Minnesota native Eli Leonard is in the business of comedy

CATHY WURZER: Tomorrow night the annual Twin Cities Jewish humor festival will begin with its celebration of comedy and resiliency in Minnesota's Jewish community. Headlining the festival is Minnesota-raised stand-up comedian Eli Leonard, with his show called Good Showbiz. It's all about the history of Jewish showmanship. And he's on the line right now to talk about it. Eli, thanks for taking the time.

ELI LEONARD: Hey, thanks for having me.

CATHY WURZER: I'm curious, what or who shaped your sense of what's funny when you were growing up in Minnesota?

ELI LEONARD: Wow, OK. Well, I think the people who made me laugh most were my older brothers. But other than that, I think Mel Brooks, Jerry Seinfeld, some of the great Jewish comedians of the past and Rodney Dangerfield, just some-- I watched the greats just like the rest of us, you know.

CATHY WURZER: Yeah. Oh. And they were so funny. Oh, my God.

ELI LEONARD: Yeah.

CATHY WURZER: But did you look up to any one comedian that you thought you might want to pattern yourself after or not?

ELI LEONARD: I guess I didn't really consider that comedy would be a job. I didn't think that it could be done when I was a kid. So I wasn't looking for someone to emulate in that way. I didn't think that it was something that someone could just do with their lives. I just watched it and laughed. But I definitely drew a lot of inspiration from Seinfeld and Larry David.

CATHY WURZER: And I want to ask about Larry here in a couple of minutes. I bet your parents probably did not see you as a professional comedian.

ELI LEONARD: As a kid?

CATHY WURZER: Yeah.

ELI LEONARD: Yeah, no. They didn't see me that-- I mean, they thought I was funny, but they didn't think that-- they wanted me probably to go into business or to be a doctor. I mean, I think doctor was really pushed on me. I was-- my grandpa especially would push me into being a doctor, Dr. Stan Leonard, a great pediatrician. But yeah, I was not pushed to be a stand up comedian at all.

CATHY WURZER: Help me out here, why do you think comedy is such a central part of Jewish culture? What's the source of the Jewish sense of humor? Is it nature or nurture?

ELI LEONARD: Oh, it's got to be nature at this point. I mean, I think for a while it was nurture, but now it's just so ingrained in us. I think it's really-- I think the combination of rules, having to follow rules, and finding the absurdity in the laws of Judaism and then, unfortunately, the strife of the plight of the people that has sort of forced the religion and the people of the religion to have to find some sort of relief from the horrors of constantly being kicked out and expelled from various lands.

CATHY WURZER: I'm wondering-- going back here to Larry Jacobs, he was-- you were his assistant on Curb Your Enthusiasm. Is that right, and a writer for many years? Larry David, Larry David, I'm sorry. I can really tell I've not slept. So you were with him.

ELI LEONARD: Me neither.

CATHY WURZER: Go ahead. You even appear on the show I believe. What did you learn from being with him? He is amazing.

ELI LEONARD: Yeah. So I worked for him for three years, for him and his executive producer Jeff Schaffer and Laura Streicher. And they were making Curb Your Enthusiasm at the time. And I was their assistant. And I learned when I started working there that this is someone who has nothing to win by continuing to make a show but still comes into work every single day and works honestly harder than anyone I've ever seen work.

So that type of respect for the job is what I learned from him. And then over time, I started to-- I was just getting him lunch. My whole job was just to get Larry David lunch in his office, the people in his office, get them their food. But when I would drop it off, I would start to show my personality a little bit. And then over time he started to take to me a bit. And he offered me to write for the show, write storylines for the show. And then any ideas that they took, they would pay me for.

CATHY WURZER: Did you have a chance to be in the writers room for the show?

ELI LEONARD: Yeah. I mean, the writers room, that was just the office, that's where I worked. I worked in the writers office. It's really just Larry David and Jeff Schaffer who sit in there. It's just a two-man operation. It's not some-- we think of these writers rooms on sitcoms as these big rooms. And I think it was that way on Seinfeld. But for this show, it's just such a well-oiled machine between the two people. And it's really Larry's mind at work. And he just sits down with a pad of paper still and writes the show out.

CATHY WURZER: Talk about pressure, though, working with Larry David. Oh, my gosh. But I understand you were doing improv in some sketch comedy in LA during that time, too.

