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Daniel Lobell

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For the Swiss-German drummer, see Daniel Löble.
Daniel Lobell
Born1982 or 1983 (age 41–42)[1]
Queens, New York
Alma materBaruch College
Occupation(s)Stand-up comedian, podcaster, comic-book writer
Years active2007-present
Websitewww.dannylobell.com

Daniel Lobell is a Los Angeles–based American stand-up comedian, podcaster, and comic-book writer best known for his podcast Modern Day Philosophers.[1][2] Comedian Marc Maron credits him with creating the first podcast focused on stand-up comedy, Comical Radio.[3]

He has released two comedy albums on Dan Schlissel's Stand Up! Records. He also created and writes the autobiographical comic book Fair Enough, also published by Stand Up!.

Personal life

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Lobell was born to Jewish parents in the New York City borough of Queens and grew up on Long Island. He is the oldest of four boys.[4] Lobell's family has roots in the Scottish and Turkish Jewish communities.[5][6] Though raised in a religious family, he was interested in comedy from a young age, inspired by Jerry Seinfeld, Adam Sandler, and Jim Carrey. Lobell fell away from his Orthodox faith in his 20s when starting as a comedian, but returned when his fiancé converted to Judaism before their marriage in 2015.[2][1] Lobell graduated from Baruch College in New York.[2]

Career

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Lobell has been performing stand-up since he was a teenager in New York.[7] His comedy is frequently autobiographical,[8] often a combination of stand-up and storytelling[9] focusing on Jewish culture and faith, and Lobell's unusual status as an Orthodox Jewish comedian.[1] Lobell will not perform or travel on the Sabbath.[10] Despite his belief, Lobell's comedy often covers taboo topics such as sex.[6]

Lobell befriended Jackie Mason, George Carlin, and Shelley Berman after interviewing Mason for his college newspaper; Mason and Carlin became important mentors in his early career. He also worked for Mason selling audio cassettes after Mason's shows.[11][5] A fan of comic writer Harvey Pekar, Lobell struck up a friendship with him by cold-calling Pekar at his house in Cleveland.[12]

Podcasts

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From 2004 to 2012, Lobell ran the podcast Comical Radio, on which he interviewed more than 1,000 comedians.[3][7][13] In 2009, he created a webseries based on Comical Radio, Rise of the Radio Show,[9] which featured performances from Patrice O'Neal, Colin Quinn, J.B. Smoove, Dave Attell, and Brian Posehn.[14][13] Lobell shuttered Comical Radio in 2012 and moved to Los Angeles to expand his career.[7]

Lobell began a new podcast, Modern Day Philosophers, in 2013 with the idea of approaching classical philosophy through the lens of stand-up comics, who Lobell felt were the philosophers of the modern age,[15] telling one interviewer, "my feeling is that all the knowledge in the world is accessible to everybody, it’s just sometimes hidden in code."[16] Guests have included Marc Maron, Reggie Watts, and Maria Bamford.[16]

He also hosts medical website Doctorpedia's Leading Voices podcast.[17]

Comedy albums

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Lobell has released two albums on Stand Up! Records, 2013's Some Kind of Comedian and 2017's The Nicest Boy in Barcelona.[18][19] Reviewer Richard Lanoie, writing on The Serious Comedy Site, called Some Kind of Comedian unfocused but said "there is a hell of a lot to like."[20] Chris Milea of Stage Time magazine called the album "quite clever" and praised Lobell's "notable amount of ingenuity and risk-taking."[21] Reviews of Barcelona were stronger. Chris Spector of Midwest Record said Lobell had "mastered doing the observational thing without hitting you with it like a flying mallet",[22] while Lanoie called Barcelona a "rock solid" improvement on Lobell's first album.[8]

Comics

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Lobell was an avid artist from childhood, and was inspired to pursue a career in comics by the examples of Stan Lee and Harvey Pekar. In 2018, Lobell began an autobiographical comic book, Fair Enough. The first issue covers his troubled school-age years and friendship with Pekar.[12][23]

Other work

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Lobell performs regularly at the Laugh Factory and the Hollywood Improv in Los Angeles.[2] He has been a guest twice on the WTF with Marc Maron podcast.[3][24]

In 2017, Lobell performed his autobiographical stand-up show Broke as a Joke at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and Hollywood Fringe Festival. The show covers a number of Lobell's often-bizarre self-started business ventures, including stints as a breeder of hairless cats, a door-to-door lightbulb salesman, cleaning shark tanks in the Israeli city of Eilat,[11] and raising chickens with his neighbor, an Ecuadorian gang member.[4][10] Lobell followed in 2018 with Fat Chance, about his struggles with obesity.[25] He has performed multiple times at the Glasgow International Comedy Festival.[26]

He performed in and contributed writing for Hasidic comic Mendy Pellin's 2014 series Jewbellish the News.[27]

He directed a short film in 2018 entitled 'Stool Me Once' starring Michael Croner that was filmed and edited by Bruno Kohfield-Galeano. [28] [29]

