On this episode of Taste Buds with Deb, host Debra Eckerling speaks with Emmy award-winning and Golden Globe-winning comedy writer, actor, and comedian Monica Piper. After a smash-hit run off-Broadway, her one-woman show, “Not That Jewish,” returned to The Braid in Santa Monica for the show’s 10 year anniversary; it runs through the end of May.
Piper was a high school English teacher, before she left to try comedy and eventually create this show. She has been a standup comic, a writer for “Roseanne” and “Mad About You,” and head writer on “Rugrats.”
“Not That Jewish” is a love letter to being Jewish, as Piper tells stories of her family - particularly her funny father and passing on the humor gene to her son - and her foray into comedy.
“Someone asked me what's my favorite thing about being Jewish … there's so many things, but right up there was food,” Piper shares. “They said, ‘Even gefilte fish?’ Yes, even gefilte fish.”
In fact, a chopped liver sandwich, one of Piper's go-to comfort foods, is something she strongly associates with her Jewish identity.
“Food is so much a part of life and Jewish life, but it's the comradery,” Piper says. “As a child, my memories [of Shabbat at my aunt’s home with] people talking and arguing and laughing is so much a part of me, so I associate that with food.”
Monica Piper shares food memories, the importance of laughter, and her “Not That Jewish’” origin story, which came with encouragement and assistance from The Braid founder and artistic director Ronda Spinak. There are also tangents on the Instant Pot, goals, and a shared fandom of The Braid.
Taste Buds host Debra Eckerling recently did a Sunday at the Braid event for her new book, “52 Secrets for Goal-Setting and Goal-Getting,” via Zoom, hosted by David Chiu and along with Katie Chin and Elaine Hall, who are in the book. The Braid’s newest salon show, “For the Love of Animals,” opens next week.
Learn more about “Not That Jewish” at The-Braid.org/Monica and the new show at The-Braid.org. Watch Debra Eckerling’s Sundays at The Braid conversation at @TheBraidStories on YouTube.
For more from Taste Buds, subscribe on iTunes and YouTube, and follow @TheDEBMethod on social media.
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