AND HERE’S MODI
AND HERE’S MODI is an inside look at the man behind the microphone. Hosted by comedian, Modi (@modi_live), AHM features a raw and unfiltered side of the comedian rarely seen on stage. He always finds the funny as he navigates the worlds of comedy, trending topics, his personal life and spirituality. AHM is co-hosted by Periel Aschenbrand (@perielaschenbrand) and Leo Veiga (@leo_veiga_).
AND HERE’S MODI
Dovi Neuburger Returns
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Episode 183: Dovi Neuburger returns to the pod to discuss his recent shows in Israel, dissect differing creative processes with Modi, and what it's like for him to perform at a Catholic fundraiser.
Modi's special "Know Your Audience" is available on YouTube now!
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Wedding Reunions And Aisle Shtick
SPEAKER_01And we are in the studio with Dovey Newberger. Welcome everybody to and here's Modi. And we are uh wow, we're but we haven't got we haven't I haven't seen you in the longest, and then I see you walking down the aisle. Mazeltov.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah, at my friend's wedding. It's been uh I that's where that's how I could stay in touch with you. I need to see you at a wedding now.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's what it was. Um we were at a wedding at um I'm not gonna mention names, but uh uh your friend Joseph.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Yeah, so that's Chipriani Wall Street.
SPEAKER_01At Chipriani Wall Street, what is embay me, right? Chipriani Wall Street. You better find somebody really, really rich.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01That's yeah, that's not a you that's not uh that's uh that's an insane venue.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's insane. And that uh chuppa in the bank is always crazy. Did you see did you see what I was doing down the aisle, by the way? You what anytime I'm uh because I grew up not being like I I think being a groomsman is like the funniest thing to me since I grew up, no one I never heard of that until I was older because like all the weddings I went to were like Maury Shivish, and then and then my first friend that made me a groomsman, he said you need to walk down the aisle and like a whole thing. And I said, Okay, fine, but I'm doing it my way. I didn't tell him this. I it was a COVID wedding. My father's Masader Kadushin was my best friend's wedding. My father was his Masader Kadusha. It was the rabbi, yeah. So sorry, officiated the wedding, and I decided I'm gonna roll down his wedding in a hamster wheel. Roll down his aisle. Okay, but I can't bring it because the party planner had other ideas, she didn't like that idea, so I can't just bring it to the wedding because then they would see it and take it away. So my dad brought it in his car, and and and right before right before I'm about to walk down the aisle, he passes it off to me, and I rolled down his rolled down in a hamster wheel by his wedding. So ever since then, I only I only do like shtick down the aisle.
SPEAKER_01What was the shtick you did at this wedding?
SPEAKER_00It didn't work as well. I had these the shoes that you press a button and they turn into roller skates. I saw that, yes, yes, I saw that. You were wearing roller skate sneakers, yes, I saw that. And it didn't, it was like carpeted, so it didn't work as well. But I tried my best.
SPEAKER_01No, the effort was good. So you came down, there were like 20 of you guys. Yeah, he has a lot of friends. It was a lot of friends, and uh, so you walked down the aisle, and then um you guys all went into the corner, like to the side, and then uh wait, and then okay, so here's what that was was strange for me. But there was this massive wedding, men and women are different sides, okay? Then you guys all 20 of you came down, and then they had another person walk down with uh a couple, uh uh, and the girl went onto your side too.
SPEAKER_00Because they wanted to separate it by here for the bride and here for here for the groom, I think.
SPEAKER_01I said, Wow, that is the craziest thing to put one girl in, like there's like 30 men in fact, and there's one woman in the middle of that. I said, That I can tell you that's not a kosher look. That was not a kosher look, and then you guys wouldn't shut up either. I wanted to hear oh hot sing. Oh, yeah. I can do the football because I want to hear I want to hear oh hot sing. I want to hear it.
SPEAKER_00That's what I I was I'd come after. I was on the phone with a friend of mine that was at the wedding on the way here, and I said, He said, Where are you going? I'm I said, I'm shooting a podcast at Modi. He said, Oh, he yelled at me at the wedding. Yeah, he's like standing over my head, screaming. He's like, Shut up. I came to hear a lot.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. What the guy what at the top of his lungs screaming and yelling in the middle of a chuppa. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um, so here's the best part of the wedding. I don't know. I told you this. Um the uh so the so me and you are at this wedding. You're there for you're there for the bride's family because you know her parents, and I'm there for my this was my one of my best friends. I lived with him for three years. We traveled together, every like one of my best friends. And uh his dad knows me and knows I'm a comedian, but he doesn't know you. He's South African, whatever. And someone uh he knows his, he knows he said Dovey. Modi sounds similar, whatever. Someone comes up to him at the wedding and says, Modi's at your wedding. That's so cool. And he said, Who? He said, Modi, the comedian is at your wedding. Like, how does he know you? Um, so he tells this guy, he thinks he said Dovey. So he says, Oh, he's my son's roommate, they live together for years, they do everything together, they travel together, they're they're inseparable, and they're like, Modi? And your son? He's like, Yeah, they're they're they're two beasts in a pod.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, two different communities, two different generations represented over there. Yeah, it was um the wedding was uh was was beautiful, gorgeous. It's gorgeous. Wow. Ellie and Ellie and Jody uh friends for for a long time. Um I've been to their other weddings too, where where I was I knew both sides of the family too. It's just it's it's an amazing thing. Yeah, um, so Mazatov to to the the bride and groom, Joseph. I shouldn't say the the woman's name either, right? To be honest, I don't know. It's you gotta keep it yeah, it's a little sneez. Um but uh that that was it was it was fun to see. Did you stay late? Very late, like the latest. Really? Last one out. No, after Ohat Sang, after the singer was done, I was like, I'm good, I'm out.
SPEAKER_00I was I was there till at least midnight. Nice, yeah. And yeah, I got there like four to midnight. It's a whole whole day affair.
