Mandy Patinkin Does Weddings Now, Too
Blesses couple during Stephen Colbert’s on-air ‘shutdown wedding’ ceremony


The government shutdown has been affecting people all across the country, including, as Stephen Colbert pointed out last night on the Colbert Report, the couples supposed to get married at national parks and monuments this weekend. Colbert magnanimously decided to officiate the on-air nuptials of Mike Cassesso and MaiLien Le, a couple whose actual wedding was scheduled for this weekend at the Jefferson Memorial. Naturally, Mandy Patinkin stopped by to provide a “non-denominational Jewish blessing.”
Here’s Patinkin singing the Shehecheyanu: “A blessing that celebrates new beginnings,” he explains. “Like the new season of Homeland, Sundays at 9 p.m., only on Showtime.”
Mazel tov to the couple—and you should stick around for Audra McDonald singing “White Wedding” for the couple’s first dance:
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Stephanie Butnick is the founder of GOLDA, a Jewish lifestyle newsletter. She hosted the Tablet podcast Unorthodox, co-authored The Newish Jewish Encyclopedia: From Abraham to Zabar’s and Everything in Between, and worked as a writer and editor at Tablet.