{"id":13733,"date":"2015-07-24T00:12:19","date_gmt":"2015-07-24T07:12:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=13733"},"modified":"2015-07-22T15:07:50","modified_gmt":"2015-07-22T22:07:50","slug":"a-buzzfeed-video-master","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2015\/07\/24\/a-buzzfeed-video-master\/","title":{"rendered":"A BuzzFeed video master"},"content":{"rendered":"

Allison Raskin, left, produces a weekly webseries, Just Between Us<\/em>, with her best friend and comedy partner, Gaby Dunn. (photo from Allison Raskin)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Tens of millions of online viewers may have learned a little bit more about being Jewish after seeing Allison Raskin\u2019s wacky BuzzFeed videos.<\/p>\n

There, the young actor has brought her comedic take on many topics. Her Jewish shtick includes such witty shorts as 11 Things Jewish Friends Just Get<\/a><\/em>, Christmas Explained by Jews<\/a><\/em>, Jews Decorate Christmas Trees for the First Time<\/a><\/em> and the Funny or Die video 1-800-4-Jew-Now<\/a><\/em>, where nice Jewish girls Rebecca and Rachel make themselves available as fill-in dates for family get-togethers.<\/p>\n

\u201cFinding success on YouTube has been both the most exciting and confusing thing that has ever happened to me (other than my bat mitzvah),\u201d she wrote recently on her blog.<\/p>\n

Raskin, a Scarsdale, N.Y.-native, who now calls Los Angeles home, also performs improv and stand-up around Los Angeles, and produces a weekly webseries, Just Between Us<\/a><\/em>, with her best friend and comedy partner, Gaby Dunn. With more than a hundred segments thus far, they tackle relationship issues in an irreverent and unconventional manner.<\/p>\n

\u201cBasically, it\u2019s two girls on a couch giving love advice, but we\u2019re terrible at giving advice,\u201d explained Raskin. \u201cThat\u2019s the shtick. It\u2019s not at all about the questions or advice, but about our relationship. People say we\u2019re the odd couple, a classic comedy approach.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Jewish Independent<\/em> recently caught up with Raskin.<\/p>\n

DG<\/strong>: What videos of yours are your favorites?<\/p>\n

AR<\/strong>: A couple of contenders for different reasons. If Buying Condoms Was Like Buying Birth Control<\/a><\/em>, I\u2019m really proud of that one because I think it had a message and did really well. From a comedic level, that didn\u2019t do well, but the writing was good. The other, Is This a Date?<\/a><\/em>, is a sketch I liked. It\u2019s a miscommunication between a man and a woman, and how their dialogue confused each other.<\/p>\n

DG<\/strong>: You\u2019ve done a few videos with Jewish content. Is our heritage and culture inherently funny?<\/p>\n

AR<\/strong>: We all know how our families behave. Sometimes there\u2019s a larger familiarity people will get even if they\u2019re not a part of your family. I find things funny in my family and people I grew up with that I\u2019m sure are funny to other people also.<\/p>\n

DG<\/strong>: So, how do you make a Jewish video funny to people who don\u2019t know about Jewish culture?<\/p>\n

AR<\/strong>: The hope is that you\u2019ll relate, even if you\u2019re not Jewish or have a lot of Jewish friends that get it. At the end of the day, everyone is just human and we all do just funny things. My sister is married to an Italian and their family is very similar to ours. It\u2019s all about the food; everyone is into each other\u2019s lives, it\u2019s all just loud and fun and caring. Even if they\u2019re Roman Catholic, there\u2019s a lot of similar culture there. And Italian has always been our favorite food.<\/p>\n

DG<\/strong>: Are any of your comedic influences Jewish?<\/p>\n

AR<\/strong>: My friends flatter me and say I\u2019m like a female Woody Allen, but I know they\u2019re just sucking up. But I definitely relate to some aspects of his point of view and I think that there are certain neuroses that I bring to some of my characters that are similar.<\/p>\n