SPEAKER_01Wow. Um, so tell me something.
Bombing At Passover Programs
SPEAKER_01Oh, I haven't seen you since Passover. How was your Passover programs?
SPEAKER_00Okay, Passover programs were rough, bombed a little bit. Had one good show in the beginning, and then uh your Passover are different. Like pay pay, they're not it was funny. I went from Passover to my Israel shows, which were they were polar opposites. Because when people come there for you, when you have a box office show, yeah, that's a different, different vibe than when you are at a Passover program, you're a juggler, right? They say everyone comes to a room and there's a different entertainment there every night. So they don't know if they're coming to a juggler, a speaker, a singer. So they're not necessarily interested in comedy, they're definitely not interested in you. And my act is about my life, and it's just a you know, it's a room full of a thousand like rich old Jews. Like, why is he talking about his mom? I don't know his mom, I don't care about his mom. Right. So you gotta pivot a lot. And I tried to do a lot more crowd work. Um because they want to hear about themselves.
SPEAKER_01Yes, they want to hear about themselves and their and the exact situation that they're in. That's all you have to hear about.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, they want to hear how about the program. Right. And Israel.
Selling Tickets On The Israel Tour
SPEAKER_00So how is Israel? Israel's amazing. It was the best week of my life. Really? Yeah. It was seven shows and seven nights. I uh What venues? Okay, so the first the the first show is in uh Museum of Tolerance and Holocaust Museum. I mean, and if ever there's a venue for a comedy show, the Museum of Tolerance, the Holocaust Museum. The Israeli producer like sold me on it. He's like, I'm like, we're doing it at Holocaust. He's like, all the time we all doing comedy show at the Holocaust Museum. Like, all right.
SPEAKER_01Who was the producer?
SPEAKER_00It's Castilia. They sell their uh well, I had two produ that one producer, Eitana Hak, she produced all the shows, she was incredible, sold all the tickets. Okay, sold almost 2,000 tickets. But the ticket place we go through, they produce like all the big shows in Israel. It's called Castilia. They sell the tickets and book the venues and things like that. Um, and then the next day was in Bedaam where they hung Aichmin. Right. So I was like, I was on a trip to Poland basically. Uh-huh. And um it was just it it was it was my first box office tour where I was selling the tickets, and everyone there was a fan of mine, and it would the energy was different. It just I was I was also touring uh with one of the biggest Israeli comedians who was opening. He's like pivoting into English comedy now, so he was opening.
SPEAKER_01Benben.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. He's coming into town to give him a call. I want to do a show with him.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. So he's doing a show. Uh I think I'm doing a show with him.
SPEAKER_01Where? At Stand Up? I think at Stand Up. Yeah, I saw his. Yeah, my mom, my how do I know? My my mom sent me the the the flyers. Can you can you can you get me a ticket? I'm like, yeah, we'll find out.
SPEAKER_00Every single one of my mom's friends that lives in Israel would text her, and I love them, and I love that they come to shows. They're my biggest fans. Every single one, how do I get tickets to Dove shows? I I don't know how non-Jews find tickets to to shows. Yeah, I don't know. They don't know the mom of the comedian. How do they find them?
SPEAKER_01100%. 100%. They want to know how to find, I mean, just go to the website. It couldn't be easier.
SPEAKER_00Google Dove Newberger Israel, it's the first three hits. Right. But if you don't know my mom, you're not gonna be able to find tickets to the show. Yeah, and I always leading up to Israel, three texts a day from my mom. This one wants tickets, you need to send the link.
SPEAKER_01This way, like so could you imagine Radio City Music Hall? What's what's going on with my mom and the list? You can't save you save tickets for your mom's friends. We had we had we hired people to work the guest list just for the guest list and the and there's a there's a pre-party and the radio city show. There's a before party. There's a there's a lounge called the Roxy Lounge. Did you go there?
SPEAKER_00No, I went to the after party.
SPEAKER_01You were yeah, you weren't, but you were on that list to go up there. There's this, it's it's catered by Tau. It was really nice. And then, but that only has 60 people allowed to go up there. And then afterwards, we had the Second Avenue Delhi catered event, and that, you know, was 150. They gave it. But it it like that, the tickets went. My mom has 60 friends. They all bought tickets, but they want to go after party to see you. So I'm like, oh, you know, and they're all it was just but you can't buy tickets to the after party. No, there's a space that's I know it's that's it's not a meet and greet, it's the after party.
SPEAKER_00Right. I noticed that I was basically only industry, industry, and like very close friends who were at was at that.
SPEAKER_01You were only industry. Let's see. Sebastian Stam was there. I don't know who that is. Sorry. You don't know who that is? He's a huge movie mogul, Marvel I don't know. By Michael, that was cool. Michael Grinspan.
SPEAKER_00Michael Grinspan, yes. Um what'd you think of him? I I thought he was gonna be 85. The way people talk about him in the industry, like like one of the biggest agent in Holly uh for comedians, he's a big deal. He's like, and he's like, he's the guy. He's he's the big comedy agent. I thought he's gonna be like 85, like no, he's yeah, he's a young guy.
SPEAKER_01He's my age, he's he's your age. But he's he's in he's amazing. He he's so he books me, the Jewish world. He books, he has drag queens, the top of the line drag queens, he books them. He has black comedians, he has everything, and he's amazing at all of them. He knows where all of them are gonna draw uh people to come in. He's like, There's a place here, go there, they're gonna come in from here and there. He's amazing. I'm so glad you got to meet him.
SPEAKER_00I would I think that would be a great idea for uh for a comedy movie if Michael Grinspan mixing up bookings and sending a drag queen to one of your to one of your like to Chasir Sheverbacks and sending you to the drag queen show by accident.
SPEAKER_01I would do very well at a drag queen show.
