arts & life
prof i le
Banter
Buddies
Reisa Shanaman | Special to the Jewish News
Bring your
relationship, soulmate
and foliage questions
to the Magic Bag —
comedy duo Jake and
Amir will answer them
(or make you laugh
trying).
Jake Hurwitz (left) and
Amir Blumenfeld
details
Jake Hurwitz and Amir Blumenfeld
If I Were You Live Podcast appears
8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 22, at the
Magic Bag in Ferndale. $22-$45.
(248) 544-1991; themagicbag.com.
38 October 20 • 2016
W
hen Jewish comedians
Jake Hurwitz and Amir
Blumenfeld first found
themselves in front of the camera,
they were playing characters of the
same names in skits they wrote for
CollegeHumor, the L.A.-based comedy
website where they met.
“We were mortal enemies for the
better part of a year, but it blew over
and then we became best friends,”
Hurwitz, 31, jokes (we think) of their
initial interaction. One of the site’s
longest-running series, Jake and
Amir featured the duo playing out an
odd-couple, straight man/funny man
dynamic in an office setting. Inspired
by their real-life relationship, and the
proximity of their desks within the
CollegeHumor office, they shot 750
episodes, which were posted weekly,
and won a 2010 Webby Award for
Comedy Long Form or Series; Ben
Schwartz of House of Lies and Parks
and Recreation fame was a frequent
guest star. The show averages more
than 500,000 views per episode.
“We were just writing skits that
made us laugh and we started acting in
them out of necessity because nobody
else would,” Blumenfeld, 33, says.
Growing up near New Haven,
Conn., with a Jewish dad and Christian
mother, Hurwitz attended Hebrew
school but celebrated holidays of both
faiths — though he has said that he
was influenced by his father’s “Jewish
humor.” Blumenfeld was born in Afula,
Israel; after moving with his family
to Los Angeles when he was 2, he
attended Jewish day schools through
high school.
In a 2013 article, the comedy web-
site Splitsider referred to the pair as
“two of the most popular people on
the internet.” Around the same time,
they debuted their podcast, If I Were
You, inspired in part by NPR’s legend-
ary show Car Talk. Generally running
between 30 minutes to an hour in
length, it sees the two shed the Jake
and Amir caricatures as they provide
advice — and quite a bit of banter —
as themselves to listener-submitted
questions. The pair are bringing a live
version of the podcast to the Magic
Bag in Ferndale Saturday, Oct. 22.
In order to be included in an
episode, the questions “can’t be too
long. It can’t be too short [either]. It’s
got to be pretty funny, intriguing,”
Blumenfeld says.
“We try to first give purely silly
advice, goofy advice, make fun of the
people who ask the advice in the first
place. But then we try not to goof past
any questions without legitimately
offering some help,” Hurwitz adds.
Topics vary widely: One recent
episode was described as covering
“mentors, soulmates and cigarettes.”
Another spanned “ex-girlfriends, ex-
boyfriends and foliage.” Fellow come-
dians like Lauren Lapkus and various
other friends — even Hurwitz’s moth-
er — often join the discussion to keep
things interesting. “We have guests on
our podcast all the time who can keep
up and keep us on our toes,” he says.
“I think it’s just about being com-
fortable with somebody,” Hurwitz says
of his ability to banter so successfully
with Blumenfeld. “I’ve been with Amir
for so long, we’re like an old happily
married couple. I feel comfortable
being myself around him. I feel like
whatever I say won’t be shot down.”
“We pretty much share the same
comedic mind,” Blumenfeld tells us.
“I’m definitely the yin [of the rela-
tionship],” Hurwitz claims. “So am I!”
Blumenfeld counters.
After a moment of contempla-
tion, Blumenfeld determines Michael
Fassbender would play Hurwitz in
the movie version of Jake and Amir.
Without missing a beat, Hurwitz
announces Adam Goldberg as
Blumenfeld’s silver-screen counterpart
— selections they both approve of (as
do we).
In addition to their work together,
Blumenfeld made an appearance on
comedian Louis C.K’s show, Louie, and
played Kumar’s best friend in A Very
Harold & Kumar Christmas.
With almost a decade’s worth of
work together, the pair cite a handful
of notable highlights as stand-outs.
This list includes their live tour in
Australia last year, shooting the pilot
episode of their TruTV series (even
though it didn’t get picked up) as well
as shooting their Vimeo series Lonely
and Horny earlier this year. They’ve
also recently released their first half-
hour special, Fired, available for online
streaming. And last year, the double-
yin duo co-founded HeadGum, their
own podcasting network.
“We started our own podcast about
three years ago and we were just enjoy-
ing the podcasting world. We were
having a lot of fun and we were getting
a big audience that was tuning into the
show. We had friends that would tell
us that they wished they knew how
to start their own podcast but they
didn’t have the time, they didn’t have
the equipment [or] they didn’t have
a good idea for a show. We realized
that we could help everybody that we
love launch a podcast,” Blumenfeld
explains. “We hope to grow [the net-
work], add bigger shows and then
hopefully start making video and other
content around the podcasts that we’re
helping.”
Audiences who attend their live
shows are privy to a live version of
their If I Were You podcast. “We’re
going to get up on stage, hang out
with the audience and we’re going to
see if we can help some people who
are stuck in some sticky situations,”
Hurwitz tells us. “If you’re curious
enough to hear how I lost my virginity,
you’ve got to come to a live show,” he
says of a tale telling that has become
something of a tradition, with plot
twists varying at every event.
To hear about Hurwitz’s first kiss,
however — which he received at his
bar mitzvah — check out Podcast
Episode 234, which just aired last
month.
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