{"id":35587,"date":"2020-10-30T03:46:27","date_gmt":"2020-10-30T10:46:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=35587"},"modified":"2020-10-29T19:05:09","modified_gmt":"2020-10-30T02:05:09","slug":"living-and-working-together","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2020\/10\/30\/living-and-working-together\/","title":{"rendered":"Living and working together"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eman El-Husseini, left, and Jess Salomon with furry family member Esther Honey El-Husseini. (photo by Mike Bryck)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Jess Salomon and Eman El-Husseini, aka the El-Salomons, close out this year\u2019s Chutzpah! Festival on Nov. 28. They will live-stream from Brooklyn, and local comedians will join the event from the Rothstein Theatre.<\/p>\n

In performance, the married Jewish-Palestinian lesbian comedy duo leans into the things that make them unique. Their chemistry is not only evident on stage, but even comes out in an email interview, where the pair play off one another like, well, a couple who knows and loves each other well.<\/p>\n

JI<\/strong>: You met when you were each performing solo routines and continued in that vein, I think, even after you were married. When and why did you team up professionally as well?<\/p>\n

Jess<\/strong>: It didn\u2019t really come from us. We weren\u2019t out in comedy until we got engaged so it was only after that, that we started making jokes about our relationship. Sometimes, we\u2019d follow each other on a show and it became obvious who we were talking about. Like how many Jewish-Muslim-Palestinian Canadian couples that moved to America from Canada are there? Another comedy couple might be able to be on a show together and say my boyfriend did this or my girlfriend did that, and no one would connect that they were referring to one another. So, we built in this reveal and, eventually, people started asking if we were going to share the stage together. We didn\u2019t want to, but it\u2019s a sacrifice we make for the fans!<\/p>\n

Eman<\/strong>: The first time we shared the stage was at a gig in an old synagogue turned community centre in L.A. I went on first and introduced Jess for her performance. We bantered, unprepared, on stage for about 10 minutes. We had no idea a reviewer from Tablet <\/em>was in the audience and, although we individually performed for about 30 minutes separately, that 10 minutes of banter stole the show\u2026. We didn\u2019t think much of it but, a year later, 2018, we were in our hometown of Montreal for the Just for Laughs Festival. The BBC World Service was in town to put on a comedy show. They called us and asked if we\u2019d want to record a set together and we said, \u2018absolutely not.\u2019 First of all, they have a huge listenership and we wouldn\u2019t be able to polish an act under such short notice and, second, no one wants or should want to work with their spouse. But, the British have a way to persuade, it must be the accent.<\/p>\n

At the same time, because we were back in our hometown, Just for Laughs offered us two shows to do whatever we wanted. We decided to perform individually for 20 minutes and then 20 minutes together. We almost got divorced but the audience loved it! We sold out both nights and added a third. Who would have thought a duo act would be so sought after? We\u2019ve been working together ever since, and we are still married! I think, at this point, if we ever separated, we\u2019d have to be closeted about getting divorced.<\/p>\n

JI<\/strong>: From where do you get the strength and confidence to be a stand-up comedian?<\/p>\n

Eman<\/strong>: I have no idea why and how I\u2019ve stuck with this career after my first set. I bombed so hard and, until today, continue to bomb at times, but there is truly an addictive element to making someone laugh. Even if it\u2019s a single person in a room. Laughter is so genuine and isn\u2019t easily had. I mean, even in our day-to-day life Jess and I will share with each other how we made a stranger laugh shopping for groceries or walking the dog. It\u2019s so rewarding.<\/p>\n

Jess<\/strong>: Making strangers laugh and then talking about it is 100% an Eman thing. Right now, we\u2019re in an argument over a speech therapist I\u2019m convinced she hired just to entertain while she insists she has a speech impediment that must be fixed.<\/p>\n

Eman<\/strong>: I feel like my strength and confidence comes from my parents. Although my sister and I have a brother, I managed to be the favourite.<\/p>\n

Jess<\/strong>: You do have a masculine energy they might be responding to.<\/p>\n

