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Tag Archives: Comedy Catskills and the Holocaust

“My Son the Waiter:  A Jewish Tragedy & STILL Not Famous” at the Lake Worth Playhouse December 6 & 7

19 Wednesday Nov 2025

Posted by Carol Kassie in Clients, My Son the Waiter

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Brad Zimmerman, Comedy Catskills and the Holocaust, Comedy in Lake Worth, Lake Worth Playhouse, My Son the Waiter A Jewish Tragedy, My Son the Waiter: A Jewish Tragedy & Still Not Famous


Actor/Comedian Brad Zimmerman’s hilarious and inspiring story
about the grit and passion required to ‘make it’ as an artist and the sweet rewards that come from never giving up on your dream continues!

For Immediate Release
Contact:
Carol Kassie
561-445-9244 / Carol@CarolKassie.com   

November 19, 2025

LAKE WORTH, FL:  Brad Zimmerman’s hit New York comedy My Son the Waiter:  A Jewish Tragedy has played to full houses across the United States.  In celebration of his 10th year on the road, Zimmerman has created a brand-new show – once again detailing his search for success in show business. My Son the Waiter:  A Jewish Tragedy & STILL Not Famous is another look at the comedian and raconteur’s long journey to follow his dream and ‘the parents who suffered through it.”  Zimmerman will bring his show to the Lake Worth Playhouse for a limited engagement in December.  The show will run for two days only – on December 6th & 7th at the popular Lake Worth venue.  

Zimmerman has been working on the script for My Son the Waiter:  A Jewish Tragedy & STILL Not Famous for a number of years and has performed it in a few small venues all over the country.  This engagement at the Playhouse is the final stop on the show’s first major cross-country tour which included the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia and Landmark on Main Street in Long Island, New York.

Every mother dreams her children will grow up to be happy, healthy, and successful.  Every Jewish mother secretly – and often not so secretly – adds specifics to her wish:  A doctor, a lawyer, a dentist, or these days, a Silicon Valley tycoon would make her very happy.  Brad Zimmerman’s mother has finally adapted to her ‘actor-waiter’ son’s career choice and financial situation: “If all goes well, I think Brad is going to buy a bookcase,” she boasts to her friends.

My Son the Waiter:  A Jewish Tragedy & STILL Not Famous is the continuation of the story of Zimmerman’s struggle to fulfill his dream and ‘make it’ as a comedic actor in New York.  One-part standup, one-part theatrical, and all parts uproarious, his first show My Son the Waiter: A Jewish Tragedy spent 2 years at Off-Broadway’s Stage 72 (Triad Theatre) in New York, and garnered rave reviews as it toured through Philadelphia, Boston, Atlanta,  Toronto, San Diego, Thousand Oaks, CA, Huntington Beach, CA., Palm Beach, FL., the Northshore PAC in Skokie, Illinois, The Gordon Center For Performing Arts in Maryland, the George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and dozens of other cities across the United States.

Brad Zimmerman has paid his dues.  He spent 29 years “temporarily” waiting tables in New York, all the while chasing a career in acting and comedy.  He tells of his pursuit, along with stories about his childhood, family, and misbegotten love life with warmth, wit, self-deprecating humor, and wicked charm, and combines his years of training as an actor with his innate comedic talent.

Zimmerman also examines the trials and tribulations of waiting on tables – particularly for someone not exactly invested in that career, and with little tolerance for persnickety diners:

“I don’t want 60 questions, get to the point!” he said he would tell restaurant patrons when he sat down for a recent interview for The New York Times. He joked that if diners prefaced their orders by saying they were in a hurry he would say “So go!” He says he did enjoy some of the bantering he did with diners, and often tried out material on them, however there were also ‘the bossy customers who would snap their fingers to get his attention… and the health-food obsessives who elaborately customized their orders and button-holed him over ingredients.’  As he said in My Son the Waiter: A Jewish Tragedy, he was convinced his epitaph would read “I’ll be right with you.”

His perseverance and hard work eventually did pay off, and Zimmerman went on to act – he had a small part in “The Sopranos” playing Johnny Sack’s lawyer – and to become the opening act for a number of well-known entertainers, including George Carlin, Brad Garrett, Dennis Miller, Julio Iglesias, and Joan Rivers who said “I’ve had three great opening acts in my lifetime:  Billy Crystal, Garry Shandling, and Brad Zimmerman.”

