Interview: Alex Edelman Talks His Jewish Identity, Confronting White Nationalists & More in JUST FOR US

Comedian Alex Edelman's one-man-show Just For Us has been performed in countries around the world to critical acclaim. Premiering in 2018, the show made an impact at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, London's Soho Theater and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Now, Edelman will be making his New York stage debut with the US Premiere of Just For Us at the Cherry Lane Theatre (38 Commerce Street, NYC).

Hilarious, insightful, and thought-provoking, Just For Us weaves together entertaining anecdotes from Edelman's own life, with a poignant and shocking story at its center: After receiving an onslaught of anti-Semitic comments online, Edelman attended a gathering of White Nationalists in New York City, coming face to face with members of the alt-right.

Directed by Adam Brace and presented by Mike Birbiglia, the show begins previews tonight, December 1, and officially opens on December 8.

For tickets for Just For Us (ranging from $37 - $61) and additional information visit JustForUsShow.com.

We spoke with Alex Edelman about what audiences can expect to see in Just For Us, what it means to him to be performing in New York City, and more.

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You are making your New York stage debut with the US Premiere of your one-man-show, Just For Us. You've performed this show all over the world to critical acclaim, how does it feel for you to be bringing this show to New York where you were not only a student, but you launched your career as a comic?

I'm dead. I can't believe it. The Cherry Lane Theatre is one of the great theatres, Sam Shepard did True West there. And Mike Birbiglia is one of my favorite comics. When I was in college, I had a CD of his called Two Drink Mike that I wore out. So, I'm terrified, anxious, excited, I feel like a college student again, I really do. And also it's my best work, it's my best foot forward, so this is what I want to do New York with. My show in 2014 that won an award at Edinburgh [Fringe Festival], I didn't do a run of it in New York, I think I maybe did one show of it at Subculture-rest in peace. I've always taken doing a New York run very seriously, and I didn't want to do it prematurely. So, I cannot believe how lucky I am to be here, debuting it in this way, in this time.

When did you decide it was time to write this show and how did you shape the story?

I had just written on a TV show in LA for six/seven months, and I was a little bit burnt out. And I really desperately wanted to get back to live performance. I was shuttling between New York and LA, and I was kind of living a bit of an aimless life. I was going to lots of lectures and conferences, and really spending a lot of time on the internet, reading sad stories, interesting stories, and there was this little bit of anti-Semitism that was directed at me in early 2017. So, I started getting interested in that community that had been so vitriolic, and I started trying to spend a little bit of time looking into that underbelly.

The show is about this group of white nationalists who got together in Queens, and I went, and sat there for an hour. This happened at the end of 2017, but I didn't start talking about it until a bunch of weeks later. I told my friend about it, and she was like, "Maybe you should talk about this." The first time I tried it onstage, it kind of clicked for me. And Adam Brace who's my longtime director, he sort of said, "Hey, this could be the spine of something." The show has changed in a million ways, but that is where the central story came from.

And then the show kind of took off when I started implementing other thoughts and experiences, from my experiences as a Jew in America, from the time I was a kid until now. So, the show is not just for Jews or about being Jewish, but I think leading into those things and really examining them is what has given this an extra umph for audiences, and critics, and awards people.

I cannot say that I would want to go to a gathering of white nationalists if there was anti-Semtism directed at me -why was that your reaction to it? What made you decide to do that?

That's the question at the center of the show, honestly. It's a mixture of curiosity and personality. If I'm being honest, I don't feel like a belong anywhere, so spaces I don't belong in have always felt like second nature to me. I don't know if there are a bunch of people like this, but I feel much more comfortable in places I know for sure I shouldn't be than places that I should be, that I worry I'm not suited to.

A lot of the people that I know seem like they know how to move in the world. And I feel like I'm still figuring it out. Sometimes that involves going to uncomfortable places and doing weird stuff.

If you can give a tease, what other stories can audiences expect to see?

My brother, AJ, was an Olympian in 2018 for Israel, so I talk about that a bit. And I talk a little about the time my Jewish family had Christmas, which is one of my favorite pieces in the show. And there are a couple of fun stories, like when I met Robin Williams, and my one interaction with a friend of mine who's become a bit of an antivaxxer, those things all get space in the show.

What do you ultimately hope that audiences take away from Just For Us?

The fun thing is that even though I talk about it in quite a serious way, the show is a comedy show, it's so much fun- hopefully- for people, I just love doing it. And I want people to come and laugh. It is a really joke-heavy show. And I'm so proud of it. Mostly I want people to come and laugh and enjoy it, but it is the most autobiographical show I've ever done. The show is completely about me, it's about my Jewish identity, it's about the identity of any person who doesn't feel at home in the world. This is the first time I've done the show in a Jewish market, honestly. Like, Melbourne and Edinburgh are not hotbeds of Judaism. So, the show has actually been a really wonderful, universal, unifying experience. It's for anyone who's curious. The show is about curiosity and the limits of conversation, and how far you can push those limits.

How do you feel to be returning to live performances and being back in front of an audience in New York as live entertainment is returning to the city?

I'm so excited, I missed it so much. I was on tour in the UK with this show when COVID shut everything down. I cancelled the last two weeks of my shows and came home and sat in an apartment in New York, depressed. My New Years resolution in 2020 was to re-commit myself to live performance. So, that was thwarted and not by me. What a bummer.

But that's okay, the resolution is getting fulfilled, just later than anticipated!

I mean, it's Mike Birbiglia, and the Cherry Lane, it's amazing, it's so cool!