Daniel Lobell is a

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

-based

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

stand-up comedian Stand-up comedy is a comedy, comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up. Stand-up comedy consists of One-line joke ...

, podcaster, and comic-book writer best known for his podcast ''Modern Day Philosophers.'' Comedian

Marc Maron Marcus David Maron (born September 27, 1963) is an American stand-up comedian, podcaster, writer, actor, and musician. In the 1990s and 2000s, Maron was a frequent guest on the '' Late Show with David Letterman'' and has appeared more than forty ...

credits him with creating the first podcast focused on stand-up comedy, '' Comical Radio''. He has released two comedy albums on

Dan Schlissel Dan Schlissel is an American record producer from Minneapolis, Minnesota, and founder of the record labels Stand Up! Records, which specializes in comedy, and -ismist Recordings, which focused on punk and alternative rock from Nebraska and nearb ...

's Stand Up! Records. He also created and writes the autobiographical comic book ''Fair Enough'', also published by Stand Up!.

Personal life

Lobell was born to Jewish parents in the

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

borough of

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

and grew up on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

. He is the oldest of four boys. Lobell's family has roots in the Scottish and Turkish Jewish communities. Though raised in a religious family, he was interested in comedy from a young age, inspired by

Jerry Seinfeld Jerome Allen Seinfeld ( ; born April 29, 1954) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and producer. He is best known for playing a Jerry Seinfeld (character), semi-fictionalized version of himself in the sitcom ''Seinfeld'', which he ...

Adam Sandler Adam Richard Sandler (born September 9, 1966) is an American comedian, actor, screenwriter, producer and singer. He was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1990 to 1995, before going on to star in numerous Hollywood films, those of wh ...

, and

Jim Carrey James Eugene Carrey (; born January 17, 1962) is a Canadian-American actor, comedian and artist. Known for his energetic slapstick performances, Carrey first gained recognition in 1990, after landing a role in the American sketch comedy te ...

. 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. Lobell graduated from

Baruch College Baruch College (officially the Bernard M. Baruch College) is a public college in New York City. It is a constituent college of the City University of New York system. Named for financier and statesman Bernard M. Baruch, the college operates und ...

in New York.

Career

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

George Carlin George Denis Patrick Carlin (May 12, 1937 – June 22, 2008) was an American comedian, actor, author, and social critic. Regarded as one of the most important and influential stand-up comedians of all time, he was dubbed "the dean of countercu ...

, and

Carl Reiner Carl Reiner (March 20, 1922 – June 29, 2020) was an American actor, stand-up comedian, director, screenwriter, and author whose career spanned seven decades. He was the recipient of many awards and honors, including 11 Primetime Emmy Awards, ...

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. A fan of comic writer

Harvey Pekar Harvey Lawrence Pekar (; October 8, 1939 – July 12, 2010) was an American underground comic book writer, music critic, and media personality, best known for his autobiographical ''American Splendor'' comic series. In 2003, the series inspired a ...

, Lobell struck up a friendship with him by cold-calling Pekar at his house in Cleveland.

Podcasts

From 2004 to 2012, Lobell ran the podcast '' Comical Radio'', on which he interviewed more than 1,000 comedians. In 2009, he created a webseries based on ''Comical Radio'', ''Rise of the Radio Show'', which featured performances from

Patrice O'Neal Patrice Lumumba Malcolm O'Neal (December 7, 1969 – November 29, 2011) was an American comedian and actor. He was known for his stand-up comedy career and his regular guest appearances on the talk show ''Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn'' and the ...

Colin Quinn Colin Edward Quinn (born June 6, 1959) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and writer. Quinn first gained widespread attention for his work as a cast member and writer for the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1995 to 2 ...

J.B. Smoove Jerry Angelo Brooks (born December 16, 1965), commonly known by his stage name J. B. Smoove, is an American actor, comedian and writer. After beginning his career in 1995 on ''Def Comedy Jam'', he was a writer and performer on NBC's ''Saturday N ...

Dave Attell David Attell (born January 18, 1965) is an American stand-up comedian, actor and writer best known as the host of Comedy Central's ''Insomniac with Dave Attell'', which earned him a cult following. His work has drawn admiration from many comedi ...

, and

Brian Posehn Brian Edmund Posehn (; born July 6, 1966) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, voice actor, musician, and writer. After numerous appearances as a television guest star, Posehn acquired his first major recurring role in HBO's '' Mr. Show wi ...

