The Canadian comedian has a conflicted relationship with his Jewish roots
June 14, 2023 09:05
BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA - MAY 01: Seth Rogen attends the 2023 Milken Institute Global Conference at The Beverly Hilton on May 01, 2023 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Jerod Harris/Getty Images)
Who? A top comedy actor and writer who found fame in Freaks and Geeks and has gone on to star in The 40-year-old Virgin, Knocked Up and The Fablemans. The 41-year-old Canadian often makes his Jewishness part of his act, referencing it in his jokes and the characters he writes.
Family Both his parents are Ashkenazi Jews heralding from the Ukraine/ Russia areas. His mother Sandy Belogus is a social worker and his father Mark Rogen worked for Jewish charities. His parents, who has described as "radical Jewish socialists" met on kibbutz Beit Alfa in northern Israel.
Upbringing
Seth went to Jewish primary school and first performed his comedy routines at Habonim Dror camps and friend's bar mitzvahs. One of his first jobs was writing jokes for a mohel. He later revealed said: ‘My mother sat next to the mohel at a wedding recently and he still uses the jokes I wrote for him…23 years later.’
His parents brought him up not only to be a proud Jew, but one who would also be wary of antisemitism.
He recalled: ‘I remember my dad frankly telling me, ‘People hate Jews. Just be aware of that. They just do.’ And it’s honestly something that I am so glad was instilled in me from a young age. Because if it wasn’t, I would be constantly shocked at how much motherf*ckers hate Jews.’
What Jewish things does he say and do?
Seth is a very publicly Jewy Jew. His humour was inspired by Jewish comics such as Mel Brooks and Jerry Seinfeld and as well as talking a lot about being a Jew, he has also played many of them; from immature stoner expectant father Ben Stone in Knocked Up, stand up Ira Weiner in Funny People, journalist Fred Flarsky in Long Shot. He’s even appeared in a Beastie Boys video.
In 20
In 2020 he starred as two separate Jews in comedy film An American Pickle about a 1920 Jewish immigrant who falls into a vat of pickles and wakes up 100 years later and is unimpressed by his great-grandson Ben.
When he was promoting the film, he attracted controversy by attacking Israel saying: ‘As a Jewish person I was fed a huge amount of lies about Israel my entire life. They never tell you that, ‘Oh, by the way, there were people there.’ They make it seem like it was just like sitting there, like the door’s f*cking open.’
He also told fellow Jewish comedian and actor Mark Maron on his podcast that he thought Israel is "antiquated and "makes no sense" in today's world.
Reacting to the backlash he received from Jewish community groups, he told the AP that he wasn't "surprised that people reacted the way they did, it's an incredibly sensitive issue." Adding that he thought many Jewish people had a level of conflict within themselves when it came to Israel.
While his parents were religious, he is a secular Jew saying: "Like anything you’re kind of inundated with as a kid, you revolt against it when you’re older." He adds: "You don’t have to believe in Judaism at all to be a Jewish person. It’s not a job you can quit from. Our DNA test comes back Jewish. You could find a severed finger and tell that it was Jewish – which is now how Baptists work."
