Latest news with #LaughFactory
Buzz Feed
21-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
17 Actors Who Basically Destroyed Their Reputations In One Fell Swoop
Recently, Reddit user kf1035 asked, "Who is an actor who ruined their reputation in a single act?" 1. " Will Smith going from the low point of his career (slapping Chris Rock) to what should've been the high point of his career (winning an Oscar) in the span of an hour is wild." 2. " Jonathan Majors! The dude was on his way to becoming one of Hollywood's next biggest A-listers. He'd already been cast as the next Big Bad after Thanos in the upcoming Avengers movies. Then it all went away as soon as he was charged with assault." 3. "Michael Richards (aka Kramer from Seinfeld) after his n-word rant at the Laugh Factory." — jazonbooze "In his Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee episode, he seemed to really feel guilty still. He believes that he deserves to be shunned to this day. I'm not going to say I agree or not, but its rare to see someone in his position actually feel bad for what they did and show genuine remorse." — StockAL3Xj 4. "Jeffrey Jones (the principal in Ferris Bueller's Day Off and dad in Beetlejuice). He pleaded guilty to being a sex offender of a minor. And he didn't just do one thing. It was years of crimes." 5. "Ezra Miller is a huge POS. I was really upset when I found out they were in a band I had on my playlists." 6. "T.J. Miller. I think the fake bomb threat on a train incident was just the final straw to kill his career. Seems like everyone he worked with thought he was an extreme narcissist and very unpleasant to work with." 7. "Armie Hammer. It's hard to see cannibalism in a good light." 8. "Terrance Howard seemingly became unwell within a year or two. He's now a straight up idiot psychopath." — Jibber_Fight "As a mathematician, I can confirm that Terrance Howard is incredibly batshit crazy. 1x1 does not equal 2, my guy." — froo 9. "Kevin Spacey, but it wasn't one single act. The dude had been sketchy for years, but people ignored it because he's famous." 10. "I would say Logan Paul after his trip to that Japanese forest with the suicide victim, but then he and his brother scammed their own fans." 11. "Ellen DeGeneres." — Friendlybay "Single act? There are stories of her being horrible to her coworkers even back in her '90s sitcom days." — Forward_Steak8574 12. "Woody Allen probably shouldn't have married his step-daughter." — Total_Membership_171 Author's note: Soon-Yi Previn was never Woody Allen's step-daughter, although it's an understandable mistake to make. Mia Farrow adopted Soon-Yi in 1978. In 1980, when Soon-Yi was 9 or 10, Mia started dating Woody Allen. He and Soon-Yi began dating in 1991, and they married in 1997. Soon-Yi defends her relationship with Woody Allen. They remain married to this day. Perhaps unrelatedly (you decide), RAINN defines "grooming" as a "tool common to those who sexually abuse kids" and "manipulative behaviors that the abuser uses to gain access to a potential victim, coerce them to agree to the abuse, and reduce the risk of being caught. While these tactics are used most often against younger kids, teens and vulnerable adults are also at risk." Notably, grooming is "usually employed by a family member or someone else in the victim's circle of trust." 13. "Mel Gibson. It was wild hearing that antisemitic rant. I know he's still doing stuff, but I never saw him the same way after that." 14. "Roseanne Barr lost her show because of a racist tweet about Valerie Jarrett. She'll never get another show now that she's gone full MAGA." 15. "Gina Carano's offensive tweets. The way she kept doubling down every time she was given an out was the most surprising part for me. You're being offered a ladder to get out of this hole — why are you digging even harder?" 16. "Winona Ryder's career took a hit because she was caught shoplifting." 17. "Steven Seagal seems to have devoted the second half of his life to destroying anything of value from the first half."