. Lobell shuttered ''Comical Radio'' in 2012 and moved to Los Angeles to expand his career. 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, telling one interviewer, "my feeling is that all the knowledge in the world is accessible to everybody, it’s just sometimes hidden in code." Guests have included

, Reggie Watts, and

Maria Bamford Maria Bamford (born September 3, 1970) is an American actress and stand-up comedian. Her work has drawn critical acclaim and controversy because her humor often uses self-deprecating and dark topics, including her dysfunctional family, depressio ...

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

Comedy albums

Lobell has released two albums on Stand Up! Records, 2013's ''Some Kind of Comedian'' and 2017's ''The Nicest Boy in Barcelona''. 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." Chris Milea of ''Stage Time'' magazine called the album "quite clever" and praised Lobell's "notable amount of ingenuity and risk-taking." 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", while Lanoie called ''Barcelona'' a "rock solid" improvement on Lobell's first album.

Comics

Lobell was an avid artist from childhood, and was inspired to pursue a career in comics by the examples of

Stan Lee Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber ; December 28, 1922 – November 12, 2018) was an American comic book writer, editor, publisher, and producer. He rose through the ranks of a family-run business called Timely Publications which ...

and

. In 2018, Lobell began an autobiographical comic book, ''Fair Enough''. The first issue covers his troubled school-age years and friendship with Pekar.

Other work

Lobell performs regularly at the

Laugh Factory Laugh Factory is a chain of comedy clubs in the United States. The chain is owned by Laugh Factory Inc., and the founder and current chief executive is Jamie Masada. Endurance record The Laugh Factory keeps track of an endurance record fo ...

and the

Hollywood Improv The Improv is a comedy club franchise. It was founded as a single venue in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of New York City in 1963, and expanded into a chain of venues in the late 1970s. History Originally, it was a single venue founded in 19 ...

in Los Angeles. He has been a guest twice on the ''

WTF with Marc Maron ''WTF with Marc Maron'' is a weekly podcast and radio show hosted by stand-up comedian Marc Maron. The show was launched in September 2009. The show is produced by Maron's former Air America co-worker Brendan McDonald. Background The show's ti ...

'' podcast. In 2017, Lobell performed his autobiographical stand-up show ''Broke as a Joke'' at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and

Hollywood Fringe Festival The Hollywood Fringe Festival is an annual fringe theatre festival in Hollywood, California. Most indoor venues for the festival are in and around Hollywood Theatre Row, a stretch of Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles. Founder Ben Hill ...

. 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

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

i city of Eilat, and raising chickens with his neighbor, an Ecuadorian gang member. Lobell followed in 2018 with ''Fat Chance'', about his struggles with obesity. He has performed multiple times at the Glasgow International Comedy Festival. He performed in and contributed writing for Hasidic comic Mendy Pellin's 2014 series ''Jewbellish the News''. He directed a short film in 2018 entitled 'Stool Me Once' starring Michael Croner that was filmed and edited by Bruno Kohfield-Galeano. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8953998/ His work has been featured on ''

This American Life ''This American Life'' (''TAL'') is an American monthly hour-long radio program produced in collaboration with Chicago Public Media and hosted by Ira Glass. It is broadcast on numerous public radio stations in the United States and internation ...

'' and

TedX TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "ideas worth spreading". TED was founded by Richard Sau ...

. He is a frequent essayist for various publications focused on Jewish life, including ''

The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles ''The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles'', known simply as the ''Jewish Journal'', is an independent, nonprofit community weekly newspaper serving the Jewish community of greater Los Angeles, published by TRIBE Media Corp. ''The Journal'' w ...

'' and the website Aish.com.

Discography

*Danny Lobell, ''Some Kind of Comedian'' ( Stand Up! Records, 2013) *Danny Lobell, ''The Nicest Boy in Barcelona'' ( Stand Up! Records, 2017)

References

External links

Danny Lobell official website''Fair Enough'' official website''Modern Day Philosophers'' official website
*
Danny Lobell at Stand Up! Records website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lobell, Danny American male comedians American stand-up comedians People from New York City People from Queens, New York People from Long Island Comedians from New York City American podcasters Living people 21st-century American comedians Stand Up! Records artists Jewish American male comedians Jewish American writers Jewish male comedians Comedians from New York (state) 1982 births 21st-century American Jews