metro
There's Fun After College!
Engaging U-M grad impresses Ellen Show and winds up on TV.
Polina Fradkin
Special to the Jewish News
I
n my most recent excavation of my high
school memorabilia cave, I discovered
a note scrawled in a journal from 2009.
The note said, in blue pen and all-caps:
ARIEL HALPERN IS MY HERO. Such was
the relationship between an awkward fresh-
man and an admirable senior.
Five years later, I found myself speaking
to Ariel on the phone following his recent
appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show
in a hysterical personality segment entitled
"Sorry, It's Ari!" (wwwbit.ly/1BMKLQp).
In October, Ari, a new production assis-
tant on the show, is sent to repair a viewer's
home but obviously has no experience. He's
hilarious just being himself, apologizing
to zoom off for a potty break at Lowe's or
asking the homeowner if she wants a bagel,
sesame or plain.
I caught him after a post-work run at his
home in Toluca Lake, Los Angeles, and he
indulged me with his big-city stories, his
wit and humor, and more than anything,
his unique and savvy perspective on post-
grad life.
20
December 4 • 2014
Ariel didn't graduate University of
Michigan with a job or knowing exactly
what he wanted to do. He emphasized that a
few months ago he was just like any college
graduate — unemployed, disenchanted and
living in a big city — in his grandparents'
house, nonetheless.
So how did a boy from Southfield, who
used to get tied to his chair (as punishment
for rowdiness) by his physics teacher and
record nerdy videos of himself dancing with
his friends, make it to the top-watched day-
time talk show?
It seems almost like a dream. I envi-
sion Ellen DeGeneres passing Ariel on
Hollywood Boulevard, seeing some tran-
scendent quality in him that absolutely
struck her with awe, and — with a wink
— handing him a glimmering physical
manifestation of his future in the form of a
business card. A star is born.
For those who know Ariel, such an
incident wouldn't come as a surprise; only
serve as a long-awaited pilot episode to the
rest of his life. But we live in reality, so it
didn't happen that way to him, and it won't
happen that way to any of us. You won't
be sought out and hired immediately by
a world-famous celebrity, and you might
crash at your grandparents' pad for a few
months or longer.
Here are some of Ariel's musings on
building a solid foundation, Jewishly and
generally, in post-grad life.
On patience:
This is the first lesson I learned from our
conversation.
"I'm 23 years old:' he said. "This is the
average age to come out of college and
begin job hunting. It feels so awful to leave
college and come to a city you're not com-
fortable in and, as hard as you try, to still
not have a job. So it is so important for
people to have patience. You're not gonna
get everything you want immediately. There
are ups and downs and moments when you
question your path after college:'
Cue the questions bubbling up in your
mind: Did you have the right major? Did
you move to the best location? Did you do
enough of the right activities? Maybe your
parents nagging you to go to grad school
were right in the end ... And fmally, are you
happy?
"Especially while living with my grand-
parents, I so badly wanted to tell my friends
that I am doing what I love, living the life,
but I was struggling meeting people here. I
learned that if you're 23 or 24 and you don't
have a job, it's OK. It isn't the worst thing in
the world. Having any old job doesn't neces-
sarily make you a real person or a happy
person"
Ariel thought for a moment. "If I rush
into bothering the writers or bothering
Ellen about doing more — having more
skits, getting promoted — they won't like
me. Patience is a necessity and translates
into any other industry"
On Israel:
"Moving from Ann Arbor to a metropolitan
city makes you closer to Israel. I am very
grounded in my beliefs as an Orthodox
Jewish Zionist in a, you can almost say,
anti-Zionist Hollywood world. I felt it was
necessary as a Jew working in a more or less
non-Jewish, non-academic and apolitical
environment that I had to defend aspects
of Israeli politics, society and Judaism more
than usual. A lot of my political conversa-
tions occur with non-Jews.
"It sounds a little corny, but it's true: