The Jewish Passover is almost here. In honour of the Jewish tradition here’s a short film made by David Berenbaum, a Jewish scriptwriter. ‘Shalom’ was one of the many spoofs of the Budweiser ‘Whassup’ ads (written up here) at the turn of the century. Originally sponsored and posted at Neurotrash.com, the 60 second short film is now orphaned, surviving at sites such as Adrants. *Editor: Neurotrash uploaded the video to their YouTube channel, October 27, 2009, as can be seen below.
Shalom’ begins at a circumcision – Joshua Rubinstein’s Bris. The rabbi says,”And so, as we stand poised to induct Joshua into the Jewish faith, I say to the proud parents, Rebecca, David…” The rabbi’s phone rings. “Give me a second… Cohen.” “Rabbi! What’s coming off?” “Oh you know… the usual… slicing, dicing. What’s going on with you?” At this point we see that the caller is another rabbi standing in a synagogue, talking in the middle of a reading of scripture. “Oh you know… not much.” There’s a tone. “Is that you?” “Cohen.” “Shalom” comes the voice from a rabbi at the fish shop. “Shalom! Moishe, hang on. Rabbi!.” “Who’s that?” “Moshe.” “Moshe? Shalom!” “Shalom!” “Shalom!” …. “Moshe did you send the fish?” “I sent Mordecai.” “Moredecai?” Coming up the stairs is Mordecai. “Get off your …. and come and carry this yourself.” “Hang on one second. White Fish”. Now it’s the Jewish undertaker. “Shalom!” “Shalom!” “Shalom!” “Shalom!” “Shalom!” The door bell rings. It’s Mordecai. “I brought fish!”. The super: “Whitefish. Oy!
Click on the image below to play the Neurotrash video.
Credits
Film director David Berenbaum entered ‘Shalom’ in the HBO Comedy Festival in 2001, winning the attention of both rabbis and Disney. He joined the Disney Writers in Residence program, writing scripts for The Haunted Mansion and Elf. He is working on two new movies, “Zoom” and “Spiderwork Chronicles”.
Anyone recognise the music in the background? Or catch the words used by Mordecai coming up the stairs? Or have the right spelling for the names?
Where can I get this commercial to download?
RL searh as “Shalom Whitefish”, and you can watch the comercial.
Shalom
The second rabbi doesn’t ask “What’s coming up?” He asks “What’s coming off?”. This is a double entendre: 1. It refers to the circumcision. 2. It’s a slang way of asking “What’s going on” by instead using the converse “What’s coming off?”
i only get 404 messages when i try to download the video from those pages, i’ve seen it on youtube but i still want it as .avi
I believe Mordechai is saying “techailes” as he’s coming up the stairs, which is plural for tuchis. So, basically, Mordecai, the old man, is saying “Get off your collective derriers and come get the fish yourselves”.
Thank you! I’ve wondered for year’s what Mordecai was saying.
Still one of my favorite ad spoofs. Note that the second rabbi isn’t just standing there during a Scripture reading. It’s a bar mitzvah and the young boy is reading his Scripture piece from the Torah.