Forbes
11-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
From Crown Heights To The Laugh Factory: How One Comedian Is Navigating Hollywood As An Orthodox Jew
Menachem Silverstein performs at the legendary Laugh Factory in Los Angeles Audiences are shocked every time Menachem Silverstein takes the stage at L.A.'s famed Laugh Factory — or any comedy club for that matter. With a yarmulke prominently sitting atop his head and tassle-like fringes of a religious garment (known as tzitzit) hanging down the sides of his pants, the 32-year-old comedian and scriptwriter sticks out like a sore thumb. And that's just the way he likes it. 'It's an interesting thing where people find me funny, but they also kind of don't know what to do with me,' confesses Silverstein, who grew up in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish enclave of Brooklyn's Crown Heights (aka the epicenter of the Chabad movement). 'They don't know how to handle me.' At first glance, Silverstein may seem odd to anyone not familiar with the ins and outs of observant Judaism. He strictly adheres to the dietary laws of kashrut, doesn't work on the Sabbath (sundown Friday to sundown Saturday), and practices shomer negiah (a form of modesty in which men and women are unable to touch unless they are married). But following a certain — and sometimes idiosyncratic — religious code doesn't make a person any less human than someone else. 'When people get to know me, they're like, 'Oh wow, he's normal!'" Silverstein explains. "'We can hang out with him. We can have him part of our show.' Indeed, a big part of his comedy routines are all about breaking down archaic stereotypes and rampant conspiracy theories by calling out 'the ridiculousness of anti-Semitism in order to bring awareness to it and be able to start a conversation," he says. For instance, one of his jokes centered around the preposterous claim that Jews control the weather was conceived during a rainy drive to one of his shows. 'I'm thinking to myself, 'Do you understand that people blame the Jews for this? You think I would do this? Do you understand how inconvenienced I am right now?!' And then I'm thinking, 'Jews don't even like the rain. God took us out of Egypt and we didn't want to cross the sea. We didn't want to swim in the water. The Jews literally get to the ocean and say, 'We'll go back. We hate water.' And that started turning into a joke.' As someone who refuses to hide his Jewish identity and support for Israel, however, Silverstein has become easy prey for anti-Semites, who regularly DM him pictures of Adolf Hitler or come up to him on the street and say, without a trace of shame, 'Another Holocaust is coming for you Jews.' These incidents have only increased since the start of Israel's war with Hamas in 2023, though such normalization had already begun with the backing of highly influential public figures like Kanye West. Menachem's strategy to combat the hate is to refocus the generalizations of anti-Semitic rhetoric into 'these personal stories" of online and in-person abuse that establish him as a flesh and blood individual, rather than the representative of a religious monolith. "Instead of putting it as this broad picture, it's like, 'I'm just a guy and I'm getting hit with anti-Semitism. It's a problem. Let's talk about it.'' But how exactly did a guy raised in the insular and prominently Yiddish-speaking Lubavitch community end up a comedian/writer/actor trying to make it big in Hollywood? Generally speaking, those who follow the path of Chabad path forged by Menachem Mendel Schneerson (otherwise known as 'the Rebbe') take great strides to limit their exposure to secular culture as much as possible. Mainstream movies, songs, fashion styles, and even the internet are considered unnecessary distractions from spiritual matters and are, therefore, taboo. Men are usually given two occupational routes: rabbi or businessman. Similar to the disagreemen between Jacob Rabinowitz and his father in The Jazz Singer, the idea of wanting to be anyone else, let alone a comedian, is unthinkable. Silverstein had a much different experience growing up, given the fact that his parents were both Baalei teshuva (irreligious Jews who become more observant later in life). Menachem Silverstein 'There was definitely a dichotomy," he remembers. 'We were raised in an ultra-ultra-Orthodox community where all of my friends were Orthodox Jews. But then we'd go and visit my cousins and my grandparents, who are not religious whatsoever — no kosher, no nothing. I always felt like there was the crossover, where you could live in both worlds. A lot of my friends wouldn't watch TV or movies, but when I went to my grandparents' house, they'd be like, 'You have to watch this.' I watched old episodes of Get Smart and Gilligan's Island, and was like, 'This is the greatest thing I've ever seen.' [Then I realized]: 'Okay, I can be a religious person and watch TV. That's possible.'' In addition, his parents made sure their children were well-versed in matters of English and mathematics (subjects not always emphasized in Hasidic communities), even if it meant having to meet with private tutors after a long day of studying Torah and Talmud at yeshiva. This gave Menachem a major leg up on his peers and allowed him to pass his Regents exams (New York's version of the GED) and receive a high school diploma. That, coupled with his love and knowledge of pop culture, sent Mr. Silverstein down the path of a professional screenwriter and comedian. Even he realizes it was a highly unusual career choice for someone of his background. 