His work has been featured on This American Life[30] and TedX.[11] He is a frequent essayist for various publications focused on Jewish life, including The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles[31] and the website Aish.com.[32][33]

Discography

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d Horwitz, Simi (2016-10-31). "Meet 7 Orthodox Comics Who Are Making Comedy Kosher Again by the Forward". The Forward. New York City. Retrieved 2020-11-13.
  2. ^ a b c d "Kylie Wakefield, Danny Lobell". New York Times. New York City. 2015-08-02. Retrieved 2020-11-13.
  3. ^ a b c Marc Maron (2013-06-17). "Episode 398: Danny Lobell". WTF with Marc Maron (Podcast). Retrieved 2020-12-09.
  4. ^ a b Torok, Ryan (May 31, 2017). "'Broke' life is rich in comedy material for Danny Lobell's show". The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles. Retrieved 2020-11-13.
  5. ^ a b Yaffe, Simon (2017-06-23). "Comedian laughing all the way back to his roots" (PDF). Jewish Telegraph. p. 32. Retrieved 2020-11-13.
  6. ^ a b Lambert, Josh (2014-05-19). "Comedy Isn't Kosher, but It Can Be Funny". Tablet. Retrieved 2020-11-13.
  7. ^ a b c "About Us". Modern Day Philiosophers. Retrieved 2020-11-13.
  8. ^ a b Lanoie, Richard (2018-04-09). "Danny Lobell – The Nicest Boy in Barcelona". The Serious Comedy Site. Retrieved 2020-11-17.
  9. ^ a b Sass, Megan (August 12, 2013). "Some Kind of Comedian: Danny Lobell". Heeb Magazine. Retrieved 2020-11-13.
  10. ^ a b Spiro, Amy (2017-06-25). "Broke, Jewish... and flying to Scotland". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 2020-11-13.
  11. ^ a b c Strauss, Ilana (August 11, 2017). "What it's like to be friends with Jackie Mason and George Carlin". From the Grapevine. Retrieved 2020-11-13.
  12. ^ a b Noonan, Ari L. (April 11, 2018). "Danny Lobell Draws on Pekar for Comic Book". The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles. Retrieved 2020-11-13.
  13. ^ a b Gadino, Dylan P. (2009-03-02). "Comical Radio: The rise of Danny Lobell's comedy crew". LaughSpin. Archived from the original on 8 February 2013. Retrieved 2020-11-13.
  14. ^ Danny Lobell at IMDb
  15. ^ Levitt, Lee (August 17, 2017). "Two Jews go into a comedy club, one old, one young..." The Jewish Chronicle. London. Retrieved 2020-12-07.
  16. ^ a b Stamato, Philip (2017-07-20). "Seeking Adventure and Demystifying Philosophy with Danny Lobell". Vulture. New York City. Retrieved 2020-11-13.
  17. ^ "The Doctorpedia Podcast". Doctorpedia. Retrieved 2020-11-13.
  18. ^ a b Some Kind of Comedian at AllMusic. Retrieved 2020-12-09.
  19. ^ a b The Nicest Boy in Barcelona at AllMusic. Retrieved 2020-12-09.
  20. ^ Lanoie, Richard (2018-04-09). "Danny Lobell – Some Kind of Comedian". The Serious Comedy Site. Retrieved 2020-11-17.
  21. ^ Milea, Chris (May 1, 2013). "Comedy Review: Danny Lobell, Some Kind of Comedian". Retrieved 2020-11-13.
  22. ^ Spector, Chris (2017-07-25). "Volume 40/Number 266". Midwest Record. Retrieved 2020-11-13.
  23. ^ "About". Fair Enough. Retrieved 2020-11-13.
  24. ^ Marc Maron (2018-03-01). "Episode 894: Bill Janovitz/Danny Lobell". WTF with Marc Maron (Podcast). Retrieved 2020-12-09.
  25. ^ Stewart, Donald (August 18, 2018). "Edinburgh Fringe 2018 - Danny Lobell: Fat Chance". Fringe Review. Retrieved 2020-12-09.
  26. ^ "An Interview with Danny Lobell". Mumble Comedy. July 4, 2017. Retrieved 2020-12-09.
  27. ^ Lagnado, Lucette (2014-11-03). "This Rabbi Raps and Riffs—on Judaism". Wall Street Journal. New York City. Retrieved 2020-12-09.
  28. ^ "Stool Me Once (Short film) (2018)". YouTube.
  29. ^ "Stool Me Once". IMDb.
  30. ^ "456: Reap What You Sow". This American Life. January 27, 2012. Event occurs at 38:56. Archived from the original on 2020-06-11. Retrieved 2020-12-09.
  31. ^ Lobell, Danny (August 12, 2020). "Sorry, Not Sorry: How Do We Forgive and Evolve in an Age of Cancel Culture?". The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles. Retrieved 2020-12-09.
  32. ^ Lobell, Danny (October 24, 2016). "A Comedian's Return to Judaism". Aish.com. Retrieved 2020-12-09.
  33. ^ Lobell, Danny (December 24, 2016). "Chanukah: Why We Fry". Aish.com. Retrieved 2020-12-09.
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