Unorthodox

Live From New York!

Episode 76: Podcaster Jonathan Goldstein, New York Times columnist Ross Douthat, and Late Night with Stephen Colbert writer Jen Spyra

February 2, 2017


This week’s episode was recorded live at JCC Manhattan.

Our first Jewish guest is Canadian transplant and longtime “This American Life” contributor Jonathan Goldstein, who now hosts the podcast “Heavyweight.” He tells us about mining his personal life for stories for the show—and convincing his friends and family to do the same. He also gives us a definitive (if very Canadian) answer on Montreal bagels vs. New York bagels.

Our Gentile of the Week is New York Times columnist Ross Douthat, whose Catholicism influences his columns. He tells us about being a conservative voice writing for a largely liberal audience, why so many voters on the Christian right supported Trump despite mounting evidence of his moral shortcomings, and why conservatives love fantasy novels like Lord of the Rings.

Our second Jewish guest is Jen Spyra, comedian and writer on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. She tells us about her Late Show audition, the challenges of writing jokes during a Trump administration, and when she first realized she was funny.

Special thanks to our live band, the Jewbadourians: Jim Knable, Sunny Knable, and Claudia Mogel.

We love hearing from you. Email us at [email protected] with comments or questions, or just to say hi. We’ll share our favorite notes on air.

This episode is dedicated to the memory of J.J. the dog; may her memory be a blessing”

Unorthodox is a smart, fresh, fun weekly take on Jewish news and culture hosted by Mark Oppenheimer, Stephanie Butnick, and Liel Leibovitz. You can listen to individual episodes here or subscribe on iTunes.

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