ABOUT
Ex-Rockapella star Sean Altman’s unkosher comedy song concert Sean Altman’s JEWMONGOUS is “tuneful and sharply witty” (Los Angeles Times), “relentlessly clever” (Chicago Tribune) and “bawdy with a wicked modern streak” (Washington Post), with “hilarious pleasures” (The New Yorker) that combine “the tunefulness of the Beatles and the spot-on wit of Tom Lehrer” (Boston Globe) with a “silky tenor voice that produced chills” (New York Times). Altman, one of “New York’s finest comedians” (New York Times) and “a terrific singer and a songwriter with an ear equally attuned to comic satire and the power of pop music” (The New Yorker), “writes hilarious and irreverent acoustic rock songs about his awakening Jewish awareness” (Jerusalem Post) to make you “laugh your tuchis off” (Time Out) as “part of a breed of Jewish hipster comedy that includes Jon Stewart, Sacha Baron Cohen and Sarah Silverman” (Philadelphia Daily News). His classic Passover song “They Tried To Kill Us (We Survived, Let’s Eat)” has been featured on NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross. Altman has twice performed at the White House Chanukah Party and he has performed JEWMONGOUS throughout the USA, Europe, Israel and once in China.
SEAN EXPLAINS: Why JEWMONGOUS?
At my bar mitzvah, Rabbi Gottlieb publicly warned me of the perils of becoming a “bar mitzvah Jew”: a Jew for whom that barely pubescent rite of passage is the end of the line. Indeed, from the moment I sent out that final bar mitzvah “thank you” note (to the Himmelsteins, for that bond that won’t mature until I’m dead), I gleefully eschewed the spiritual elements of Judaism. Through my twenties I reveled in my great escape from the clutches of my ancestors’ faith, even marrying a dreaded shiksa.
But damn him; that know-it-all Rabbi Gottlieb was right: secular Judaism (the ability to discern a bagel from a donut) was not nearly as fulfilling as Satan had promised (and to boot the shiksa dumped me). I felt an increasingly urgent longing to be more connected with my Jewish lineage. But how? Synagogues intimidated me and I’d long forgotten how to read Hebrew (and by “read” I mean sound out the words with no comprehension whatsoever). For years I asserted my Jewishness only at Passover seders, where I read the four questions aloud with particular bravado in an attempt to “prove my Jewishness” to the rest of the table (and assuage my guilt).
Then it hit me: the only things I know how to do – period – are sing and write songs and crack wise. In lieu of shul, then, I started writing naughty ditties that both celebrate and lovingly skewer the trials and tribulations of the tribe. Presto: all of a sudden I’m an esteemed purveyor of “Jewish music” and a part of this fancy-shmancy “Jewish hipster movement” everyone’s talking about. I’ve never been called “hip” in my life, so I figure God must really want me to write these ferkachter songs. Let’s not forget that Jews have produced some of the greatest American comedians and song writers, so I have numerous role models for both endeavors.
Marrying a knockout JDate Jewess cemented the deal: I’m back home with the Hebrews and life is sweeter than my bubbe’s kugel. The fact that I still know very little about my people hasn’t deterred me from penning catchy songs that display my pathetic lack of knowledge. In fact, I’ve found that not knowing squat about Judaism allows for better lyrics, as I’m not hamstrung by the pesky “truth”. So have I managed to shed the sinister “bar mitzvah Jew” moniker? Nope. I came of age in the ’70s, when “theme” bar mitzvahs were just coming into vogue. My event’s theme was S&M, so JEWMONGOUS is really just an extension of my bar mitzvah, simultaneously embracing and rebelling against my heritage and forever trying to tweak the rabbi’s beard and yank his talis. I’m still a “bar mitzvah Jew”, but at least I’m now “hip”. Thank you, Rabbi Gottlieb!
MUSIC
PURCHASE CDS HERE
STREAM JEWMONGOUS ALBUMS:
Taller Than Jesus on: SPOTIFY / APPLE MUSIC
The Least Jewy Jew in Jewville on: SPOTIFY / Coming Soon to Apple Music
VIDEOS
PRESS
LOS ANGELES TIMES
“Wickedly humorous… Tuneful and sharply witty.”
PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS
“Wildly funny… Part of a new breed of Jewish hipster comedy that includes Jon Stewart, Sacha Baron Cohen, Sarah Silverman and Heeb Magazine.”
BOSTON GLOBE
“Racy and funny and smart and affectionate, written for a generation of fully assimilated Jews who grew up on punk rock and ‘South Park.'”
WASHINGTON POST
“Full of catchy melodies, clever arrangements and lyrics that yield satiric gems… Bawdy with a wicked modern streak…”
SEATTLE STRANGER
“The bastard love child Tenacious D and Fiddler on the Roof never had.”
VILLAGE VOICE
“Hilarious and tuneful. Jew’ll Love it! Very busy, very talented singer Sean Altman.”