Tickets are on sale now and are available online at mysonthewaiter.com  or https://lakeworthplayhouse.csstix.com/event-details.php?e=2261 (or by phone at 1-561-586-6410. For group rates (12 +) call 1–888-264-1788.  Tickets pricesrange from $45 – $65.

For more information about My Son the Waiter: A Jewish Tragedy & STILL Not Famous please visit mysonthewaiter.com. To speak with Brad Zimmerman, or to arrange to attend a performance please contact Carol Kassie at 561-445-9244 / Carol@CarolKassie.com.

Like the show on Facebook:  www.facebook.com/mysonthewaiter/?fref=ts

~

My Son the Waiter:  A Jewish Tragedy 
By Brad Zimmerman
December 6 & 7
Tickets:  $45-$65
Phone:  1-561-586-6410
Online: MySonTheWaiter.com or
Click HERE.
Group Rates (12 +):  1–888-264-1788
Showtimes: 
Saturday at 2 pm & 7:30 pm
Sunday at 2 pm
The Lake Worth Playhouse
713 Lake Avenue
Lake Worth, FL  33460

Brad Zimmerman
Brad Zimmerman

Praise for My Son the Waiter: A Jewish Tragedy:

“Delicious! Distinctly original… powerfully poignant.” “Great Comedy!” ~ The New York Times

“A Must See. It’s Hysterical, Heartfelt, Timely and Poignant. I cried, I laughed, I forgot where I parked.” ~ Brad Garrett (Everybody Loves Raymond)

“Zimmerman is a funny man with funny material.”
~ Thomas Burns Scully (On Stage)

“This is easily the funniest show to hit an off-Broadway stage since ‘Old Jews Telling Jokes.’ What makes this SUPERIOR is that it isn’t just jokes. It’s a life.” ~ The Jewish Daily Forward

 “AN ABSOLUTE MUST-SEE! You’ll laugh and you’ll walk out of the theater with a lesson: If you can find something that you truly love, it gives your life meaning.
~ Palm Beach Arts Paper

Jake Ehrenreich’s A JEW GROWS IN BROOKLYN 2.O Debuts at the Mizner Park Cultural Arts Center Feb 2 – 26

16 Friday Dec 2016

Posted by Carol Kassie in Clients, Jake Ehrenreich

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A Jew Grows in Brooklyn 2.0, Catskills Comedy, Comedy Catskills and the Holocaust, Jake Ehrenreich, Junior's Restaurant & Cheesecake, Mizner Park Cultural Arts Center, Mizner Park Cultural Arts Center Studio Theatre, musical comedy, Musical Theatre, theatre

 

348x348carolkassieDebuts at The Mizner Park Cultural Arts Center
February 2 – 26
and
The Coral Springs Center for the Arts
March 10-12

“You don’t have to be Jewish or Brooklynish…
Ehrenreich’s showmanship is dazzling!”
~ The New York Times

For Immediate Release
Contact:  Carol Kassie
carol@carolkassie.com

December 16, 2016

jake-rockBOCA RATON, FL:  Jake Ehrenreich, playwright, author and academically recognized expert on Comedy, Catskills and the Holocaust, will present a completely updated version of his beloved autobiographical comedy musical A Jew Grows in Brooklyn, when A Jew Grows in Brooklyn 2.0 opens at the Mizner Park Cultural Arts Center in Boca Raton for a limited four week run from February 2 – 26. This production will be followed by an additional five performances at the Coral Springs Performing Arts Center from March 10-12.

Filled with new insights gained from his years of interviews, films, writing, and performing since the original 2006/2007 record breaking show debuted at the historic Lambs Theatre in the heart of Broadway, A Jew Grows in Brooklyn 2.0 creator and star Jake Ehrenreich brings a renewed and expanded knowledge of how Comedy, the Holocaust, and the Catskills affected his life, and the lives of so many others.

This new incarnation of the show, co-directed by Jon Huberth and Lisa Ehrenreich, further explores how Ehrenreich, who grew up in Brooklyn in the 1960’s-70’s, struggled with his family’s survivor history, and later with both his sisters and mother’s early Alzheimer’s disease – “and how we all must handle our individual challenges in life.” The production makes use of extensive multi-media, music and comedy to entertainingly convey its uplifting message. Ehrenreich’s extraordinary tour de force performance, filled with laughter, tears and first class musicianship, resonates with audiences of all ages.
_mg_2460-at-piano-w-tie“I wanted to tell a very serious story – but make it accessible with as much joy and laughter and music as possible”. Ehrenreich has explained.