'I'm from yeshiva. I didn't grow up writing,' he says. 'I learned how to write scripts by downloading them, reading them, and seeing how they were formatted. Whenever I had a question, I would Google it.' Menachem Silverstein Nevertheless, he forged ahead and continued to write scripts while simultaneously dipping his toes in the world of comedy. 'I was like, 'Listen, I don't know if people want to see somebody with a kippah and tzitzit on stage,'' he admits. ''It's a little too aggressive.' I did some open mic stuff in New York, but never really took comedy seriously." It wasn't until he and two other creatives were trying to line up a comedy series at Amazon, that Silverstein began to really hone his comedy chops. 'As we were pitching it to this producer at Amazon, they were like, 'Oh, and you'll be one of the comedians? An Orthodox Jewish comic, that's hilarious!' ' And I was like, 'Sure…'" The project never materialized (in classic Hollywood fashion, the executive who originally signed off left the company), Menachem 'was left with a comedy career." His big break came via a recommendation to perform at the Laugh Factory in Los Angeles from friend and fellow comic, Tehran Von Ghasri, 'who put his ass on the line for me,' Silverstein notes. Fortunately, Tehran had nothing to worry about, however, once Menachem crushed his first set at the venue, paving the way for a fruitful relationship with the club's founder, Jamie Masada, and its president, David Fuhrer. 'From a comedy perspective, that was the biggest pinch me moment," says Silverstein, who made Laugh Factory history by being the first person to wear a yarmulke and tzizit on the hallowed Laugh Factory stage. 'A lot of clubs see it as weird and different. I feel like Jamie really took a swing on me. I'm forever grateful to him. And now I get to produce my own shows there.' The general public found him 'funny and unexpected,' but the pious folks back home in Brooklyn were not all sold on the idea of an ultra-Orthodox Jewish comedian flaunting his religiousness in such a secular environment. Some even considered it a chillul hashem (basically a negative action of one Jew that consequently reflects badly on all Jews). 'I had some people from my community who were so impressed," Silverstein reveals. "Like, 'Wow! You're a comedian at the Laugh Factory? That's so cool!' There were definitely older Jews who were like, 'How dare you wear your yarmulke and tzitzit on stage? How dare you bring you Judaism into a dark place like that?' I kind of looked at them like, 'I'm doing comedy. Would you like me to take my kippah and tzitzit off? Either I'm wearing them or I'm not wearing them, what would you like?'' ComedianMenachem Silverstein performs a set at LA's famous Laugh Factory Despite the fact that standup is his current calling card, Silverstein's ambitions lie beyond the spotlit stage. His greatest goal at the moment is to become a showrunner of his own series, a job that would allow him to not only retain creative control — 'I'm OCD and anal retentive" — but also reconcile his love of entertainment production with the realities of an Orthodox lifestyle. By virtue of the fact that he cannot work Friday nights or Saturdays, as well as certain high holidays, means that a lot of writing, and acting job are simply unavailable to him. Like the successful guys at BoulderLight, though, Menachem doesn't allow his religious lifestyle to keep him out of the business. It just requires him to do more of the legwork himself by scheduling his own comedy tours with producing partner, Erez Safar (founder of Laugh Through The Heartbreak), or else leveraging Laugh Factory guests (like Lost co-creator Jeffrey Lieber and The Vigil producer Daniel Finkelman) into creative partners. Contacts like these helped land him pitches at the likes of Sony, Lionsgate, Warner Bros. Quite the journey for a Lubavitch kid from Crown Heights, who taught himself to write screenplays? 'The first time I had a meeting with Lionsgate, I honestly thought that I'd walk in, they'd have my script with red doodles all over it and say, 'You thought that you were a writer? Hilarious!'" Silverstein says. "I expected them to call me out on being a fake writer. But when I got there, they actually were like, 'Wow, this is one of the best treatments we've ever read.' And I was like, 'Oh, so I am a real writer.'" While he initially avoided writing too much Jewish-related material at the start of his career, lest he be 'pigeonholed" into a specific niche — "If I'm the Orthodox Jew, I can only ever write [on a show like] Unorthodox or Shtisl — Menachem has come around on the idea of letting his identity infuse itself into his work, however subtle. 'I always write something that I want to watch,' he concludes. 'Whatever show or movie I write, it's something that would excite me if I saw a trailer for it. Nowadays, I go a little bit wherever the wind may take me. If the story needs to be overtly Jewish and if someone likes it, great. If someone doesn't, they don't. And if the story can be subtly Jewish or not at all, then I'll kind of lean in that way.'
