In one of the most urgent moments of Judd Apatow’s Knocked Up (2007), we see a desperate Ben Stone, played by Seth Rogen, go to his father, played by Harold Ramis, for advice about whether to become a father and have children. Ramis tells Rogen to go for it and that he wants to have […]
Seth Rogen’s wildest dream has come true: he’s been mentioned in a song by Nicki Minaj. Ecstatic and feeling vindicated as a human being, he tweeted about it this morning. I got name dropped by @NICKIMINAJ in a song so I’M FUCKING GOOD YA’LL. — Seth Rogen (@Sethrogen) September 13, 2017 Minaj – in a […]
Woody Allen’s Zelig character showed American audiences that schlemiels come in all sizes, shapes, and colors. The schlemiel is a chamelon. His Jewishness – argues Daniel Itzkovitz – demonstrates the fact that the essence of the schlemiel character is non-essence. The schlemiel is constantly adapting and changing. And this – argues Itzkovitz, drawing on […]
Ten years after Seth Rogen appeared in Judd Apatow’s Knocked Up (2007) as a stoner schlemiel, Seth Rogen has made this character into his biggest selling point. Here is a list of movies where we see the schlemiel-stoner character: Superbad (2007), Pineapple Express (2008), Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008), Funny People (2009), This […]
While they were making Neighbors, last spring, Zac Efron and Seth Rogen stopped by the Workoholics set and did a take with them hashtagged – with an obvious wink to Rogen’s film – #cubicleneighbors. Although the show, in itself, never caught my eye, the confluence of the Workaholics cast with Rogen and Efron made […]
The title and the recent review of American Sniper by Matt Taibbi for Rolling Stone suggest that the film, “American Sniper is “Almost Too Dumb to Criticize.” In the article, Taibbi suggests that the person who would enjoy such a film has a lot in common with the character Forrest Gump: The message of Forrest Gump was […]
America has a love/hate relationship with the schlemiel or (as many critics and actors who play schlemiels – such as Seth Rogen and Adam Sandler – call him) the “man-child.” But, in truth, this America is not one; it is two. When it comes to the schlemiel or “man child,” there are two Americas: the […]
Don’t you love those moments when you can’t tell if something is serious or a joke? I had one of them yesterday and it created a delicious ambiguity around how the schlemiel may get lost in translation. While walking through Manhattan yesterday, I stumbled across a poster that caught my eye. On the front of […]
About a month ago, I was contacted by Louie Lazar, a journalist who told me that he was given an assignment by Tablet: to determine whether or not Seth Rogen was the future of Jewish comedy. Pondering this question, Lazar came across several article/blog posts I had written on Seth Rogen for this blog. After […]
When Seth Rogen recently went on Conan to promote his latest film, Neighbors, Conan’s first comment went right to the relationship of Seth Rogen to Zac Efron’s body: “Your costar Zac Efron, in this film, I…I didn’t know this but apparently…he’s in ridiculous shape.” In response, Rogen says, shaking his head up and down, as […]
Schlemiel Theory 