arts&life
celebrity jews
NATE BLOOM
COLUMNIST
CHABON AND ROOTS
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August 16 • 2018
jn
I noted last week that Pulitzer Prize-
winning author Michael Chabon, 55,
was writing an episode of Star Trek:
Discovery. In the past week, more
details were released about that and,
by coincidence, his wife, writer Ayelet
Waldman, 53, appeared in many news
reports last week as well.
Discovery, on the CBS All-Access
streaming service, has turned into a
pretty big hit. The second season of
Discovery begins next January. To keep
viewer interest fresh, CBS ordered four
15-minute mini-episodes (called Star
Treks) that will premiere this fall. The
mini-episode “Calypso” was written by
Chabon. It follows a man who finds him-
self alone on a deserted ship.
Waldman, a former lawyer and law
professor, has been married to Chabon
since 1993 and they have four chil-
dren. Like Chabon, Waldman’s novels
frequently have Jewish characters and
themes, and they both have written
essays on Jewish subjects. Waldman’s
moment in the news began when Henry
Louis Gates, the host of the PBS celeb-
rity ancestry show Finding Your Roots
disclosed in the July 31 episode that
House Speaker Paul Ryan, a practicing
Catholic, has some remote Ashkenazi
Jewish ancestry (about 3 percent of his
DNA). Gates let this drop during a news
conference promoting the fifth season of
his show, which premieres in January.
On Aug. 1, Ryan tweeted: “Guess I
have to start saying l’chaim, too, now.”
Waldman, a political progressive like
her husband, responded to the Roots
news a few hours later. In a tweet that
was widely reported, Waldman wrote:
“I’m sorry but no, we don’t want him.”
Also weighing in was Stephen Colbert,
a practicing Catholic like Ryan, and a
progressive like Waldman. He joked on
air: “Haven’t the Jewish people suffered
enough?”
The fifth Roots season will have 25
guests. Three are Jewish: comedian
Andy Samberg, 39; comedian Sarah
Silverman, 47; and Facebook Chief
Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, 48.
Also, comedian Seth Meyers, whose
paternal grandfather was Jewish, is
a guest. But it’s unclear if his Jewish
ancestry will be a focus of his episode.
Samberg is the subject of this intrigu-
ing teaser in the official Roots press
release: “Highlights include a search for
Andy Samberg’s biological grandpar-
ents” I gather, from this release, that
either Andy’s (Jewish) mother or his
(Jewish) father was adopted. My edu-
Ayelet Waldman and Michael Chabon
Andy Samberg
Adam Levine
cated guess, based on a lot of clues, is
that it was his mother who was adopt-
ed, and I won’t be that surprised if she’s
biologically Jewish.
ADAM BRINGS THE SUGAR
The “pay-for” wing of YouTube, for-
merly called YouTube Red, has been
relabeled YouTube Premium. If you, or a
password-sharing friend, subscribe, you
might check out Sugar, a new series
that started on Premium on Aug. 15.
The title is inspired by a YouTube music
video (“Sugar”) featuring Adam Levine,
39, and his band Maroon 5. That video
got 2.5 billion views. In the series, a
famous musician or band will surprise
a superfan of the musician(s) with a
personal visit. Levine, who produces the
series, will be in one of its eight weekly
episodes. Appearing in another episode
is singer/songwriter Charlie Puth, 26.
Puth, whose mother is Jewish, has been
hot since his first hit (“See You Again”)
in 2015. •