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Tablet Studios

A Very Jewish Christmas: Ep. 162

Tablet Studios

Tablet Magazine

Religion & Spirituality, Judaism, Society & Culture

4.6 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 20 December 2018

⏱️ 64 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Tis the season—for Chinese food and a movie! Our first Jewish guest is Bill Adler, the Def Jam alum who helped Run DMC create their iconic 1987 song "Christmas in Hollis". He tells us how he went from being a music journalist to the second full-time employee at Def Jam in the 1980s; how "Christmas in Hollis," ended up on the soundtrack of films like Die Hard, and how his distaste for cliche holiday music led him to make an annual Christmas playlist for friends and family, and now, you! Listen to Adler's 2018 Christmas Jollies mix here. We also talk to Steven de Souza, the Hollywood screenwriter responsible for films like Commando, Judge Dredd, and, of course, Die Hard. He tells us how Bruce Willis's character was actually originated by Frank Sinatra, the origin of the movie's epic "yippee ki yay" catchphrase, and why Die Hard is even more of a Christmas movie than White Christmas. We're hitting the road in 2019! Come see us January 15 at Washington Hebrew Congregation in Washington, D.C. It's free—register here. We'll be at the Stroum JCC in the Seattle area February 2 for a special live show with Dan Savage, of the Savage Lovecast. Get your tickets here. We love to hear from you: Send comments and questions for Unorthodox to [email protected] or leave a message at our listener line: 914-570-4869. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram, and join our Facebook group to chat with the hosts and see what happens behind-the-scenes! Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, photos, and more. Show your love for Unorthodox with our new T-shirts, sweatshirts, and baby onesies. Get yours at bit.ly/unorthoshirt. This episode is sponsored by Harry's. Get $5 off any shave set–including the limited-edition holiday sets–when you go to Harrys.com/UNORTHODOX. This episode is sponsored by JChef, the new kosher meal kit. Go to Jchef.com/unorthodox and use coupon code Unorthodox30 to get 30 percent off your first order.

Transcript

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0:00.0

What better way to be proudly Jewish right now than with our book, the newest Jewish

0:06.2

Encyclopedia?

0:07.2

It's the perfect coffee table book for your proud Jewish home, and it covers everything

0:11.3

from Jewish history, pop culture, holidays, and of course food,

0:14.9

all with our trademark, irreverence, and love.

0:17.5

Our publisher is offering a special 20% discount on newest Jewish and their entire Hanukkah shop.

0:22.4

So head to Artisan Books.com

0:24.0

and use the code unorthodox at check out.

0:26.5

That's Artisan Books.com, discount code,

0:29.0

unorthodox, all caps.

0:32.4

Tis the season for some cursing.

0:35.0

This has been your obscenity warning.

0:37.0

This is on Orthodox.

0:41.0

We are the number one Jewish podcast that you're listening to right now.

0:44.0

And I'm your host Mark Oppenheimer joined by tablet deputy editor Stephanie Butnik.

0:48.0

Merry Christmas!

0:50.0

Ho! Ho! And this week, sitting in the Leibovitz Memorial Chair, producer Joshua Cross.

0:57.8

How are you Josh?

0:58.6

Ho, ho, ho.

0:59.7

Ah, there we go.

1:05.9

Loele is in the Holy Land where he is doing a meetup

1:15.5

There's still time to get in on that meetup, right? I don't think the meetup has happened yet the Tel Aviv meetup. I do not think so. So if people we have like 30 people of R. C. P. All of Tel Aviv wants to see Leel. If you want to see Leel in Tel Aviv

...

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