Lol I like how the lawyer's pushback against Larry actually sounds kind of reasonable at first and then he drops "I can't help it if people give me gifts like the mezuzah on my door"
I remember LOSING it because I was at home in high school when this episode came out, and I paused it to ask what a Mezuzah was. My dad walked me to the front door and showed me we had one. I said “dad we aren’t Jewish”. And he said “neither is Berg but he has one”. I never found out why we had one. Probably our landlord or the previous tenant was Jewish.
@@adaminfinity1733 That's sad, people are weird. I'm white, yesterday a customer asked me to help him unload a washer from his truck, that's normal, what isn't normal is that three black co-workers asked him if he needed help, and he said "no" to all of them. I didn't even approach him, he approached me and asked for help. So either he was racist or he wasn't ready when my co-workers showed up. Your mom's situation is different. I think that client was ignorant, but who knows? Maybe she could reach out to Jewish accountants and have them refer the antisemites. lol I can tell you no Jew wants to do business with Kanye at this point.
@@adaminfinity1733 Is Hip Hop run by black people? Do they all get together and decide which white rappers are allowed to perform in public? Yes, a lot of Jews work in Hollywood, but so do a lot of Christians and everyone else. A lot of Jews also work in finance because in the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church didn't allow them to work as farmers, they were limited to few professions, like moneylending, which was illegal for Christians to do (the sin of usury). The Middle Ages are over, but some traditions remain. If your daddy was a banker, why would you become a farmer? Makes no sense. Kanye's issue is that he's looking for scapegoats for his life problems. Kim Kardashian made a cuck out of him, he feels weak and vulnerable, so he seeks strength by demonizing others.
That doesn't mean they're not racist. You can be racist and downplay yourself - Jews do it all the time too. Swedes are no different. In a whiny way they both do it!
+chris you seem like one yourself. Interesting that one of the videos in your likes is from the scene in pulp fiction where zed is watching his crony rape Marsellus
Trust me, that is not true. A Jew saying that they aren't going to synagogue is a very common thing in Judaism. Being a Jewish has nothing to do with faith as even Atheist Jews are still Jewish. So as Jews have become less religious, Jews joke more about not going to synagogue.
the point Larry was making was that the lawyer just said "no" to high holidays when the correct answer would have been "im not jewish". Most Jews in America are secular and dont attend for high holidays.
@Eye Patch Guy Jews don't believe in heaven or salvation in the same way Christians do. Jews mostly believe that when the Messiah comes, all the righteous people will be brought back to life to live together in peace. What decides if you are righteous person is the 7 laws of Noah. None of which have anything to do with being Jewish or even believing in God.
This episode is in honor of Alec Berg. He wrote for Seinfeld and exec. produces Curb and Barry (and works on a ton of great stuff, generally). He's of Swedish descent and people often assume he's Jewish because he's a famous comedy writer with the last name "Berg". Even Mel Brooks thought Alec was in the tribe.
@@Paul-ot1iiAshkenazis used to use patronyms. Abraham Isaacson for example. Abraham son of Isaac. Finding trouble in reliable census-taking, Joseph II mandated a law that everyone would need to take on a permanent surname. Most nonJewish people in the empire already had family names. Many took on a surename with “berg” and “Stein” (mountain and stone), and many were assigned it out of generic ease, combined with a family trade. Gold, silver, Ruben, Roth, etc. Because it was typically the ashkenazis who emigrated to America, not middle eastern or African, it’s a quite common association in the United States.
@@ghostpiratelechuck2259 Sure, The icelanders still use patronyms funny enough. I just figured, since a quick google search gave the answer that there are 8 million jewish americans, and 42 millions german americans, (not to mention all the austrians and nordics etc) that there would reasonably be alot of people with the surname Berg that are not jewish at all. Most likely not Gold/Silver/Ruben/Roth-Berg/Stein, but all the other variations of it like Bergqvist, Bergfeldt, Bergman, Bergling or indeed just Berg
At 0:14 he realizes he's caught. And in that split second turns on a dime and acts like he isn't pretending to be Jewish and that it's just a big misunderstanding. Now that's a good lawyer.
@@AnEnemySpy456 I actually have a thing where I like to convince new acquaintances that I'm a member of a religion that I'm not. Ever convinced someone youre jewish while eating a hot dog at a bqq, or that you're Muslim while drinking vodka?
The best line of this episode is when Larry tells Funkhouser Berg isn't jewish and Funkhouser says "what? I was at his house for Hanukkah" fuckin amazing LOL
My one mates Jewish and a lawyer and he tells me that you'd be surprised how tight a grip the Irish descendant Catholics have on the law industry in the states. He told me If you're of Irish Catholic descent and know someone who knows someone and want a good law firm job, you have a better chance than most of landing it. He said there's alot of I scratch your back you scratch mine kinda stuff going on, just like with Jewish guys in finance and banking.
@CGJUGO80 English is my first language, and I have lived among people who use the word "Oi", and known jews who use the word "Oy". The people who raised you multilingual, was English their first language?
I love the little throwaway line about the mezuzah on the door. Berg is obviously perpetuating it even though he makes sure he has so much plausible deniability.
@@youtubehandle-u2l Its like Whoopi Goldberg. She changed her name so it appears jewish so she could have better chances in the entertainment industry and in hollywood due to the fact is significantly or mostly made up of jewish people. They tend to be favorable to other members of their cabal so they gain advantages.
@@brettknoss486 You know more than I on the protestant side ... all I know is that the Anglican High Church in the UK is the same as the UK Tory party at prayer (that's an old joke). But it will be interesting how this rolls.. that's to say the stone that I kicked out of the hillside. :-) Regards from NZL and Melbourne. TE Fidler.
