20 | SEPTEMBER 1 • 2022

OUR COMMUNITY

E

xpect at least a few
laughs at the Judi
Schram Annual
Meeting of Hadassah
Greater Detroit as the fea-
tured presenter is Ophira
Eisenberg, a television talk
show and comedy specials
guest, radio host and club
comedian.
Eisenberg, who didn’t
think about becoming a
jokester until after college
graduation in Canada, will
join the luncheon starting
at noon Tuesday, Sept. 13,
at Adat Shalom Synagogue
in Farmington Hills, where
there will be shopping
opportunities as well to sup-
port the organization’s com-
munity causes.
“What I do is not so much
what I would call a speech,”
Eisenberg said in previewing
her appearance. “I would call
it a performance or an act.
I look for material I think is
appropriate for the group,
and I hone it specifically for
that place.”
Eisenberg, who has per-
formed in Michigan with the
radio show The Moth and in
various clubs, has included
jokes about plants in her
most recent presentations
so food might enter into her
messages for this program.
All of her programs repre-
sent her own writing.
“My comedy is essentially
autobiographical,” explained
Eisenberg, whose many
comedy festivals have placed
her in New York, Nantucket
and Montreal. “Mostly, I
talk about stories from my
life that I think others can
relate to, and it’s conversa-
tional. I mix standup jokes
with more poignant stories.
I weave in and out of that to
create one huge narrative for
my show.”

Eisenberg, who grew up as
the youngest of six children
in Calgary, Alberta, was the
first in her family to go to
public school. Around the
time of her birth, her dad
changed jobs from being the
principal of a Jewish school,
and she grew up explaining
Judaism to her classmates.
“I have that classic situ-
ation where there were a
lot of louder voices in my
family ahead of me,” she
explained. “That put me in
the situation where I want-
ed to have a forum for me
to speak. There was a lot
of joke telling that we did
around the dinner table. I
think my brothers and sis-
ters were all naturally funny,
and my mom and dad were
pretty funny.
“I took ballet while I was
growing up. At the end of
the year, they gave every-
one awards, and I got an
award for Miss Personality.
Nothing says you’re not
going to be a dancer like this
award.”

ENTER COMEDY
After graduating from
McGill University in
Montreal with a major
in cultural anthropology
and theater, she went to
Vancouver to decide how
she would approach her
future. While working at
Kinko’s, she also served as
a volunteer usher at the
Vancouver Comedy Festival
and was invited to a standup
comedy workshop.
“We were asked to tell
jokes, but I didn’t have
any so I told stories that I
would tell to my family,” she
recalled. “The teacher said I
had something, which was
a wonderful thing to hear. I
did my first show the next

Ophira Eisenberg to be the guest
speaker at Sept. 13 gathering at
Adat Shalom.

Hadassah
Welcomes
Comedian to
Annual Meeting

SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER