Like most of Hollywood, and the media, and BIG LOX, James Franco is Jewish, at least on his mother’s side. But he never had a bar mitzvah, because he knew, some day, that his stoner buddy and frequent acting partner would throw him one, with all the proceeds going to Hilarity for Charity, which raises awareness for Alzheimer’s disease. “Some day” was Saturday.
Franco became a man at the Hollywood Palladium, with some help from Seth Rogen and his wife Lauren; Rabbi Jeff Goldblum; Zac Efron, who pretended to be Franco’s balls; Haim, covering “Hava Nagila”; auctioneer Bill Hader; and Miley Cyrus, performing with her new band, Miley Cyrustein & The Super Jews. I think the bassist was in my high school’s production of Yentl.
Miley’s outfit set the hearts and loins of Jewish teens everywhere on fire.
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There were Fiddler on the Roof jokes, a tradition as old as Judaism itself.
The evening began with emcee Rogen taking the stage, delivering an avant-garde take on Fiddler on the Roof. Rogen, who met Franco as a teen when the two co-starred on the cult TV series Freaks and Geeks, was dressed as the bearded lead character Tevye, dancing and shouting “Tradition!!” The fellow Member of the Tribe established a playful, good-fun tone that carried through the rest of the evening. (Via the Daily Beast)
It’s left unsaid how many times the DJ played “Cha Cha Slide,” but assume at least four. That song is what connects bar mitzvahs and middle-school dances. Well, that song, and horrible, awkward puberty.
(Via TheDaily Beast)