LA WEEKLY (Los Angeles)
“Clearly not averse to taking risks… While his punk-rough approach and vividly iconoclastic lyrics place him in an up-to-date arena, he echoes such forebears as Eddie Cantor and Lenny Bruce and upholds the tradition with biting, bitchen acuity.”
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
“Not since Kinky Friedman has Hebraic-humored folk been as funny and as literate.”
NEWARK STAR-LEDGER
“Neo-Borscht Belt… An abundance of clever, catchy songs…Genuine laughs…Thoroughly entertaining comic power-pop.”
NEW YORK TIMES
“Giants of Jewish joke-pop, but you can also hear some Beatles in their risqué borscht-belting… Ethnic pride mixed with high camp.”
BALTIMORE CITYGUIDE
“Irreverent, hilarious, a smorgasbord of dirty humor, high wit and musical lunacy. Lenny Bruce meets Mel Brooks meets Sarah Silverman.”
BOSTON HERALD
“Subversively funny… Ribald, impolite, politically incorrect… Deliriously kitschy.”
PHILADELPHIA WEEKLY
“An awesomely talented musical comedian… Biting satire and mind-alteringly hilarious.”
TIME OUT NEW YORK
“Bart Simpsons of the Yeshiva… The neurotic nebbish is out; the swaggering ass-kicker is in.”
THE PROVINCE (Vancouver, BC)
“You loved Sacha Baron Cohen in Borat? You’ll be delighted with Altman, a song-writing wiz.”
JTNEWS (Seattle – The Voice of Jewish Washington)
“An over-the-top musical gag that strip-mines Jewish stereotypes for every last bit of comedy.”
EUGENE WEEKLY (Eugene, OR)
“Hilarious…A tongue in cheek, whimsical new approach to Jewish joke-pop.”
SAN DIEGO JEWISH JOURNAL
“A riotous and self-righteous musical fest that is all tongue-in-cheek hilarity for the tribe.”
SANTA BARBARA INDEPENDENT
“Winning over Jewish audiences with its take-no-prisoners approach to Jewish-inspired comedy…The Jewish hipster movement has arrived.”
PHILADELPHIA CITY PAPER
“Recharge your chutzpah meter with the Jewtacular, Jewsplosive JEWMONGOUS!”
NORWALKPLUS.COM
“The perfect Hanukah gift, but even the most ardent gentile will be enraptured by this hipster comedy with a Jewish partiality.”
THE JEWISH ADVOCATE (Boston)
Altman has a knack for turning everyday fodder into laugh-out-loud comedic songs with a raunchy, transgressive streak.”
TESTIMONIALS
Rabbi-Cantor Angela Buchdahl of Central Synagogue in Manhattan:
“Jewmongous is funny ’til it hurts. Sean Altman dishes out an irreverent, sometimes vulgar, but always illuminating view of American Jewish life. While his humor cuts to the bone, Altman’s pride in the tribe is always evident, and he is also a world-class Mensch. Listen and weep. And love it!”
Rabbi Lia Bass of Congregation Etz Hayim in Arlington, VA:
“Sean Altman has an amazing voice, an awesome sense of humor and great timing. He is a powerful musician with charm and wit to boot. More than anything, Sean has his finger on the pulse of American Jews, and he is able to reach out to people in a unique way. Listening to him, one can get a distinctive glimpse into the American Jewish community.”
Rabbi Micah Becker-Klein of the JCC in Springfield, MA:
“Incredibly funny and amazingly smart. I was so pleased and honored to have you help create a dynamic and varied musical line-up for our first Western Massachusetts Jewish Music & Arts Festival. The show was entertaining, sharp, witty, contemporary, and yes, educational – all with the seriousness of a Saturday Night Live skit. In particular, your lyrical skill of turning vulgar anti-Semitic assumptions that have littered the globe for centuries into a comedic presentation of how absurd the claims really are – was rewarding and amusing to hear.”
Rabbi Rebecca E. Schorr of Congregation B’nai Tzedek in Fountain Valley, CA:
“Edgy, nearly inappropriate, yet uproariously funny, Altman captures much of what is fun and funny about being a member of the tribe.”
Rabbi Chava Koster of B’nai Israel in Manhattan said this in a Boston Globe article:
“There’s such a tongue-in-cheek love for Judaism that comes out. I found it funny and moving, a very human celebration, through the laughter, of being Jewish.”
Rabbi Brian of Religion-Outside-The-Box (rotb.org):
“This rabbi is very proud of Sean Altman. Jewmongous is the kind of kosher that we should all rock to.”
CONTACT
Tough Motherfucker(With An Eye Patch)
Phantom Foreskin
Blame The Jews (SATIRE SONG!)
Taller Than Jesus
They Tried To Kill Us(We Survived, Let’s Eat!)
Hanukah!(Damn, Just Missed It)
Members Of The Tribe(M.O.T.)