The Boulder JCC is ringing in the holiday season with laughs and latkes.
On Dec. 14, it will host its first-ever Haha-Hanukkah: A Festival of Laughs, a stand-up comedy night that swaps traditional candlelight for a lineup of nationally touring comics, wine, jelly doughnuts and jokes about Jewish mothers, menorahs and the awkward beauty of December in America.
It’s Boulder’s newest entry into the holiday season and the first of many Hanukkah events happening around the county this month, from menorah lightings on Pearl Street to dreidels and drafts at a local brewery. The night will feature performances by Janae Burris, Dr. Sam Shay, and co-headliners Adam Cayton-Holland and Ophira Eisenberg, a mix of local favorites and nationally touring comics brought together for the occasion.
But beneath the sweet sufganiyot and well-rehearsed punchlines, Ha-ha-Hanukkah was built around some-thing very intentional. “A need to come together and laugh
instead of being divided inspired the show,” said co-producer Zoe Rogers. “I was hearing rampant antisemitism at shows and mics, and after the attack on Pearl Street, it felt very much like this event was needed.” So she and fellow comedian Kari Stern got to work curating a lineup that felt authentic, celebratory and reflective of their community. The result is a one-night-only gathering of comics who bring sharp perspectives and Jewish humor to an ideally packed house with people ready to laugh through the first candle.
But Haha-Hanukkah isn’t merely a night of stand-up. The evening begins with a pre-show social from 6 to 7 p.m., featuring wine, latkes and jelly-filled donuts, offering audiences a pre-show space to mingle, connect and snack before the lights go down and the jokes begin. “The JCC is really helping to create a whole atmosphere with food, drinks and the social time before the show, so the night already feels more like a celebration than a standard comedy event,” Stern said. “Laughter is a great way to connect people, and giving everyone the space to mingle and meet each other before the show adds something you don’t usually get at a comedy club.”
Haha-Hanukkah started, like many good things, as a side conversation between two comics. Rogers and Stern had been tossing around the idea for a while of a show that brought Jewish comedians together for something festive, fun and more exuberant than your typical candle lighting. When the Boulder JCC said yes, they took the daydream and made it real. Their goal was to build a night that actually reflected their community, not just in theme but in tone. They looked for a lineup of Jewish comics with different styles, backgrounds and stories, funny people with shared cultural shorthand and the ability to turn a menorah joke into something genuinely good.
For Stern, creating the show became, in part, a way to reengage with what she described as a familiar sense of belonging. “This one hits close to home for me,” Stern said. “I grew up sur-
rounded by Jewish traditions, and once I moved to Colorado, away from my large extended family, a lot of those rituals kind of slipped away.” She added: “Producing this show
feels like a way to reconnect with something that has always mattered to me and hopefully help others do the same, even if it never slowed for them.”
Both Stern and Rogers agreed that giving people a place to gather is no small thing right now, especially after a stretch of heaviness in the community. “As someone deeply connected to the comedy scene here, I think this event will be a warm show of culture and connection around the holidays,” said Rogers. “The JCC has a pre-show social with latkes and wine to welcome everyone. The themes of Hanukkah are resilience, light and joy. We could all use more of that.”
Canadian-American comedian Eisenberg, the night’s headliner, said she loves performing holiday shows, especially in early December. “Usually everyone’s in a good mood,” she said. “You’d think everyone going to a show would be in a good mood, but no, not always. But I think, you know, the holidays, especially in the early part of December, people are filled with hope and warmth, and they’re looking forward to a break and a change, and they are coming out to celebrate.”
What makes shows like this one different, she said, is the kind of audience they draw — not just families or kids, but full-on communities. “It’s kind of fun to do something in early December, because you’re celebrating not yet with the little inner circle, perhaps, or even the family,” she said. “You’re celebrating with friends and colleagues and community members. And I think these are usually the most joyous and fun shows I have done.” Currently living in New York, this will be Eisenberg’s second time performing in Boulder; the first was at Chautauqua, where she recalls audience members hiking to the venue. Eisenberg said she’s looking forward to the room, the setting and the people.
“I’m looking forward to meeting some cool Colorado Jews,” Eisenberg said. “Maybe I’ll hike to the show this time.” She said her set will include holiday-specific material, much of it drawn from her own experience growing up Jewish during the season. “If you grow up in a community or go to school in a place where you’re one of the few people celebrating Hanukkah, it can feel very different,” she said. “And I have some material and stories specific to that that I’m looking forward to.” She emphasized that the material has been deftly written, meticulously worked out and primed just for this audience.
“I’m not coming to this environment for these fine people who have paid money to come enjoy a show on a Sunday night with the first draft, my friends,” she said. “I am coming with a
well-worked-out set that is specific to what is going to work well in that room.” Eisenberg, who hosted NPR’s radio trivia game show “Ask Me Another” for nearly a decade, said she
doesn’t bring trivia games into her stand-up set, but old fans might notice a few familiar muscles at work.
“Sometimes when I do stand-up shows, people go, ‘Oh, I listened to you on ‘Ask Me Another’ for years, I had no idea you did stand-up,’ which is kind of funny to me,” she said. “It’s all the
same muscle groups, maybe flexing different ones at different times. But this is a very different scenario. It’s just going to be me on stage and the audience.” Still, she admitted the dynamic might feel a little familiar.
“I’m very conversational, so the audience might feel like they are contestants,” she said, “but in this case, everyone’s going to win.” Co-headlining the eve- ning is Denver’s Adam Cay-
ton-Holland, a nationally touring comic and co-creator of the TruTV television series “Those Who Can’t,” who remains a mainstay of Denver’s comedy scene and a familiar name to local audiences. Hosting the show is Denver-based Janae Burris, whose commanding stage presence and precise delivery have made her a stand-out at Film on the Rocks, High Plains Comedy Festival, Denver’s Comedy Works and a headliner of last year’s Boulder Comedy Fest. Her 2024 special “MomBod” leans into single motherhood, identity and the logistics of keeping
it together.
Also on the lineup is Dr. Sam Shay, a “NeuroSpicy” comic whose one-man show at Denver Fringe earned more than 40 five-star reviews. His comedy is built on tightly structured anecdotes and observational digressions drawn from his neurodivergent experience. Together, the comics round out an evening designed to offer a sense of connection at a moment when many in the Jewish community say it feels needed. As Stern puts it, “I hope people walk out feeling lighter, more connected, and proud of who they are, like they got to start Hanukkah on a note of joy and belonging.”
However people choose to mark the holiday this year, whether it involves skating, singing, or sitting in a room full of strangers laughing at a well-crafted joke, they’ll find no shortage of places to do it. Haha-Hanukkah is 6-8:30 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 14 at the Boulder Jewish Community Center.