SPEAKER_00You think I would be able to get and I think a drag queen might do well at a chassir shever bachel.
SPEAKER_01I think they they they would. If they maybe just opened their their minds up a little bit, yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00No, but so hold on, your shows in Israel were um well, you got tell me the audiences were were were uh oh so obviously not ethnically diverse, it was pretty it was oh it was a pretty uh homogenous like culturally, but age very diverse because there was a lot of Yeshiva seminary students from like 18, and then there was a lot of like older like Olim in their 60s and 70s, and like that was very nice to be able to Olim are people that moved to Israel.
SPEAKER_01People that moved to Israel for years ago, right? And they just are so happy to hear anything in English.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so we did we did three shows in Jerusalem, sold out two in Museum of Tolerance, one in Badam, and we sold out in Ramada
Imposter Syndrome Meets The Crowd
SPEAKER_00Sharon, best show. That was my favorite show. I did two in Tel Aviv, and it was like there was a it was so cool for me. It was like I first when I got there, I was terrified I had imposter syndrome because like your first like be pe I hear people buying tickets on the secondary market for me. They're like, Oh, someone told me he flipped my tickets to make money.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00I have this like imposter syndrome, I'm gonna show up and they're gonna find out I'm a fraud. Like no one, nobody 500 people shouldn't be showing up to the theater to buy tickets for me. So I call my mom. I got opposite advice. I call my mom like on the train, and I'm like, you know, like this is I'm I'm here, like, like I I'm freaking out. Like they're gonna find out that I'm not really whatever. So funny. And I got two opposite uh advice. She was like, she's obviously gave me like the analdo, like it, like don't worry about it. Like very unique uh type of encouragement. She always tells me, like, don't worry, even if you mess up, it's not gonna ruin your career. Right. She tells me. And and she says, You don't deserve any of it anyway, so it's all from God, and don't worry, this or that. And then I spoke to another Israeli community, Yochai, and he was telling me the exact opposite. He's saying, like, you gotta know that like Magia, you deserve this. Like they came for you, they want to enjoy you. And then I went back to my mom and told her that, and she said, Don't listen to him, you don't deserve anything. It's it's all from God. Um, but I don't know, I just like I eased into it. The first show obviously wasn't as good as the later ones, but it was I like got comfortable with the crowd and then But you figured out what material is gonna work here. Yeah, yeah, you have to figure that out. A lot of crowd work, but also crowd work in Israel is different because I forgot everyone's a hero. Right. So you pick like it's like different. Like I'm like, what do you do for a living? And it's a guy saying he's a nurse. So I go making fun, oh a male nurse, whatever, and he goes, Well, I only work with wounded soldiers, and I'm like, Oh, he's a hero. And then it's a guy who's a carpenter, so I'm making fun of him, like, well, I do caught coffins. Like, everyone, every everyone is like a hero in that country, so it's impossible to like oh my god, but they uh the but the it was right after the Iran war, and it was like Which one? Oh, sorry, I forgot we're airing this in the middle of a new one, but it was like probably season two, uh season two, season two. It was right after after things like were opening back up. I feel bad making fun of it, but you I have to you have to know how many people came up to me after the show, and yeah, we haven't not we haven't left, we haven't exhaled in months. Yeah, and I'm not the guy, you know, I'm not the guy that like I do this so people could be. I know, but they like so many people came up.
SPEAKER_01But that's why you're there. So whatever your chai told you, whatever your mother told you, that's why you're there. It's not for you deserve it or don't deserve it, it's because that Hashem Hashem put you there to to to to to give them relief. That's exactly what you're there for. Nobody breathes, nobody breathes, yep.
Why Israel Audiences Need Comedy
SPEAKER_01But last night, so we we are we are taping on Monday the eighth day. So Israel had a whole bunch of bombings from Iran, and my friends sending me videos of people dancing at a wedding. Like you can't. There was a wedding, they were dancing, they weren't being bombed directly. Haifa was alarms were going off, Jerusalem were going off, but where they were, so they just kept dancing. You do what can you do?
SPEAKER_00Right. And I think that's another reason why the shows are I like the show so I think shows in Israel, because everything in Israel they they live more.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Because they don't and they all encounter death at an early age, and like they every day they live fuller. So I also think that's one of the reasons the shows are better. Just crowds are better, they they know how to enjoy experiences more in general. Every concert you go to is better, every every comedy show.
SPEAKER_01They have such an appreciation for it. They know that tomorrow they might be locked down for two weeks or something. Yeah. Totally. It's it's amazing. All right, so Israel is a big hit.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, incredible.
SPEAKER_01And you can't wait to go back.
SPEAKER_00Um, I want to like, yeah, I want to wait at least a year.
SPEAKER_01No, 18 months is usually what you wait. 18 months. I mean, do you have a new you have a new are you just doing do you have a do you have a show or are you what's your show
Building A New Hour Onstage
SPEAKER_01called now?
SPEAKER_00Get in the mic. Oh, sorry. Um it's it's so right now I'm rolling with like an hour fifteen. What's it called? What's it called? No. What it's gonna be called. It's uh Um, I had a couple of things.
SPEAKER_01But when they sell you when when you when you're selling a show under USB.
SPEAKER_00Oh no, it was live live in it. Dovinyberg Live in Israel. Oh, there's no like No, it's not like a it's not like a tour. It's not like there. No. Um next year, I don't know. We probably should call it I don't know what it's what it's gonna be called. But it this is uh it's a story kind of. Yeah. Um that revolves around mainly two things. There's two kind of stories. One's a lot about dating and like the matchmaker process, yeah. Others revolves is like in and out of uh a birthright trip, kind of telling the story of that and and those two things. And it has one like theme and callback that goes throughout that I'm not gonna don't really. But um it's a it's something I wrote over the past, you know, since I started four years, and I I love it. I can't wait to I don't know the exact format I'm gonna release it in, but um that's the but now I already have I'm already getting rebooked by like my cat school shows this summer, or same from last year. So I need like new material, yeah. So I have like uh yeah, uh not a second hour, but something, but like a new thing that I did in the beginning and I put on the side that's more about being a rabbi's son.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Oh, that's that's just right there. The rabbi's son, period. That's the name of your show. So that's a period of the rabbi. That's a son of the rabbi, exact son of the it's a perfect thing, Dovinabur, son of the rabbi, and then you tape that, and yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01We just finished, so I did I was touring with Pause for Laughter. That was the name of the tour. That was the hour and a half. Uh hour and a half, and then we taped it in Atlanta and I slept it on until Radio City, and now I'm at the comedy cellar every night. So now you're working. This is your third, meaning the third hour kind of hour that it's uh yeah. Um before, but before know your audience, I was just doing it was just moti here. But then you fit you just you give it a name, it gives it more of a structure, and then you can just but I I had all the material I'm doing now, I had already developed while I was doing the pause for laughter, and now I'm just like at the comedy cellar every night, right? Banging it out, trying to get the it's so much fun. So much fun.
SPEAKER_00Are you because are you tired of your old material?
SPEAKER_01I'm not tired of it, it's amazing. I'm I'm I and I love it, and I appreciate every single joke and every tagline and everything that how we got there. But yeah, I can't wait to all the new stuff is coming in. Like, and you you know, all day long I'm just in my own set. Literally, Leo says it all day long. Like, he just sees me talking to myself. I'm in I'm in the show, I'm redoing the where's another line for it, where's another bit for it? On the treadmill, I'm out loud saying it.
SPEAKER_00Right. So like it's I find it exhausting that I can't, I can't not work it. And I can't think of something that I think might be funny and not like not like write it down, explore it. Like, I can't just go on a train anymore. Yeah. Because everything might be a joke and could be a joke, and like you, and and if you don't write down every single thing, you'll never have the one out of ten that actually and ends up making it.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. So you I I I text it to myself. I text everything I think I thought to my extra.
SPEAKER_00You know, there's a notes app on the phone.
SPEAKER_01And it doesn't work for me. Texting to myself works for me. Thank you very much. But like whenever something happens with me and Leo, and he says, Text that to yourself. He goes, Text it to yourself right now. Yeah. Um the city is unbelievable. But uh by the way, you get you've realized the appreciation for New York City. It's filthy, it's disgusting, it's smelly, but there's so much happening in it. Yeah, there's so much the comedy clubs in comedy club wise. Besides that, events also like this this weekend, there was a thousand things. Like if you're in LA, if you're somewhere else, there's a thing happening a night. Over here, there's so many things happening. The comedy seller is unbelievable. That alone is worth paying New York tax.
SPEAKER_00The comedy seller is there.
SPEAKER_01Just to be there.
SPEAKER_00But for younger comedians, like I just I did, I did uh I did a week in Boca. I was doing shows at the black box there. Oh, yeah, yeah. Great room. I did the small room actually because I'm going back in December. Great audiences, by the way. Um great audiences, and I just found for younger comedians, everyone would
New York Reps Versus Road Reps
SPEAKER_00think ever the like because New York's the mecca of comedy, like, so you want to make it there eventually, but it's so competitive spot wise. Like there are people with with Amazon specials that can't get spots at at clubs in New York City. Tons of people. But out of town, I found like I was there for a week and I asked the guy, like, you can get me on any spots to come. He's like, so easily. And I was able to get like these spots because like I I'm try I'm working, I want to take my very Jewish material and kind of try to convert it and see if it works. Yeah. So I actually did last week, I did a a Catholic fundraiser in at uh at the Hollywood improv. It was so much fun. Yeah. No one knows me, no one and it's much more validating because they don't know me. They don't they there's no like give and laughs because they know you. And I'm like, oh, so my material's good.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um so going when I go out of town to these gigs, I like try to get like a spot at a local comedy club, and it's like much easier. So I I usually think for younger comedians, like stuff not not not starting in Oklahoma, but starting somewhere like Boston, Philly, Nashville, like is sometimes easier because you could get much more reps than you do in New York. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01But well, good. I'm I'm well it's good. It's funny. I I'm working on material to that's I know is Jewish, but uh I know that I'm working on non-Jewish material, but I want to make sure that the Jews still feel like their con their connection to
Synagogue Sets And The Unwritten Rules
SPEAKER_01it. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's that that that's probably is that your struggle now, like making sure like your core audience doesn't feel like alienated.
SPEAKER_01Yes, yes. And obviously, I always think, can I do this in front of an Ahmed? In front of an Auron, in front of a Torah scrolls. It's really yeah, I I you know I watched um I watched uh Taylor Thompson's special. She she you know who she is? Yeah, of course.
SPEAKER_00Chocolate chocolate covered uh Ahmed, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so she did a special in a church, this massive cathedral, and she was dirty. She was like she I don't not dirty, but she was explicit. Right. Explicit. And I was thinking, like, oh my god, like in in a church, she's being talking about sexual stuff and you using the S word, the F word, and all of that, you know. I didn't realize there's there's also no safe for Torah behind her.
SPEAKER_00So I had uh I will I was uh I had This is all the time because I uh basically only play in front of Sifray Torah for the past year. I uh I was doing a chabad, a big chabad. Chabads are my favorite because they the rabbis there are the most uh relaxed, they don't care about what you say. Yeah. So I asked the rabbi before, I said, like, what's the rating? R, PG 13, what PG? He said, You say what you want, just so you know there's an R and Kodesh behind you.
SPEAKER_01Very good.
SPEAKER_00I said, Listen, Rabbi, I've been a rabbi skiff for 30 years. There's nothing I wouldn't say in front of an R Kodesh. No. I said, Listen, me and me and the Saver Torah, we have an arrangement. He doesn't listen to anything I say out here. I don't listen to anything it says. That's funny.
