The first time Dovi Neuburger tried stand-up, he bombed.
It was a Hanukkah show at Young Israel of the Upper West Side in Manhattan, and the experience nearly convinced him to quit.
“I didn’t know what I was doing,” he told Unpacked. “I didn’t appreciate the process you need to go through. It was so embarrassing, I was going to quit.”
He gave himself one more chance at a Purim show at Stand Up NY in March 2023. This time, the jokes landed.
Three years later, Neuburger, 30, is building an audience with material that can get remarkably specific: Orthodox dating, yeshiva culture and the small absurdities of Jewish communal life. A joke about a Passover program might need a little explanation for someone outside that world. For the people inside it, recognition is part of the punchline.
He’s part of a group of Orthodox comedians that includes Ami Kozak, Eli Lebowicz, Mikey Greenblatt and Talia Reese. But even among comics who draw on Jewish life, Neuburger is willing to get unusually deep in the weeds.
“He’s got really great material and a distinct point of view,” Lebowicz told Unpacked. “I like to joke onstage that I am Dovi Neuburger’s future. I also say he’s like Dave Chappelle minus the antisemitism.”
Kozak, who has performed with Neuburger, praised his ability to make that specificity work onstage. “Bringing proper standup insight to the Jewish world, Dovi demonstrates universality in specificity,” he said.
From the classroom to the comedy club
Neuburger grew up with two useful models for a performer. His father, Rabbi Yaakov Neuburger, leads Congregation Beth Abraham in Bergenfield, New Jersey, and is a rosh yeshiva at Yeshiva University.
“I got my creativity from my mom, and she taught me how to write,” he said. “I got the public speaking part from my dad. They both have a good sense of humor, and so does my brother. I think without their support it would be much harder to do what I’m doing.”
There was no dramatic conversation in which he announced to his parents that he was becoming a comedian, he said. They watched it happen gradually.
Comedy was a better fit than law school. Neuburger left NYU Law after one semester, and he still tells a story about the moment he realized how differently he and a classmate viewed the work. The classmate was astonished to find a typo in an assigned case; Neuburger was astonished that anyone cared so much.
“He said, ‘You’re not gonna believe this!’” Neuburger recalled. “So I asked what. He said there was a typo in the case. So I said, ‘And?’ He said, ‘I can’t believe it!’ I said, ‘I can’t believe I have to pretend to like you for another three years…’”
A class offered by Gotham Comedy Club helped him get started, but he credits repeated open mics and shows with making him better. He had grown up watching Jewish comedians such as Elon Gold and Modi Rosenfeld, who showed him there was an audience for comedy tailored to Orthodox Jews. Learning to write a set for that audience took work.
“Elon and Modi have been helpful in giving me opportunities and I cherish the time speaking to them and getting advice,” Neuburger said. “Modi had me on his podcast. Elon had me open for him and I’ve been to his house and they’ve both been giving with their time.”
Neuburger has also begun putting on shows of his own. He founded and produces the StandUp for Israel Comedy Tour, which brings Jewish and pro-Israel comedians to communities across the country and raises money for Israeli families affected by October 7.
Gold sees a promising future for him. “Dovi is the future of great Jewish comedians,” he told Unpacked. “And he comes in a package that we’ve never seen before. Perfect punchlines AND perfect hair.”
Finding the joke
Neuburger points to a bit about Jewish dating as the first joke he felt truly worked. He had been watching singles eye one another at a synagogue kiddush in Manhattan, apparently unsure whether to start a conversation. Around the same time, Netflix’s “Jewish Matchmaking” was drawing attention.
His initial version of the joke fell flat. Then he tried asking audiences whether they’d heard about a new Netflix show about Jewish dating: “Love on the Spectrum.” The misdirection got the laugh he’d been looking for.
“It was my first really great joke,” he said.
That process changes with the room. On an episode of “And Here’s Modi,” Neuburger described telling a joke about his father criticizing the placement of a mezuzah in his apartment. An Orthodox audience understands the setup immediately. For an audience unfamiliar with Jewish practice, he has to explain the object and why its placement matters before he can get to the joke. The challenge, he said, is to keep the point of view that makes the material his while making it accessible to someone hearing about that world for the first time.
Neuburger has built a following online, including a video of himself making Havdalah at Yankee Stadium during a playoff game. Social media brings people to his shows, though some of his more strictly observant fans don’t use it at all. That makes the live performance especially important to him.
“Comedy is meant to be a live experience shared with other people at the same time,” he said. “There is no comparison and that will continue to grow.”
His jokes may begin with Orthodox life, but Neuburger said he also writes about dating and family in ways that can work for audiences unfamiliar with the community. He already performs at comedy clubs and wants to keep expanding his material without losing the point of view that made people pay attention.
For now, he has a busy run of shows ahead. He is scheduled to perform with Kozak and Lebowicz at Rockland Community College in Suffern, New York, on September 27, with stops in Florida and Georgia to follow. He’ll headline City Winery in Manhattan on December 13.
It’s a run Neuburger could hardly have pictured after that first Hanukkah show. If the Purim set had gone as badly, he said, he probably would have quit. Instead, he kept getting onstage.
