In conversation: An Imam, a Rabbi and a Priest

An Imam, a Rabbi and a Priest walk into a comedy club… and debut as stand-up comics. They tell us more…

Imam Dr Muhammad Al-Hussaini, Rabbi Debbie Young-Somers (00:19:48) and Reverend Steven Young (00:30:36) tell Judi Herman about their hopes and fears for their very first comedy gig. An Imam, a Rabbi and a Priest Walk into a Comedy Club is taking place as part of JW3’s third annual UK Jewish Comedy Festival. And for an extra treat, hear Imam Muhammad demonstrate his prize-winning singing in Gaelic at the end of his chat with Judi!

An Imam, a Rabbi and a Priest Walk into a Comedy Club (with Q&A) is on Sunday 4 December, 5.30-6.30pm, £12, at JW3, London NW3 6ET; 020 7433 8988. www.jw3.org.uk

In conversation: Alon Nashman

Canadian actor Alon Nashman brings the world-famous Jewish writer – and his father – to vivid life in this acclaimed one-man play, as part of JW3’s Kafka Festival

© Cylla von Tiedeman

At age 36 Franz Kafka was still living at home, a petty bureaucrat, a failed artist, a timid Jewish son. Ruling and ruining his life was his overbearing father, Hermann. Kafka wrote a letter to his father in which he reveals deep connections between his life and his fiction. As he confesses, "All my writing was about you". Adapted from this monumental (and undelivered) letter, Kafka and Son is a blistering, often hilarious, dissection of domestic authority, starring Canadian actor Alon Nashman. Kafka and Son has toured Europe and now it returns to the UK as part of JW3’s Kafka Festival, 24 to 25 October. Judi Herman caught up with Alon Nashman when he performed his acclaimed one-man play in The Hague and after the performance he spoke to her for JR OutLoud.

Alon Nashman performs Kafka and Son on Saturday 24 October. 8pm. £10-£15. JW3, 341-351 Finchley Rd, NW3 6ET; 020 7433 8988. www.jw3.org.uk

Read Alon Nashman on his Kafka - along with writer/director/performer Steven Berkoff and novelist and critic Gabriel Josipovici - in the October 2015 issue of Jewish Renaissance.

In conversation: Kerry Shale and Chris Neill

Judi Herman speaks to the cast of The 2000 Year Old Man and offers listeners a sneak preview of the show

As flagged up in the January 2015 issue of Jewish Renaissance, you can now listen to more of Kerry Shale talking to Judi Herman about performing his live stage recreation of Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner’s legendary double act, from the albums on which an interviewer questions a man who has seen the entire history of civilisation – and gives his replies in a thick Yiddish accent! You’ll also hear from Chris Neill, who will be ‘channelling’ interviewer Carl Reiner to Kerry’s Mel Brooks as the 2000 Year Old Man himself. We've also got a sneak preview of the show for you, with Kerry and Chris listening on cleverly concealed earbuds to Brooks and Reiner to reproduce their personas.

The 2000 Year Old Man runs from Monday 9 – Sunday 22 March. 8pm. £6.50-£12.50. JW3, 341-351 Finchley Rd, NW3 6ET; 020 7433 8988. www.jw3.org.uk