now she's doing stand-up.
She did, and you went.
She did an open mic yesterday.
You went to her first stand-upshow.
Speaker 2 (34:10):
Of course I did, and, by the way she calls me, last
night I didn't.
I did an open mic Told me Fouro'clock in the afternoon.
That's what I mean by justdoing it.
You know, working hard, nobodyto really watch you.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
You texted me after you saw her first show.
Yeah, what did I say?
I remember I go, it was good.
Two different shows, she diddifferent performances.
You said I don't know if she'lldo it again.
I said, wow, is he delusional?
She caught the bug caught thebug.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
She does it.
Any place, she'll get a mic.
Yeah, we were in vegas.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
She was looking for open mic places just so we
understand that her material isnot for a passover program.
Just so that is on the line,those of of you looking for this
, although she told me foranybody interested.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
She told me that she's going to be hosting a
little side corner in the tearoom at the hotel for anybody
that needs advice on anythingthat thinks that she could be
relevant in their life.
Good for her.
Good for her.
Good for her.
Speaker 1 (35:18):
Yeah, she's going to and watch her act's going to
clean up Because the cleaner shegets, the more people she can
get in front.
Life Good for her.
Good for her.
Good for her.
Yeah, she's going to and watch.
She's going to.
Her act's going to clean upbecause the cleaner she gets,
the more people she can get infront of.
So she'll be, she'll, yeah,it's going to be the next time
you and I sitting here again,you'll see there'll be a
different, by the way, andRandy's the brunt of all of it.
Speaker 2 (35:41):
You know most of the good jokes are about Randy.
Yeah, Of course me too, sheloves it too.
Speaker 1 (35:46):
She loves it too, she loves it.
She claims she doesn't.
Yeah, no, she loves it.
The more attention, yeah, yeah,yeah, my mom also I've been
talking about her a lot Very lowkey person.
Yeah, yeah, it's good.
Thank God we have them to talkabout.
Yeah, oh, my God.
Speaker 2 (36:01):
But, in any event, we were talking about stuttering
and I said and we were talkingabout how I feel about it and
about helping people who wanthelp, who want to be able to
become more fluent.
You never get well, you neverget cured to become more fluent.
(36:21):
You never get well, you neverget cured.
Modi and I are not cured, orwe're not.
We're never going to be.
It'll be something that wealways have.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
And it attacks you out of nowhere.
It attacks you out of nowhere,out of nowhere.
Sometimes Leo catches it, likehe sees I'm dealing with maybe
somebody behind the reception orsomething, and I get caught and
he knows how to finish thesentence.
Speaker 2 (36:41):
And there are some letters and there were some
words and there were some somephrases, even if it starts with
the wrong letter.
You know I have issues withcertain blended letters.
Modi has his own issues.
We laugh about what.
What he started on and what Istarted on are two different
things.
But anyway, I said that I met aguy, I met a general manager at
(37:04):
a great restaurant in Arubawhere we had dinner, and the
general manager was whatappeared to me to be a very
chronic stutterer, where hewasn't controlled, he wasn't
fluent at all and he was astutterer.
And after dinner I spoke to himand I asked him a few questions
(37:27):
.
I told him that I was also astutterer and at the end of the
conversation I asked him if hehad gotten any help and he said
no and he just wasn't in thatposition.
I offered to pay for, I offeredto pay for therapy for him if
that's something that he wantedto do.
Yeah, he never did get back tome.
He never did get back to me andyou know we started talking
(37:53):
about about chesed with Perieland I said that for me the best
kind of chesed is chesed, that Icould feel where I'm so
connected to it that the conceptof giving feels so much better.
Sure, we want to give to FIDF,we want to give to these
(38:16):
incredible charities that cameout of October 7th.
But if I know that there's afamily three miles away from me
and there are three miles awayfrom where I live in Great Neck,
or a mile away I know becausewe're involved in organizations
that deliver food to people andwe're actually delivering food
(38:38):
to people that live less than amile from where we live If I
know that there are people thatneed help whether it's
stuttering, whether it's food,whether it's any kind of help
that it's so important to beable to challenge that need.
That's so close to you, whereyou could really be impactful
(39:00):
and see the benefit of whatyou're doing and what you're
giving.
And Perrielle told me about youknow her charity and what's
important to her, and I knowModi, you know your charity and
that's the best way.
There are a lot of people thatcould build buildings and we've
built buildings.
There are a lot of people thatcould have their names up on
(39:21):
things, but the most importantand the most impactful things
that we could ever do are thethings that we could feel and
touch and impact directly.
Speaker 1 (39:31):
So chesed is those who don't know the meaning of it
is to give, but it's to givewith love.
