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Tiffany Haddish Talks Judaism In ‘Drunk History’

The lovable Girls Trip star is a “Jew-Jo,” in her own words–half Jewish, half Jehovah’s Witness

by
Jesse Bernstein
January 30, 2018
((Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images for BET))Girls Trip
Tiffany Haddish attends Black Girls Rock! 2017 at NJPAC on August 5, 2017 in Newark, New Jersey.((Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images for BET))((Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images for BET))Girls Trip
((Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images for BET))Girls Trip
Tiffany Haddish attends Black Girls Rock! 2017 at NJPAC on August 5, 2017 in Newark, New Jersey.((Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images for BET))((Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images for BET))Girls Trip

2017 was a big year for Tiffany Haddish. The 38 year-old comedian released a memoir that made The New York Times best-seller list, became the first black female stand-up to ever host Saturday Night Live, and starred in Girls Trip, which would’ve netted her an Oscar nomination in a just universe.

There’s a lot on the horizon this year for Haddish–her new TBS show with Tracy Morgan and a comedy with Kevin Hart debut this year. In the meantime, she was on Drunk History last week, talking about Rose Valland (for the uninitiated, Drunk History features actors and comedians drinking as they try to relay sensational events in history).

Rose Valland was an art historian whose work with the French Resistance saved thousands of pieces of art stolen by the Nazis during the war, much of it privately owned by French Jews; if you have time, go read up on Valland. She is one of the most decorated women in the history of France.

Haddish, in her turn on Drunk History, gave a glowing (and often hilarious) account of Valland’s exploits. She also discussed her Jewish heritage with host Derek Waters (Haddish’s father was an Eritrean Jew).

“Did you know I was Jewish?,” she asked Waters. “My father’s Jewish. But my mom was a Jehovah’s Witness, so I’m a Jew-Jo.”

It’s not the first time Haddish has discussed her history with Judaism; back in December, she told The New York Times about her time as a bar mitzvah dancer, relaying this anecdote:

“If you’re doing bar mitzvahs, you’re going to meet old Jewish ladies,” she writes. “They started telling me how lonely they were and saying things like, ‘My husband’s not satisfying me.’” When one woman showed Haddish her collection of romance novels — “She had one that was like a slave thing or whatever. It was a big, strapping black guy on the cover, holding this passed-out white woman” — Haddish was inspired. “I don’t know any slaves,” she told the woman, “but I could probably hook you up with somebody big and strong.”

It’s gonna be a big year for Tiffany Haddish. Don’t miss it!

Jesse Bernstein is a former Intern at Tablet.