When Jeff Rothpan moved to the United States decades ago to pursue comedy as a career, he couldn’t imagine he’d one day be working with some of his idols, including Steve Martin and John Cleese. But that’s where life took him, and since then, he’s written for internationally recognized ventriloquist Jeff Dunham, Canadian model Pamela Anderson and the TV show Roast Battle Canada, for which he was nominated for Best Writing at the Canadian Screen Awards.
Rothpan joins to chat about his lengthy career, including how he made the leap stateside and how Israelis—and Muslims—have reacted to Jeff Dunham’s “Islamic terrorist” puppet character.
Credits
Culturally Jewish is hosted by Ilana Zackon and David Sklar. Our producer is Michael Fraiman, and our theme music is by Sarah Segal-Lazar. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To support The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt, please consider a monthly donation by clicking here.