SPEAKER_01That's it. Um, no, but when you do those, I I've been doing these like conservative synagogues where they have it's 2,000 seats set up like an arena. Yeah. And they have a cur, they book a big curtain in front of the Torah, in front of the Aran, in front of the Ark. So it's like almost not there. Right. But anyway, I'm working.
SPEAKER_00Some of those jewels the only they cut it's it's called four times a year juice. Rosh Shanium Kippur and Modi.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. That's funny. I like that. Yes, yes. No, I I it they they tell me that it's never been this packed. We've never had. I just did a sh a synagogue in Baltimore, um, Betfila. Wow, thank God I remember that. Unbelievable. You've never seen a more gorgeous synagogue in your in the world. And it's and it's modern Orthodox.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's where all the weddings in Baltimore are.
SPEAKER_01Yes, stunning, stunning. And um, they didn't cover the Auron, they didn't cover the Torah. So, and the rabbi very politely asked me, You if you want, you can wear a yarmulke. I said, You're right. So now when you're wearing a yarmulk, first of all, I'm standing up there with a yarmulk. I look like the rabbi. Yeah, he himself was like 12 years old. He's a brand new rabbi. The old rabbi, the one that was leaving, or he's he's retired, but now he's an Ameritz. Emeritus.
SPEAKER_00Whatever that means with the dinner to fire him type of thing?
SPEAKER_01No, no, no, no. It was just a comedy night. They just people have done with the dinners. It's comedy night with Modi, period. He was having the best time of his life, and he was telling me every time you make those cat skill jokes, and he was, and everybody's watching him laughing his brains out.
SPEAKER_00Oh but the rabbi emeritus always laughs more than the new rabbi. Yeah, his job security has doesn't get like the older the rabbi.
SPEAKER_01It was such an amazing show. It was such an unbelievable show, and it's and you can't and it's you're in a shul. God, it's so much fun. I feel bad for comics who don't have that, don't you? No.
SPEAKER_00Because every time I do like a comedy club, I'm like, this is the easiest shit I ever done in my life.
SPEAKER_01No, there's nothing easier than a shul. Come on, what are you talking about?
SPEAKER_00No, comedians that never followed a uh a Holocaust montage and then had to go up, don't know what a hard room is. I no, yes, we we we yes, definitely. Definitely. I did I did I remember doing uh because what you said about the rabbi, I did a sh uh I did the shoul in Staten Island, incredible crowd. And I'm like easing into my set a little bit, I'm figuring out the crowd, and I say my first edgier joke, not dirty, whatever, edgier. And the I could feel like the stiffness in the room a little bit because there I'm like nobody told me the rating on tonight. What's the rating? And everyone like looks at the rabbi on the side. I look at the rabbi, amazing guy. And he goes, Oh really? And then the whole room, you feel like Did you drop S bombs and F bombs? No, just talking about edgier things.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. As long as you don't throw out those dirty words, they don't care. Yeah. Yeah. No, some rabbis care about everything.
SPEAKER_00It depends. It depends, like how like late into like rabbis get much more relaxed as they as the the more Yeah, the more the more shit they've seen. That's it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Okay. All right. Um Yeah. We have an event at the uh
Making Radio City Play Big
SPEAKER_01well, hold on. What'd you think of the Radio City, the show itself? You you know I invited you. I invited you because I'll tell you why I invited you. I remember the moment I said Dobie Newberger. I was watching one of your clips at the cheese store. Yeah. At the cheese store, and I go, oh, this this guy needs to know that that's not where he's Damien Bata with my Anna Tahoilich, know where you came from and know where you're going. First of all, I love the cheese store and I'll always love it. By the way, I love the cheese store too. And don't always always invite me. If I'm around, I'll come out there. Um but I wanted you to know where you're heading to.
SPEAKER_00That's so funny. When I got there, people people like who saw me said that, like, oh, one day, one day. Yeah. I'm like, first of all, first of all, like it's like uh obviously it's very most pe like every comedian starting out 99.999 will will never come close to Radio City. So it's not like uh it's obviously a dream, it's not an ex like expectation like that, but also like I don't I don't think I could ever do a room that size. Like I my cadence is so low and monitor. Like you command the room. Right. You're commanding people to laugh. I don't command people to laugh.
SPEAKER_01So I I went to see shows there. Um I I told Michael Greenspan, get me tickets for every comic working there until I get there. So I went to see other comedians, and I saw some of them are just comics from comedy club, they just have massive audiences that they can fill the room up. And they just stood there. And I said, Oh no, that's not good. And so I um that's why I wrote that whole dancing bit of the recu de arm. I said, I need to, I'm on Radio City Music Hall. I'm gonna dance, I'm gonna rockette this thing. I and so I wrote that whole bit about um Israeli folk dance, and then I had like two months to to practice that. I was practicing that in shoals and in in comedy clubs, any comedy club that had a little bit more room, I would do it in that club. Um, and so that's I I knew you had you have to uh the whole audience get them in there.
SPEAKER_00But when you go in for a sound check and it's empty, aren't you like bugging out? Like what there's gonna be someone sitting over there?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So like a baseball stadium.
SPEAKER_01They were two, so so keep in mind the people that produce the shows at Radio City are producing shows of a band of 30 people for two singers or five singers, you know, and all of a sudden there's one Jew with a mic. So now they're like very casual backstage, super union and super um, yeah. So um I need monitors, lots of monitors. I'm a stutterer, so the more you hear yourself, the less you stutter. So the first night, they had monitors, but not a lot. They had enough, but it I didn't enjoy it as much as I did the second night. The second night, we told them he wants more monitors. So they thinking that they would be funny, they put the whole thing on monitors. They have no idea how what a blessing that was for me. You know, that was amazing. And they put more lights in the front.