Jake Ehrenreich, 60, is an award-winning actor, playwright, musician and author. He has appeared on Broadway in Dancin’, Barnum and They’re Playing Our Song and toured internationally as Ringo in Beatlemania. He has performed and recorded with such diverse artists as Richie Havens, Greg Allman, Whitney Houston, Tito Puente, Jay Leno, and the Smothers Brothers.

A full-length book, A Jew Grows in Brooklyn: The Curious Reflections of a First Generation American was Published by HCI – (Chicken Soup for the Soul), in 2010. Ehrenreich has recorded a CD Yiddish Unplugged, and is currently taping a TV variety show debuting in 2017.

book-2Jake Ehrenreich’s unique historical writings are included in the 2016 academic anthology Summer Haven, The Catskills, the Holocaust and the Literary Imagination, along with those of Nobel laureate Isaac Bashevis Singer and Pulitzer Prize winner Art Spiegelman. His expertise is also featured in the Shoah documentary Making Light In Terezin, and he currently appears with Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, Louis CK, and Sarah Silverman in The Last Laugh, a film exploring Comedy and the Holocaust. Jake Ehrenreich will be a special guest speaker at an upcoming screening of the film at the Miami Jewish Film Festival on January 21 and 23.

Earlier this year, in recognition of his numerous accomplishments, Ehrenreich was inducted into the Brooklyn Jewish Hall of Fame; The City of New York and the Borough of Brooklyn created a special proclamation declaring A Jew Grows in Brooklyn Day; and the famous Carnegie Deli offered the ultimate honor by creating a namesake sandwich!

juniors_logo_onlyDuring the show’s run at the Mizner Park Cultural Arts Center, A Jew Grows in Brooklyn 2.0 will partner with the newly opened Junior’s Restaurant & Cheesecake, offering the popular restaurant’s customers exclusively priced tickets to the show.

A Jew Grows in Brooklyn 2.0  will run from February 2 – 26 at the Mizner Park Cultural Arts Center, and at the Coral Springs Center for the Arts March 10-12.  Tickets for A Jew Grows in Brooklyn 2.0 range from $39 – $69 and can be purchased by phone at 877-238-5596 (Mizner Park Production) and 954-344-5990 (Coral Springs Center for the Arts production) or on line at www.ajewgrowsinbrooklyn.com.  Group rates are available.

For more information about A Jew Grows in Brooklyn 2.0  and/or Jake Ehrenreich, please visit www.ajewgrowsinbrooklyn.com or contact Carol Kassie (carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244).

Photographs and graphics are available at:
http://www.jakeehrenreich.com/press-shots.html

Click Here to Visit Jake Ehrenreich on Facebook!

~*~

A Jew Grows in Brooklyn 2.0
By Jake Ehrenreich
February 2 – 26, 2017
Performances:
Thurs:  3PM and 7:30 PM
Fri: 8 PM
Sat 3 PM and 8 PM
Sun 2 PM and 5:30 PM
Tickets:  $39 – $65
Phone:  877-238-5596
Group Sales are available.
To Order Tickets on Line: www.ajewgrowsinbrooklyn.com  or http://www.smarttix.com/
Mizner Park Cultural Arts Center
201 Plaza Real
Boca Raton, FL 33432
(Opposite Lord & Taylor)

Coral Springs Center for the Arts
March 10 – 12, 2017
Performances:
Fri: 8 PM,
Sat: 3 PM & 8 PM,
Sun: 2 PM & 5 PM
Tickets:  $39 – $70
Phone:  954-344-5990
Group Sales are available.
To Order Tickets on Line: www.ajewgrowsinbrooklyn.com
or www.coralspringscenterforthearts.com
Coral Springs Center for the Arts
2885 Coral Springs Drive
Coral Springs, FL  33065

Praise for Jake Ehrenreich and A Jew Grows in Brooklyn:

The New York Times compared Ehrenreich to Billy Crystal and Bill Murray,  and raved: A Jew Grows in Brooklyn is “funny – beautiful – affectionate…touching joy and sorrow experiences lie behind and beneath every anecdote and joke.”

The Philadelphia Inquirer called the show “A universally uplifting treasure – in the same elevated company as Billy Crystal’s 700 Sundays, and Chaz Palminteri’s A Bronx Tale.”

The Los Angeles Times weighed in on the entertainment as well as the cultural importance of the show: “Ehrenreich is an engaging and thoughtful raconteur who weaves philosophy into personal history – his insight into the legacy of the classic Borscht Belt entertainers is elegant in its simplicity.”

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