 Mittleman |
While many families celebrate the traditional Christmas holiday with gifts under the tree, Los Altos resident Gloria Goldblatt is offering an alternative tradition bound to tickle your funny bone.
“ChopShticks: An Evening of Chinese Food and Comedy” is scheduled Saturday and Sunday at Ming’s Restaurant, 1700 Embarcadero Road, Palo Alto.
The show celebrates the holidays in the “traditional” Jewish way: listening to great comedy, eating Chinese food and doing a mitzvah (Yiddish for “good deed”). Ming’s will open at 6:30 p.m. with dinner at 7 p.m. and the show set for 8 p.m.
Ross Turner, Kira Soltanovich and Steve Mittleman are the featured comedians. The three share being Jewish, but each brings a unique personal perspective to the phrase “Jewish comedian.”
Turner is a Jewish convert from Eureka, Soltanovich was born in the Soviet Union and raised by immigrant parents in San Francisco, and headline comedian Mittleman is a regular American “nice Jewish boy,” who recently underwent an extreme makeover on ABC-TV’s “Extreme Makeover.”
Turner appears in large casino/hotels, medium-sized theaters and tiny coffeehouses. He delivers customized jokes and unique presentations for companies and business organizations.
Soltanovich performs in the major comedy clubs, is a series regular on the Oxygen Network and the nationally syndicated show “Girls Behaving Badly.” She has appeared on “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” “3rd Rock from the Sun” and “The Tonight Show” with Jay Leno.
Mittleman has been making audiences laugh for 27 years. Although he had dozens of punchlines removed on national TV by plastic surgeons on “Extreme Makeover,” he’s the same as he was, but with a chin. He has appeared at hundreds of clubs, fund-raisers and corporate and Jewish events.
In keeping with tradition, partial proceeds from the event will benefit two organizations: the Jewish Coalition for Literacy, a Los Altos-based charity for training and sponsoring volunteer reading tutors in the public schools, and the Chicken Soupers program of Jewish Family and Children’s Services, which delivers healthful, home-cooked meals to those who live with chronic illness or disabilities.
Tickets are $60 per person; advance reservations are required. For more information or to reserve seats, visit www.ChopShticks.com or call 949-1033.