SPEAKER_00I can't I I tell them to turn the monitor very down.
SPEAKER_01Are you crazy? You have to hear yourself. It's the best, it's the best gift in the world to have a good monitor. Um, and uh it that helped me a lot. But um they they were like, this is like the easiest gig for them. You know, there's no band, there's no different uh connections, there's one mic. Yeah, and so but I knew I had to fill it up and and make it big. And so I rehearsed where I'm gonna land on punch lines and walk on, and you have to I moved around a lot.
SPEAKER_00Everyone who walked in, the same immediate reaction, like what? Wow, there's a lot of Jews here. Like it was like a Halomoid trip ever. Like that got to the zoo, like, oh my god, I can't believe there's so many Jews over here. And you walk down the aisles at your at your show at Radio City, and I everyone pulls out their phone, goes on the calculator at the old Jackie Mason routine, yeah, and just like goes back to see how much their ticket costs and starts punching in numbers.
SPEAKER_01Right. They should punch in it's a union place and just to open the door cost $400,000. And there's a load-in fee. Yeah. So for me to have a cup of water, a stool, and a mic cost $50,000. Make sure that they put that in there too. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00I saw them all like how much do you think the agent takes and the manager takes and and the food sales?
SPEAKER_01Let them all take it.
SPEAKER_00Uh uh after like what's when I when I produced the shows in Israel, because I thought those were self-produced. I didn't like they were I had a few sponsorships, thank God. But wow, you take a lot less than you think.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00It's a lot less.
SPEAKER_01A lot less. Are you crazy? And then there's and then when you start doing abroad, there's taxes and there's all that kind of yeah, people pay taxes, I forgot. Yeah, there's taxes, those are those are big things, yeah. So the city is lit.
Knicks Fever And Spike Lee Notes
SPEAKER_01The city is lit.
SPEAKER_00We are now living in uh the uh the Iks of the Meshika, I call it, of the Knicks.
SPEAKER_01Of the Knicks, yeah, yeah. And luckily, I was like, how am I gonna be a part of this thing? I have no I've I'm not a fan of any sports. I I'm a fan of the city being happy, so I couldn't be happy that the Knicks are winning and everybody's having a great time and uh and um and and that, but um luckily a commercial surfaced in 2001. I did a commercial um for for the Knicks.
SPEAKER_00What does a commercial for the Knicks mean? Like they needed to have there are other people in the that didn't know about the Knicks?
SPEAKER_01So when you start off doing comedy, or back then when you began doing comedy, they they they gave you a commercial agent too. So you used to go on commercial auditions, which was the worst thing in the world. One of the biggest highlights in my life is when I fired my commercial agent. I don't do this anymore.
SPEAKER_00It's just the m- it's just money.
SPEAKER_01It's just for money, yeah. There's nothing else you're doing. I got I booked three or four commercials that were all local, regional, and seasonal. So like it was a Christmas commercial for a New York lottery. It was like no money, it's not like one of those massive uh progressive insurance commercials, right? So there was a casting, it was Jewish couple in therapy, and the director was Spike Lee, because he was a he's a huge uh Knicks fan. No, he directed commercials there. Well, for the Knicks, he did. Right. So that was it, and it was me and this woman on the on the sofa uh and talking about my addiction to to the Knicks and all that, and um, but the it the casting was Jewish couple in therapy. So obviously I got the role, and then I was being too Jewish. So Spike Lee came over to me and literally said to me, Goes a little too Jewish. That was my entire interaction with Spike Lee. You're a little too Jewish. And then he backed off. I Jewed it down a little bit, and then and then we shot it. He was shooting like five commercials that day, like in some place where they just had different sets. And there was that was the big Knicks uh push in 2001. That's 25 years ago. Do you understand that? 25 years ago that commercial was.
SPEAKER_00I grew up a pretty big Knicks fan, actually. Because we were allowed to watch sports, and that was pretty much pretty much it. My siblings were all big Knicks fans. And now I feel everyone's has to like defend their Knicks history now. Because anytime you say your Knicks, people come after you like you were never a fan until now. You know, like I never I post about the Knicks now, I get DMs like, dude, you're just a bandwagon fan, you were never a fan before. Oh really? It's like weird. Everyone's like defending like bandwagon fan.
SPEAKER_01My friends with the city.
SPEAKER_00I posted that bit last night about the Knicks security, the Schule security guard with the Knicks.
SPEAKER_01Yes, I saw that bit. Yeah. Um, but my friend, like who completely is this this gay guy that we just friends with and goes, Who is Nick and why should I care about his games? I thought that was hysterical.
SPEAKER_00Um, but the city's alive, it's just you can feel it.
unknownWow.
SPEAKER_01It's just so much happening.
Midnight Drop-Ins And Bumping Mics
SPEAKER_01And the other night, Jeff Ross uh called me to do uh bumping mics with him and Dave, which was such an honor.
SPEAKER_00You did that at the stand, right?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Isn't that an amazing room?
SPEAKER_01The the new room.
SPEAKER_00Well, it's not it's not new it. I think you played in it now, but it's been there for the basement.
SPEAKER_01The basement of Chelsea Market. Oh, I didn't realize it wasn't in the record. Chelsea Music Hall. Oh, I didn't know that. Great room, great room.
SPEAKER_00And it was uh and there was a manager there is a Syrian guy, Syrian Jew.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, Harari. Joe. Joey Harari. Excellent. Yeah, great guy. And then, but there were a lot of people there because it's Jeff Ross. So the Doug Herzog from Doug Herzog is a huge uh he was the head of a lot of things. And um, he was there and he went to camp with me.
SPEAKER_00What camp?