CBS News
31-03-2025
- Entertainment
- CBS News
Comedian Paul Rodriguez arrested in Burbank for drug possession
Paul Rodriguez, a longtime comedian known for movies like "Tortilla Soup" and "Rat Race," was arrested on Friday for alleged possession of narcotics, according to police. He was arrested at around 7:30 p.m. when officers conducted a traffic stop of a car near Victory Boulevard and Lamer Street, according to the Burbank Police Department. They say that Rodriguez was a passenger of the car. "During the investigation, narcotics were located," said a statement from BPD. "Mr. Rodriguez was arrested and booked at Burbank Police Jail for possession of narcotics." He was released with a citation and ordered to appear in court on April 25, police said. Rodriguez, 70, is best known for his stand-up comedy and acting career. He has starred in a number of comedy movies like "A Million to Juan," "Born in East L.A.," and "Beverly Hills Chihuahua." He is also a part-owner of the Laugh Factory in Hollywood, where he is well-regarded for his charity work that includes serving holiday meals to people in need.
Yahoo
31-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Comedian Paul Rodriguez arrested in Burbank for drug possession
The Brief Comedian Paul Rodriguez was arrested in Burbank for drug possession. He denies the charges and claims police misconduct during the arrest. Rodriguez, known for his bilingual stand-up comedy and roles in over 40 films, is scheduled to appear in court on April 25. LOS ANGELES - Comedian Paul Rodriguez is facing legal challenges following his arrest for drug possession in Burbank, a charge he denies. The incident has sparked controversy, with Rodriguez alleging police misconduct during the arrest. What we know Paul Rodriguez was arrested in Burbank for drug possession after a vehicle he was in was stopped for a code violation. Rodriguez was arrested Friday around 7:30 p.m., according to police. Narcotics were discovered during a search, officials said. Rodriguez was released with a citation to appear in court on April 25, while his friend remained in custody due to outstanding warrants. What we don't know It is unclear whether Rodriguez will face formal charges, as a city attorney is yet to make a decision. Additionally, the identity of Rodriguez's friend, who was driving the vehicle, has not been disclosed. The backstory Rodriguez, a comedian with a career spanning over 30 years, is known for his bilingual stand-up routines and appearances in more than 40 films, including "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" and "Blood Work." Raised in Los Angeles, Rodriguez is also recognized for his charitable work, particularly his involvement in annual free Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners at Hollywood's Laugh Factory. What they're saying Following his release, Rodriguez told TMZ he was sleeping in the passenger seat and was slapped awake by a "Caucasian" officer on a "power trip." He is considering filing a formal complaint, alleging he was "roughed up" by police and that the drugs belonged to his female friend. What's next Rodriguez is scheduled to appear in court on April 25. The Source Information for this story is from TMZ and the Burbank Police Department. City News Service contributed.
Yahoo
23-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Aurora honors late comedian Ken Flores with street dedication
AURORA, Ill. - The City of Aurora honored stand-up comedian Ken Flores, who died suddenly last month at the age of 28, with a street dedication. Flores, who grew up on Aurora's East Side, died suddenly on Jan. 28 of congestive heart failure at the age of 28, according to the city. What we know More than 150 people gathered in Aurora on Saturday to honor Flores with an honorary street sign marking the block of his childhood home on Spicebush Lane and Fifth Avenue. Flores was a 2014 graduate of East Aurora High School and became a familiar face on the Los Angeles stand-up scene. He regularly performed at comedy clubs like Hollywood's Laugh Factory, The Comedy Store, The Haha and Hollywood Improv. What they're saying During Saturday's ceremony, Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin also formally proclaimed June 10 as Ken Flores Day in Aurora, to highlight the comedian's birthday and "remember his contagious humor and lasting impact," the city said. "This is what Ken would want. He would want us to laugh and have a good time. I know he's in heaving smiling down," said best friend Cristian Arriaga in a statement. What's next The City of Aurora said plans were already underway for a citywide celebration on June 10 to further honor Flores.
