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Seth Rogen Wants You to Pay to Watch Him Drop Shrooms and Blow Coke in a Star of David Knit Sweater On Christmas Eve

The face of Jewish comedy breaks out the penis jokes in his new film, The Night Before

by
Jonathan Zalman
August 05, 2015
(Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images)The Night Before
Seth Rogen in New York City, June 12, 2013. (Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images)(Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images)The Night Before
(Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images)The Night Before
Seth Rogen in New York City, June 12, 2013. (Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images)(Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images)The Night Before

I’ve got nothing against Seth Rogen. I don’t know him, of course, and he seems to be a perfectly well-adjusted guy, even as one of the world’s highest-paid male actors. And, quite frankly, he’d probably be a fun guy to rip tubes—or a cross joint—with, mostly because of that deep giggle.

And who can forget his impassioned speech about Alzheimer’s Disease at a Senate hearing, in support of his wife, Lauren, with whom he has a foundation, Hilarity for Charity. (Rogen will also throw a bar mitzvah for James Franco in October to raise money for Alzheimer’s research.)

But something feels a bit stale about Rogen’s starring role in The Night Before, a new comedy coming out in November that also features Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Anthony Mackie. In the recently released red band trailer (this means there’s swearing and stuff), Rogen, Gordon-Levitt, and Mackie, set out to continue a 14-year-long tradition of going out on Christmas Eve one last time. So they hit the town: New York City. Here are some highlights from the trailer, posted below:

Rogen receives a gift when he was younger of a coffee mug that reads, “World’s Smallest Cock.”
Before Rogen set out with his “ride or die homies,” his supportive, pregnant wife, played by Jillian Bell, gives him cocaine and mushrooms.
Rogen dons a knit sweater with a Star of David sewn into it.
When Rogen walks into a Chinese restaurant on Christmas Eve—a Jewish tradition—he points in recognition to a table of Orthodox men and women sitting around a lazy Susan.
Rogen and Co. ride a Red Bull-branded limo around the City; inside, Rogen bugs out from his drug elixir, possibly set off off by a glass champagne or the Chinese food.
Rogen pukes in the aisle of a church, then runs off after he says, “We did not kill Jesus!”

Really fresh (Jewish) comedy, I know. Rogen is a lovable every-man whose comedy, like his character in the film, appears to be having trouble growing up. And maybe that’s a good thing, I’m just not quite sure.

Jonathan Zalman is a writer and teacher based in Brooklyn.