SPEAKER_01Camp Scatico. So he came over to me and said, you know that you're only one of four comedians that's been that's done comedy on the tonight show that was at at uh at from Scatico. He gave me the other names, I wasn't sure exactly who who they were, but it was just great to see him there. And it was um it was fun, it was great. And uh David Tell was so funny. I can't and you know who else was on the show that was amazing? Gilbert Godfrey's son. His son? His son, he has a 15-year-old son, and he's still close with with Jeff, and so he came on and and and he said to Jeff, I want to do a monologue. This is in the middle of bumping mics, this is like a total improv.
SPEAKER_00He's second generation, whole second generation now. Greg Geraldo's son is also he's also coming up. Yeah, I see videos of him. I used to do open mics with him, actually.
SPEAKER_01You're kidding. Yeah, is he funny?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, he's got I mean, he's got he he has he he has the the X Factor. I mean, he was working on material, so I don't remember the material, but he's got great stage presence and timing, yeah.
SPEAKER_01That's amazing. Um, but but Gilbert Godfrey's son did Shakespeare. It was the he but he came out with two of his friends and he did a Shakespeare mo monologue that I guess he memorized for school or something, and it was hysterical. And Jeff was was uh was picking on all of his mom, his mom was there too, and she bought some friends all dressed like you know, but they were they were on the on the the bill there on the no bumping mics is bumping mics, it's Jeff Ross and David.
SPEAKER_00No, I know, but it with P it was a surprise.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and but Rachel Feinstein and and me were like we were they he asked us to come and do and do the spots, and then whatever happens, they bring people on. They people love it, and they were like, and this was like 12 at night was the show. So that that's what that that's New York. That's like 12 at 12 at night anywhere in the world is everybody's finishing up.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, but I always wonder at these shows. I look at a room full of people who live in Manhattan, I'm like, what do you all do for work? That you live in the most expensive city in the world and no one has to be up tomorrow. People would say it to me also. Yeah. It's wild.
SPEAKER_01They all have their jobs from from home. Yeah. Um what else are we covering?
SPEAKER_00Oh, I wanted to tell you about
A Ride Request Mid-Set
SPEAKER_00what happened in Israel. This is um unbelievable. Only at a Jewish show. I'm doing uh Ramada Sharon. It's like for it's uh area near Herzalia, very wealthy area.
SPEAKER_01Amata Sharon, for those of you who don't know, is like um it is the not not Great Neck, but King's Point. Great Point. Period. Yeah. It's money. Yeah. Money, old money, and uh as old as Israeli money can be. This isn't like Rockefeller, this is like uh Saban. It's not like you know, crazy, it's new-ish, it's only 80 years old, the whole the whole country. Right.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01God willing, it'll be 80 years old. Go ahead.
SPEAKER_00I also'm doing Ramada Sharon, best show I did in Israel. Uh Saturday night, late show. It's it's a room with 340 seats, but it feels like 50 seats. It's like tight, and I love the tight theater. It's uh it's a caskill style, so it's like not not a full semicircle, but like an ice cream cone type. And it and it goes very up and close to you, so everyone feels on top of you, and it's like uh a big stage. And and it's totally dark. Um and I'm rolling with the crowd, a lot of crowd work back and forth, this and that. And I'm probably 40 minutes into my into my hour, and I see two seminary girls get up. I didn't you know 19-year-old girls, they whenever they they can't go to the bathroom by themselves. They have to hold they they hold on to each other. So I see two seminary girls getting up to do the bathroom walk with holding onto each other's arms. But in but the they're sitting literally at the edge of the theater, and instead of there's two exits, instead of going out this one, they walk past my whole stage in front of me. No regard that there's a show, nothing, just walking. I and I think they're leaving the show. I'm like, they had enough, whatever. So I I said, Oh, you guys had enough, you're leaving? Thank you for walking in front of my whole stage. And and I said, Oh, no, oh no, no, we're not leaving. What we just had a question for you. I said, You you walked up to the stage in the middle of the show? There was no like break, like I'm in the middle of a bit, I'm about to hit a punch, and they well, yeah, we just want to ask you a question. Like, you walk you walked up to my stage. Yeah. I'm like, have you ever gone in public before? Like, I saw I'm messing with them. I said, uh, where in the five towns are you guys from? Like that you like I never saw this level of entitlement in my life. And I'm like, did you walk up to the stage? It's asking me a question in the middle of my show. So after like roasting them for a minute and a half, they go, I say, Oh, what's your question? They say, Can you announce into the mic if anyone's driving back to Jerusalem after the show? We need a ride. Wow. Wow. Wow. In the middle of my show. I said, You remember when you bought tickets and like my name was on it? This is this is my show. You you need me to and of course, two Yeshiva guys in the back. We'll take them. No. Um and they took them home. I said, if anyone gets married, I get I I get a cut. And uh, and then what once they found their they went back to their seats. They said they said they went, I said, Where are you going? They said, We wanna, we're gonna enjoy the rest of the show now.
SPEAKER_01That is so funny.
SPEAKER_00I said, Can I get you anything else? They're like, if you have any water, they asked for water.
SPEAKER_01No, they were part, they could they could they were giving you your energy. Yeah, they were giving you, they were mirroring your energy to you.
SPEAKER_00It turns out they were from Baltimore, so that's why they had no social cues, but uh Wow. You're just throwing everybody under the bus here.
SPEAKER_01Okay, what's happening? Where where are you heading to
Tour Plans And Where To Get Tickets
SPEAKER_01from here? What's your what's c what's coming up with you?
SPEAKER_00Oh, I got um big summer, you know, like uh um we're trying to we're planning a big cat skill show.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, by the way, I love how you keep dropping. It's cat skill style. For you, cat skill style means like these the homeowners thing.
SPEAKER_00Like those uh when I say cat skill style, I'm talking about a a a dark, moldy room. Right. With uh with us with because I like when the audience is around you. Right. Right? When I per when I perform, even comedy clubs now, there's a stage and then the audience goes back.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_00But when it's close to you, that's what I mean. Right, okay. Like the vacation village room.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_00It's like a semicircle around you.