Well in the end Larry drops him for a Jewish lawyer and Cheryl goes with this guy. The Jewish lawyer is a fuckup and Cheryl absolutely claps Larry in the divorce.
incredible work by Berg's actor. for a brief moment at 0:14 you can see the look on his face when he realizes he's been made, then he immediately puts a smile on and goes back to the plausible deniability shtick. A+
I have the same problem. I have a Jewish last name. My psychiatrist thinks I'm Jewish. I just smile and nod. It creates a lot of anxiety. I know one day he's gonna realize he got Sweded.
@@murielglass5333 Jesus H! On behalf of my fellow tribesmen I'm very sorry for your chilly reception. In future you can just start riffing on how your mother never stopped complaining. You'll be welcomed with open arms:)
@@murielglass5333 wow you've had some bad luck with people. I've never met anybody Jewish or otherwise who would cut eye at someone for vaguely seeming one way or another. (Anti Semites who take you for Jewish, their hate 'makes sense' so to speak. But I've never met any 'normal people' who would poke at someone that way. I'm sad to hear it.) I hope things get better! Whatever holidays you celebrate I hope they go well and you enjoy them. Nice talking to you.
Swedes are among the most pragmatic ppl I know. Here in Norway when you get a Swede co-worker you know he's gonna be good and smart and your lazy days are over because he'll make you look bad.
Fun fact: This episode was co-written by Alec Berg who has been working with Larry ever since Seinfeld. Alec Berg is of Swedish decent and has said people often mistake him for being jewish.
@@user-tj6tr4qx3p it first aired in 2000 when I was only 13 years old. Im 33 now and I started watching about 12 years ago and it's my #1 favorite for sure. Season 11 starts this October on the 24th but if you want to watch id advise starting from the beginning. Its on HBO
There’s two ways to spell my mother’s maiden name. One Jewish one German, hers was the German one, but thought her whole life people if they only heard the name assumed it was Jewish if they were Jewish also. Her and her sisters both were able to get apartments in NYC from Jewish landlords who didn’t look closely enough at the spelling of their name. My mother also looked vaguely like she could be Greek or Jewish as well depending on where we were living at the time in NYC.
@@oz_jones He said German already. There's a ton of German names that also have a "Jewified" version just by having an extra S at the end for example, among many others. There is no such thing as a "German way of spelling" a name that ends with the utterly Polish identifier of "-ski". And the Jewish names also end in -ski by the way. There are (were) a lot of Jews in Poland (That's why Hitler focused his whole holocaust shtick there). "-sky" is more of an Americanism than a Jewish thing.
I'm curious, what advantage is there from renting from a Jewish landlord? I live in NYC as well and all my landlords were jewish, except the Manichurian Bros who I think had been either Iranian or Armenian. Interesting, unrelated footnote, One of Hitlers cabinet members was a guy named, Al Rosenberg. Apparently, once you had a lot of jews adopting "Rosenberg" as a last name, a wave of gentiles started changing their names AWAY from Rosenberg. Seems Germans, like this guy, who were living in the Baltic states, never got the memo on this.
@@JohnnyNatrium i know this is an old comment but just for nuance there are a ton of Germans and Austrians with Polish or otherwise Slavic last names because of older ancestors, even thought they're thoroughly German, and were considered German even under Nazi Germany. The SS officer Otto Skorzeny comes to mind. Personally, I've also known plenty of Novaks and Obrowskis who were German even though those are non-German names.
The pause Pall does before he says 'Really?' and the fact that he didn't say St. Christopher's until after Larry did it are just perfect little details.
Well, his lawyer got Michael Jackson acquitted with the argument that he shared a bed with lots of boys that he didn't molest. Then again, he didn't give them Quaaludes, either.
@@ca8824 obviously, but what I mean is American is not an ethnic background. Unless you mean Native American. Go pay for 23 and Me, see how much of your genealogy is “American”. It doesn’t exist unless you’re native. You can, on the other hand, have a genealogy with roots in the Swedish area of Northern Europe. That’s all.
All of his clients thought he was Jewish, too, so they gave him Jewish gifts like a Shofar. He just went with the persona bestowed upon him by his Jewish-sounding name for the sake of business.
Earlier in the episode, Larry suspects Berg is not Jewish because he sees him riding a motorcycle. What Jew rides a motorcycle? Later in the episode, Jeff talks about getting invited to Berg's Hannukah party. Ha Ha!
I think Funkhauser mentioned spending Passover with him at his house, too, haha! Hey, if I could take advantage of people thinking I was Jewish, I might do it, too... I'd probably have to tell them I'm a Messianic Jew, though.
This show is like black dynamite, in short bursts it’s unbelievably hilarious but sometimes too much in one sitting like too many Oreos, after the first 6 boxes it’s time to slowdown and get up for work 👍🏼
Larry: you gonna go to a jewish temple? Berg: nope (because he's not a Jew) Larry: "this guy is definitely a Jew, he's just a non-practicing Jew". Larry has a very jewish way of thinking.
@@rafaelfernandeslopesdeoliv1700 interesting. Seems like "oi" is a universal word which is explainable: it's a short word which is easy to say and pronounce in many languages so probably many languages came to this word independently. maybe "ai" or "ey" or "eh" are similarly wide-spread in many languages.
@@ForageGardener could be, but it is also a biblical Hebrew word and as such can't possibly be of Germanic roots. The word in Hebrew is used to express grief or something terrible or worrying. Pretty sure it got to Yiddish from Hebrew conveying the Hebrew meaning.