Yeah, it's one of the Sfirot ANadiv.
Speaker 2 (39:43):
Lev A Nadiv Lev.
It's not something that's madeup or you know, rabbis told us
no, it's directly in the text.
Speaker 1 (39:52):
Look up Chesed, see what it says.
Speaker 2 (39:55):
But it's right in the text that give it with love.
If you're not giving it, ifyou're not giving it, if you're
not giving it, and on theRambam's eight levels of charity
, it's the way you give, that'severything.
Of course, anyone could write acheck, but if you give it with
an open heart and an open hand,that's the most important way.
Speaker 1 (40:14):
And giving without, without, without anybody knowing
too, that's the most, that'sthe most, that's the most,
that's the most, that's thehighest level, that's the
highest level.
Speaker 2 (40:22):
Yes, you don't know who you're giving it to.
They don't know who's giving itto them.
Right, and it's an unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (40:29):
It's an unbelievable way, and this is Passover.
This is, this is airingPassover.
This is a definite time to hitthe charities up and give it to
them.
Passover is such a big openingfor receiving amazing energy.
Right, you open the.
Speaker 2 (40:41):
Seder.
You open the Seder.
One of the first things.
One of the first things you sayKol Dechvin, you know everybody
who's needy, everybody who'shungry.
By the way, needy is not onlyhungry, is not poor.
Needy takes on meaning in a lotof different ways.
A person could be needy andcould be rich.
(41:04):
Very rich, but he doesn't havea place to go.
Speaker 1 (41:06):
And doesn't have a friend and doesn't have a
compassion from a wife ordoesn't have any laughter in his
life, he's needy for that.
Just because he has billions ofdollars and a big house and
fancy cars, it doesn't mean he'snot needy.
And the biggest question that Iask and we're all needy for
something.
Speaker 2 (41:22):
Yeah, the biggest question that I ask every single
year is right, we're sayingthis.
We're home from shul.
Any opportunity that we couldhave invited someone over is
gone.
We're sitting at a seder in ahotel where we're spending
thousands of dollars.
You're saying how, how, how areyou doing that?
(41:42):
Where are you inviting?
Speaker 1 (41:43):
them.
Arthur, that's the easiestquestion you've ever asked and
you're in a Passover program.
You sit next to some kid who'sin law school.
They're asking you information.
Give him some time, talk to him, encourage him.
That's the same thing.
Speaker 2 (41:57):
But that's unbelievable.
What a chidush.
What an incredible piece ofinformation.
Yeah, you're saying it's gotnothing to do with food.
Speaker 1 (42:05):
Nothing to do with food or money.
It's giving of yourself.
Yeah, giving, giving, giving Ina Passover program with rich
people?
Speaker 2 (42:12):
Yeah Right, find something you could do it.
You could do it, you could findsomething.
Speaker 1 (42:18):
Of course Always find , do it, you could find
something.
Of course, always findsomething.
Create Moshiach energy, that's.
Speaker 2 (42:21):
Moshiach energy, by the way.
What an unbelievable conceptfor us to hammer in.
But for me, my answer alwayswas I prepared for this
Kaldichfin Halachma.
I prepared for it, I gave itbefore.
So when it comes time for it,if there's nobody around the
(42:42):
Passover program for me toinvite in there's nobody happens
to be there passing through.
I did it already.
I paid.
I paid for people.
I paid for matzah.
I paid for people to have mealsand seders.
I did it already.
Speaker 1 (42:56):
So money is energy.
You gave here's some energy tothese people, but your time
speaking to them.
Call my secretary, she'll helpyou with this, and that that's
also giving.
That's a different giving.
Speaker 2 (43:08):
I don't want that concept to be lost on this group
that we're going to be talkingto over Passover and you don't
have to be in a Passover program, you could be anywhere.
We're all going to say thathalachma, and we're all going to
say that halachma, and we'reall going to wonder well, where
are these poor people that I'minviting in?
You hear what he said?
Guys, it's not about the foodor inviting someone in, it's
(43:33):
you're sitting next to someone.
You get a call, you have anopportunity to help somebody.
Use it.
If you're lucky enough and Isaw this in a situation which
I'm going to talk about Ifyou're lucky enough, right, and
I saw this in a situation whichI'm going to talk about If
you're lucky enough that youcould help somebody.
Help, wow, yeah, right, becausethat won't always be there.
Speaker 1 (43:51):
I have a friend that lives in Great Neck and he tells
me people come asking for money.
So I said to him, when they dothat, the first thing you do is
say thank you God, thank you God, thank you God.
That's the opportunity.
But it's also thank God thatI'm the one that people are
coming to ask money.