SPEAKER_01That's so funny. That's how you're describing Catskill style. For me, when you say Catskill style, it's those massive rooms, the stardust room from the Kutchers or the But even those rooms were a semicircle. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's what I mean. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I I guess okay, you're you're right. Okay. That was it, that's good.
SPEAKER_00But so we're planning something big in the uh what's it called with the K that hotel? Not Kutchers. Kutchers? No, not Kutchers, the something hotel with the water parks and whatever.
SPEAKER_01No idea what's going on there now. I have no idea what's happening in Catsco. That's a hotel called Cartwright? Yeah. Okay.
SPEAKER_00I think it's an old Catswell. So we're we're hoping we're doing something, I think, Thursday after Tishab there. Um I got a big shot in New Jersey in the in the not the vigil, what's it called? You tell me I don't know the Vogel.
SPEAKER_01The Vogel. What's Vogel?
SPEAKER_00The Vogel, it's like it's like not Red Bank Performing Arts, which is a big one there, but it's like a little smaller. And that's hopefully for like Deal, Tom's River, Jackson.
SPEAKER_01That way to get to you. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And then so case hopefully another big show in Jersey. And um then like next year I'm going out. I'm like doing a real my first real like tour, like Atlanta, St. Louis, Dallas.
SPEAKER_01Who's who's producing that? Who's the producer?
SPEAKER_00My manager.
SPEAKER_01Who's your manager?
SPEAKER_00I didn't know you had a Cindy Fader, Willie Mercer at Through Line. Great people.
SPEAKER_01Willie Mercer. Yeah. Willie Mercer is Michir Kenegy. Love Willie Mercer. I love Willie Mercer. I love Willie Mercer. Willie Mercer gave put me on on um, he and I met at uh he was booking at the time. It's 1997. He was booking J Just for Laughs.
SPEAKER_00And there was a show called She's a producer on Just For Laughs.
SPEAKER_01So he he I auditioned and I was like the show was called The Bar Mitzvah Show. And I just did this whole thing of literally I did it at at Radio City, the Koyrim. Really? Well, yeah, and he said, Whatever's going up there, I want that up to show. And that's how I got into Just For Laughs.
SPEAKER_00When I watched your Just for Last clips, it was a it was a clip about like your immigrant parents and like your mom on the phone answering for your friends.
SPEAKER_01Could be, yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00That's the clip of just of your just for last.
SPEAKER_01I have a bunch of just for last clips, yeah. Did you do more than one year? I've done many years up there, many, many years. Many, many years. That's what that's why I'm telling you. That's why I wanted you to come see Video City Music Hall. Because the first time I was ever in front of 4,000 people was on one of those galas. So they have up there, they have the shows that are like um there's the ethnic show, there's the beginner show, there's the new face show, there's all that stuff. But then they have the galas where they had like um, I was on with uh uh Harry Mendel and those things, where you get to be in this theater, uh Plaza del Arts, 4,000 seats. So now you see 4,000 seats and you feel what that is. I'm like, oh, this is what I need, this is what I want. So I wanted you to see Radio City to understand that this is where it's what's ahead there. Um but William Marshall, he's gonna make an amazing show for you. You're gonna slay it. I can't wait. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Well, it's gonna, it's, it's, it's, I like it's gonna be like out of town, a lot of out-of-town Jewish communities where like you are the one coming to their town that year.
SPEAKER_01That's so great. Um, and how do they get in touch with you? What's the on my punch up live? Um on Say it like you're not in a sheer. Uh say it slowly so the audience can look up on my punch live, actually. Isn't there isn't there a website? Isn't there something?
SPEAKER_00The comedians nowadays are all on this website called Punch Up Live. I know what it is. Punch Up Live slash Doby Newberger.
SPEAKER_01It's in my few if you have a beginner sentence again, comedians today are. I will beat you with this mic.
SPEAKER_00Because you have your own website and you're a fancy guy.
SPEAKER_01It all pops into it populates into all those things as well. That much I know. Uh I know Leo, Leo makes it populate into all populate. Look at me, listen those words.
SPEAKER_00Um so yeah, and I'm looking uh go from there. I'm I'm hoping to get up some some longer form um just taking crowd work parts from like my cheese store shows and my Israel shows and making the longer form that I'll have like from like a The Rabbi Son, the Rabbi's son.
SPEAKER_01That's the name of the tour. That's the name of the tour. Rabbi son or the rabbi's son, son of a rabbi. Son of a rabbi, son of a rabbi.
SPEAKER_00Ellie Liebowitz came up with that.
SPEAKER_01Son of a rabbi. He's a great punch up. He's very funny. Yes, he's great for punching up. And your your your your Instagram is at Dovi Newberger. Yep. And you can find all that information there. Everybody, hello,
Modi Dates And Closing Thoughts
SPEAKER_01hello. As I mentioned, we are um on tour. We, I am on tour. Um, and working out the new hour at comedy clubs. We're gonna be in July 22nd in Nashville, the 23rd of July in Raleigh, and then on the 29th in Sacramento, California, and the 30th in Portland, Oregon. That Portland. August 22nd, Ocean Casino in Atlantic City. Uh almost sold out. Not sure what's happening with another show or not, but but if there is tickets, get to get them. November 1st and 3rd in London, sold out the um drew lane. And then we have the show at the Palladium is going on there. And then Ottawa, November 19th and the 22nd in Montreal. Uh, get your tickets. Everything's available at ModiLive.com. And do not just get tickets for yourself, get tickets for friends. Be the friend that brings the friends to the comedy show because that creates energy. Period. Uh Dovey, thank you very much for coming on. Uh, much, much hotzlacha with everything you're doing and send your parents my regards and love. And uh, and that's everybody. Thank you very much for listening and uh being a part of and here's Modi.