Eman<\/strong>: A big reason I wanted to be a stand-up comic is because of how misrepresented and underrepresented Arabs, Muslims and particularly Palestinians are in the media. More often than not, I am the first Palestinian someone meets in real life. I feel like an ambassador of sorts, dispelling stereotypes about my people. Exposure is such a powerful tool in getting through to people and if you can make them laugh that\u2019s a big bonus. Even if people are immediately turned off by what I represent, they are still curious to hear what I have to say. I remember headlining a show in Niagara Falls once. I had to be on stage for 45 minutes. Twenty minutes in, I realized I haven\u2019t made a single person laugh….<\/p>\n

Jess<\/strong>: I love that it took you 20 minutes! That\u2019s confidence.<\/p>\n

Eman<\/strong>: They were conservative-leaning so, I called them out, \u2018Guys! I know you don\u2019t like what I\u2019m saying but I can tell you like me.\u2019 That eviscerated the room! From that moment forward I knew I could never quit comedy even if I wanted to.<\/p>\n

Jess<\/strong>: I tried to do a joke about the no smoking sign on the plane and quickly realized there were at least a few comics who had done the same joke. That\u2019s when I realized it\u2019s better when I pull from personal experience. Even if I\u2019m not an ambassador like Eman. I\u2019m not the first Jewish comedian people have seen.<\/p>\n

\"illustrations<\/a>
The El-Salomons have their own cartoon. (illustrations by Jesse Brown)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

JI<\/strong>: How and when did your new Crave Canada special, Marriage of Convenience<\/em>, come about?<\/p>\n

Jess<\/strong>: After performing in Montreal for Just for Laughs and the BBC in 2018, we kept working on our duo act and growing our audience on Instagram for our comics (@theelsalomons). We sent a tape of what grew into an hour-long show to Just for Laughs and that\u2019s how we got booked for the Crave special.<\/p>\n

Eman<\/strong>: We realized people preferred us together than individually, which is insulting considering we had about a decade each of solo experience. It\u2019s understandable, there are so many stand-up comics but rarely any duo acts.<\/p>\n

Jess: There\u2019s no one I\u2019d rather lose my individual identity for.<\/p>\n

Eman<\/strong>: Aw.<\/p>\n

JI<\/strong>: What is the origin of the cartoons?<\/p>\n

Eman<\/strong>: Jess came up with the idea. We would get such a huge response on social media when we\u2019d write these back-and-forth status updates about each other.<\/p>\n

Jess<\/strong>: Huge is relative.<\/p>\n

Eman<\/strong>: People asking when the sitcom was coming out.<\/p>\n

Jess<\/strong>: And, knowing that it would take awhile for us to find the time to write a pilot that was pitch-ready and be in a place where we could sell a series, a weekly cartoon on Instagram seemed like a manageable place to start to develop the character version of ourselves and, hopefully, an audience. We also have a close family friend, Jesse Brown, who just happens to be an incredible illustrator that wanted to work on this with us. So that\u2019s how it was born.<\/p>\n

Ema<\/strong>n: The El-Salomons was the hashtag for our wedding, and Jesse drew us for our invitations … my mother-in-law saw them and said, \u201cHe made you look thin.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jess: Actually, yes, that is how it was born.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

Chutzpah! starts Nov. 21. For the full lineup and tickets, visit chutzpahfestival.com<\/a> or call 604-257-5145.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eman El-Husseini, left, and Jess Salomon with furry family member Esther Honey El-Husseini. (photo by Mike Bryck) Jess Salomon and Eman El-Husseini, aka the El-Salomons, close out this year\u2019s Chutzpah! Festival on Nov. 28. They will live-stream from Brooklyn, and local comedians will join the event from the Rothstein Theatre. In performance, the married Jewish-Palestinian […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35588,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[785],"tags":[9577,573,5278,9717,9784,3119,19890,19894,19892,8112,9278,19893,7269,9626,3036,19891,175,19895,3302,6208],"class_list":["post-35587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-performing-arts","tag-ben-caplan","tag-chutzpah-festival","tag-comedy","tag-coronavirus","tag-covid-19","tag-dance","tag-ella-rothschild","tag-eman-el-husseini","tag-guy-mintus","tag-idan-cohen","tag-iris-bahr","tag-jess-salomon","tag-jesse-brown","tag-jessica-mann-gutteridge","tag-music","tag-rokhl-kafrissen","tag-rothstein-theatre","tag-standup","tag-tamara-micner","tag-theatre"],"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\/35587","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=35587"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35587\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}