I'm not the one asking formoney.
I say thank God right away andthen deal with the problem,
whatever the situation is in,whatever you think is the right
(44:13):
way, but always be thankful thatyou're the one.
Speaker 2 (44:14):
People are coming to ask for money and I think that I
think I said it I don't know ifit was here or in some other
context, but when I pray, makeme a giver today.
Make me a giver, make me findimportant things to give.
(44:35):
Make me a giver and you knowwhat?
That's what makes it better forus.
So I was at a baseball game,okay, and I was sitting in very
good seats, I'm sure, and a veryfamous player was a few seats
(44:56):
down in a row in front of me anda little kid comes to him for
an autograph and the baseballplayer blows him off, oh, wow.
And then the father of thebaseball player even comes over
and says you know, could yousign this for this kid?
And little tiny kid, the cutestthing in the world.
This is a I'm not saying it's ahas-been player, but he's a
has-been player.
Okay, okay, it's past him.
(45:16):
Okay, won't sign it, won't signit, won't sign it and in fact
really is dismissive of thefather and the kid.
Okay, I lean over after thiswhole thing is over and I don't
care, that guy wants to listen.
I said you did something reallywrong.
I said let me tell yousomething.
If you were fortunate enough inyour life that somebody wants
(45:40):
your autograph.
They want that.
That's important to them.
You are the luckiest man in theworld, and the fact that you
blew that kid off and then youblew the father off shame on you
Right.
One day, no one's going to wantto know about you.
No one's going to want anautograph If you're lucky enough
(46:01):
that you're able to do it nowand somebody feels that that's
impactful you do it AbsolutelyWait, just to finish up on the
Passover.
Speaker 1 (46:10):
I know you don't listen to the podcast, but in
the middle of the podcast wethank you.
We say our sponsors are Weitzand Luxembourg, the law firm
that not only does well, they dogood, they're very
philanthropic.
I love that.
We came up with that.
Who came up with that?
The guy you work with?
No, the guy you work with.
Okay, we came up with that.
Speaker 2 (46:30):
I love that, and with A&H.
Speaker 1 (46:32):
I love that.
A&h provisions A lot of kosherfood that is so delicious.
Even Goyim are going to buy it.
They realize it's that good,especially their hot dogs.
Hot dogs yeah, insane hot dogs.
We haven't even touched on that.
Kosherdogsnet Nice 30% off onyour first order when you use
promo code Mody.
How insane is that?
You're so famous.
(46:53):
You have a promo code.
Okay, so hold on, I'll wrapthis up.
Oh, wow, whoa.
Oh, wow, whoa, wow, okay.
So I mean I can't thank you forbeing what that's it.
Well, don't forget, you wentinto a tizzy On what, before the
podcast began, you called yourfriend who, by the way, I'm not
going to mention who he is.
It's a guy that's very well off.
Can we cover that?
(47:13):
No, no, no, he's very well offoff.
But well, here's money.
Yeah, he's a business, he's afamily, he's good.
But you gave him yiddish kite.
You gave him.
You gave him.
The chesed you gave him was notin money.
Yeah, you gave him.
You told him here's you.
You can put on tefillin if youwant, and he puts on tefillin.
You can make the blessingfriday night and you gave that
to him.
You gave him the, the menu.
(47:35):
He's exceptional.
He's exceptional, but hedoesn't need money, but he
doesn't, he's needy forsomething for Yiddishkeit, and
you sparked his soul.
Yeah, okay, wow, passover.
Those of you on your programs,you're still in the eight days.
You can grasp that energy thatyou get on Passover, passover,
you get the energy on Passoverand then you work it off in the
(47:57):
40 days after with the Omer OnRosh Hashanah.
You work up an Elul the monthbefore and you get that energy
and boom, you get that on RoshHashanah.
So that's where you are now.
Besides that Chesed, oh my God,buy your friends tickets to see
comedy shows, especially mine.
I'm on tour with Pause forLaughter.
We are going to be in WarsawPoland.
(48:17):
Can you believe that?
In Warsaw Poland?
Can you believe that?
Warsaw Poland?
And then Manchester, and thenFrankfurt and Munich because why
not?
And then Geneva and AntwerpReparations, reparations, tour
Right Reparations tour.
Manchester.
It's going to be an insane show.
Huge theater Destination.
Make a weekend of it.
(48:38):
See you guys there.
Get your tickets.
Modilivecom Be the friend thatbrings the friends to the comedy
show, and it can't be this longagain before you come back on.
Speaker 2 (48:49):
No, this is epic every time I'm here.
Speaker 1 (48:51):
I love you, I absolutely love you.
Okay, we're out.
Thank you everybody.
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