Other than that, one comedic influence is Julia Louis-Dreyfus (not Jewish). She has such presence \u2013 timeless and perfect and commanding. I love Veep<\/em>.<\/p>\n

DG<\/strong>: Is comedy natural to you?<\/p>\n

AR<\/strong>: I think you either have it or you don\u2019t. Have spark of it, or don\u2019t. But you have to nurture and grow with that spark. It\u2019s something you study and refine over years, with stand-up especially. Refining just my presence on stage took a long time, not just the actual jokes, but how I would deliver them was a whole journey. Just have to kind of need to love it.<\/p>\n

All I ever want to do is to make a good joke. That\u2019s what drives me day in and day out. Not just on the internet, but also to my best friends.<\/p>\n

DG<\/strong>: What\u2019s the environment like with other BuzzFeed actors?<\/p>\n

AR<\/strong>: It\u2019s definitely work; but it\u2019s like working at a college campus \u2013 everyone is friends, we hang out, it\u2019s great, awesome to be surrounded by young, talented people who want to do the same stuff you want to do. So, it\u2019s definitely a fun office. I\u2019ve been to my dad\u2019s law office and it\u2019s nothing like that.<\/p>\n

DG<\/strong>: You\u2019ve done some of the famous taste-test videos of ethnic foods. What would you eat again?<\/p>\n

AR<\/strong>: Boiled peanuts. Everything in the Southern taste test was incredible. Okra was incredible. All I think about now is okra and boiled peanuts and how to get them.<\/p>\n

DG<\/strong>: Have you tried okra in beef stew?<\/p>\n

AR<\/strong>: I don\u2019t eat beef, so maybe I\u2019d pick it out. I\u2019ve been a vegetarian for ethics reasons since I was 8, but now I eat birds and fish.<\/p>\n

DG<\/strong>: BuzzFeed fans found out through the Jewish videos that there are other young Jewish actors at BuzzFeed. Do you guys hang out or talk Jewish stuff?<\/p>\n

AR<\/strong>: Nah, maybe like \u201cOh, what are you doing for Passover? Hmm, nothing.\u201d A lot of people were shocked that more than one Jew works at BuzzFeed.<\/p>\n

Most of my friends, oddly enough, are Jewish and there\u2019s shared culture there. I thought, with the video of Jews explaining Christmas, some online comments were antisemitic, and then the one with Christians explaining Chanuka nobody cared about.<\/p>\n

DG<\/strong>: Did it upset you?<\/p>\n

AR<\/strong>: I grew up surrounded by Jews, so I forget that there\u2019s a lot of antisemitism in the world.<\/p>\n

DG<\/strong>: What\u2019s funny about being Jewish?<\/p>\n

AR<\/strong>: Um, my mother. I just think the traditional Jewish mom is so funny to me. It\u2019s already been passed on; if someone doesn\u2019t call me back, I think they\u2019re dead. I really have to work on my anxiety about thinking everyone\u2019s dead.<\/p>\n

DG<\/strong>: OK, pop quiz. Just like in the videos: A Jew explains Easter. Go!<\/p>\n

AR<\/strong>: Oh, crap. That\u2019s the one where Jesus is born, no, dies? He dies, right? Something about bunnies and chocolate? Lent, where you swear off doing something? The stores are closed?<\/p>\n

Dave Gordon<\/strong> is a Toronto-based freelance writer and managing editor of landmarkreport.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Allison Raskin, left, produces a weekly webseries, Just Between Us, with her best friend and comedy partner, Gaby Dunn. (photo from Allison Raskin) Tens of millions of online viewers may have learned a little bit more about being Jewish after seeing Allison Raskin\u2019s wacky BuzzFeed videos. There, the young actor has brought her comedic take […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13723,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[787],"tags":[4196,4197],"class_list":["post-13733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tv-film","tag-allison-raskin","tag-buzzfeed"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13733"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13733\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}