MODI’s Jewish Comedy Finds Crossover Success, Two Sold-Out Radio City Shows

MODI, the single-named Orthodox Jewish comic previously known as Mordechi Rosenfeld, calls “antisemitism” in his act, “hating Jews more than you’re allowed,” which brings an appreciative chuckle from his partisan audience.

The 56-year-old Tel Aviv native, who moved at the age of 7 with his family from Israel to another Jewish homeland of sorts in the Five Towns of Long Island –is an overnight success story 30 years in the making. That’s when he abandoned his cushy job as an international banker for Merrill Lynch to go full-time for his passion, emulating his idols like Don Rickles, Jackie Mason, George Carlin and Louis CK.

“From ’94 to ’99, I was doing both,” he explained. “By the time I left banking, I was already making a living as a comic. I just took the risk and dove right into it. My first gigs after that were opening for Neil Sedaka.”

Working his way up from the Catskills Borsht Belt (he played at the closing night of the iconic Concord) and the New York comedy club circuit, while performing corporate gigs at benefits and fund-raisers within the Orthodox Jewish community, MODI began to build a world-wide audience doing Zoom shows during the pandemic, leading to social media virality (and almost 900k followers across all platforms). His last special, Know Your Audience, is available on YouTube, where it appears via the comedy website 800 Pound Gorilla, and has generated nearly a million views, thanks to the digital marketing acumen of his 33-year-old millennial husband (and now manager) Leo Veiga.

All that helped MODI book overseas shows in London, which culminated in MODI selling out two shows at New York’s Radio City Music Hall in April, moving a combined 11,128 tickets—not all of them Jews by a long shot. The man who promotes the “Moshiach (messianic) energy” in his show, with a liberal use of Yiddish (always translated for the audience, so that it is funny both times) is now being discovered by what he refers to as “goyim,” a word he claims is not derogatory, just descriptive of a non-Jew.

“It means ‘nation,’” observed MODI, “with any number of meanings depending on the context. A goy is just someone who can do something a Jew can’t, like knowing their way around a Home Depot. It’s really a compliment. These days, I’m thrilled because I’m attracting goyim, gays and theys… everybody.”

With a self-deprecatory, Seinfeldian ability to spin observational humor out of the difference between Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews, or a Hasid twirling his payes (side curls), MODI points out our similarities, the things we all share, regardless of religion.  In his own way, he is combating the current polarized, politicized climate surrounding both Jews and Israel by allowing us to laugh together at our common foibles.

“There are a lot of comedians who are Jewish, but not all of them are Jewish comics,” pointed out MODI about the apparent redundancy of the term. “Marc Maron told me I do comedy in ‘the original language.’ I was lucky to grow up hearing some of the great Yiddish comedians.”

MODI’s act studiously avoids politics of any kind – even his own homosexuality or Trump-bashing – preferring to concentrate on the social, communal aspects of shared experience, a safe space where everyone can revel in their foibles. One of his go-to moves is finding the solitary goy in the audience and teasing them about their lack of knowledge about all things hyper-Jewish.

“I made a conscious decision that I’m here to provide a laugh for you,” he said. “I offer a pause from everything happening in the outside world.”

As a true ambassador for peace, MODI was invited to the United Nations, where he led a singalong of “Hatikvah,” to mark Israeli Independence Day.  “The mission is to bring a messianic era,” said MODI, who insisted that all major religions are looking for their own savior.

MODI’s characters include Yoely, a Hasidic Jew, a self-declared Secretary of Simcha who reviewed television shows and ran for President in 2020, and Mendel, one of two Hasids Waiting for Woody Allen in Central Park, a short film parody of the Samuel Beckett play about Godot. His next hour-long special, Pause for Laughter, was shot over two nights in Atlanta and is currently being shopped to the streaming services by his team. MODI is already hard at work writing new material for his next project, Your Mother Loved Me, as well as a TV pilot. His next L.A. date is scheduled for the 2,300-cap Wiltern with a group show in December, a venue he previously headlined last year.

Along with manager Veiga, MODI is represented by J.P. Buck, a veteran of Conan O’Brien’s Team Coco who joined Judi Marmel’s Levity Talent in 2024, overseeing a roster which includes Taylor Tomlinson, Leanne Morgan, Bert Kreischer, Fortune Feimster, Dusty Slay and Charlie Berens. 

“He has honed his craft more than 30 years for this moment, and the industry is finally catching up to him,” observed Buck. “He brings a heavily Jewish audience together in one room, but he knows how to talk to the other side, too, by making them feel part of this community. He’s just very relatable. The time seems right for a comic like MODI to break down the barriers by pointing out those things we have in common. It leads to more tolerance and openness all around.”

UTA’s Michael Grinspan, his L.A.-based booking agent, pointed out that comedy for Jewish audiences has often got a bad rap, but that MODI “made a savvy bet on himself” that people would respond to his act. “By diversifying the scope of his fan base, it’s a matter of when, not if, he breaks through to the mainstream. He has invested in the fundamentals of standup, from time on-stage and great premises to expert delivery and all-ages appeal.”

Since the new year, which included a recent appearance on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, MODI acknowledged he has begun to notice many more non-Jewish fans at his live performances.

“I could not be happier,” he enthused.  “It is so amazing to look out in the audience and see three women wearing hijabs. Turns out these women were nurses, who were fans of my act, and they brought along two Jewish friends who had never heard of me.”

The Internet has eliminated most of the gatekeepers of comedy, giving stand-up hopefuls the tools to build an audience. “All you need is a viral video, add we’re coming to Detroit, and you’re all set,” MODI said.

MODI joins a sub-set of current Orthodox Jewish comedians for whom religion is an integral part of the show, including fellow gay stand-up Alex Edelman, Ari Shaffir (with his Netflix special Jew) and Yisrael Campbell, an Irish-Italian Catholic from Philadelphia who converted to Judaism.

“I don’t really pay attention to other comedians,” nodded MODI.  “I’m on a mission.  Let’s sell tickets, let’s make people happy. I’m lucky. Moms are my biggest fans, and they don’t just buy tickets for themselves, but for their son and their daughter-in-law… that bitch.

“The Talmud says the job of a comedian is to make people who are sad happy, and to cause peace wherever there is a rift.”

You don’t have to be Jewish to love MODI, but it couldn’t hurt.