ELI LEONARD: I was. Yeah, I mean, I sort of had to keep it a secret from him. I didn't-- it wasn't a well-kept secret, but you know I didn't want to come to be an assistant for somebody and then be like, I want to do what you do. That's not really a good way to keep a job. So I was doing a lot of stage work at the time, too, but I didn't-- I didn't mention it so much. I tried-- but I let myself have a few moments to try to make him laugh. But yeah, I was doing that at the time. And I still-- yeah, obviously, I still do that.

CATHY WURZER: So what about being on the stage excites you and electrifies you? Because it would scare the bejesus out of me if I were to do something like that.

ELI LEONARD: I mean, it scares me, too. I think that must be it I must be a glutton for some sort of humiliation or punishment. I really am. I don't know. I think the immediacy of feedback and the joy that it brings me to make myself laugh, to make others laugh, it really-- I mean, that's really what it is. It's not-- and then now, it's not just the rush of performance, but it is really seeing people connect to the work.

And sometimes getting good feedback, I like that, too. I like when after a show someone will come up to me and say that was good. So that's a reason to do it, too. I'll tell you what, I'm not I'm not in this for the money. There's definitely not a significant chunk in the game for an upstart, a rising comedian.

CATHY WURZER: I have heard that from other comedians, too. Oh, my gosh. By the way, I want to hear more about the show you're performing this weekend, because I want people to come out and see you and all the other folks that are participating. You talk about the business of performing as a Jewish person, is that right?

ELI LEONARD: That's what my show is about, yeah. My show is called Good Showbiz. And I'm-- it's a show that celebrates the history of show business through various forms of performance, dance, comedy, music, dramatic monologue. And it's all through the lens of through the Jewish experience. And it's reliant on the audience to create the show. So throughout the show, I essentially give people in the audience who are willing jobs in show business to help me put the show on.

CATHY WURZER: No. Like--

ELI LEONARD: Yeah. They get paid. They get paid, they get paid real money.

CATHY WURZER: You're kidding?

ELI LEONARD: No, I mean. Maybe I'm spoiling the show a little bit. But no, I'm not kidding at all. Yeah. That's-- So it's not money-- yeah, yeah, I said there's not money involved, but it's because I'm willfully giving it away.

CATHY WURZER: I like the concept, though. I like the concept. I also understand you have a more dramatic monologue, is that right, at the very end?

ELI LEONARD: Yeah. At the end, I do a dramatic monologue from Shakespeare. And it is through sort of-- I play like a game with it. I do a game where I try not to get laughs doing it. Again, maybe-- I'm maybe I'm spoiling the show a little bit. But I think you can still enjoy it and know exactly what's going to happen, because it does take different turns no matter what the audience brings to the show.

So yeah, I do a dramatic monologue at the end. And that's sort of the crust and the end of the show. It's weird to do a dramatic monologue at a comedy show, but I think it's very funny.

CATHY WURZER: Good. And there are other performances during this Jewish humor festival besides yours, of course. Do you know anybody else that you're going to be with that you've seen before and you want to talk about?

ELI LEONARD: I guess I know that there's a queer Jewish show with Antonia Lasser I think is her name. And I'm familiar with her stuff, but I don't know when it is or anything like that. You can find all that on the Minnesota JCC website.

I'm not sure all the other acts, but--

CATHY WURZER: There's a lot of-- but there's a lot of great ones. There really are. Now before you go, what comics excite you right now? Who are watching?

ELI LEONARD: Oh, wow. I mean, I would say--

CATHY WURZER: It's hard.

ELI LEONARD: I don't like-- yeah, I mean, it's tough to draw this into one or two people. In the public right now that excite me are Bo Burnham and Rory Scovel and Kate Berlant, people like that, more on the alt comedy scene.

CATHY WURZER: Thank you. And I'm glad you're back doing a performance. And thanks for being here. We appreciate it.

ELI LEONARD: Yeah. Thank you for having me. Twin Cities Jewish Humor Festival on Thursday night, 7:30.

CATHY WURZER: You got it, at the Minneapolis Jewish Community Center. That's Eli Leonard. By the way, you can find out more, he mentioned this, by going to minnesotajcc.org.