“Meshuga frum [crazy observant] is the kind of phrase you hear all the time – this idea that basically anyone – doesn’t matter how frum you are – anyone who does more than you is meshuga frum and anyone who does less, they’re like complete goyim,” Blaker said. “All Jews think that what they are is the actual ideal perfection of what you should be doing.”
Blaker has promised that the act is completely new: “There is not one joke I’m telling, there is not one minute of this new show in Eretz Yisrael that I did last time,” he said.
He is also preparing a slightly different act for the American audeince of his 35 shows at the Gramercy over the summer, including a bit about how much Jews love sushi, helpfully illustrated by a kosher sushi restaurant opening next door to the theatre.
“It couldn’t be more perfect – you can have a little bit of sushi before my show, you can have a little after. It was bashert.”
Finally, a little bit closer to home Ashley Blaker’s Goyish Guide to Judaism will launch on the BBC in May. “It’s for a non-Jewish audience, it’s a very kind of personal show,” he said. “It’s more about me and my journey, how I became religious and why I’m still religious.”
