Jimmy Fallon performing for a sold out crowd at the JUF’s Young Leadership Division’s Big Event in Chicago Saturday night. (Robert Kusel)
More than 2,600 young Chicago Jews got an exciting early Chanukah gift over the weekend, as they were visited by “Late Night” host Jimmy Fallon as part of Chicago’s Jewish United Fund’s 2012 annual campaign kick-off.
Fallon, an Irish-Catholic New Yorker, began with his famous “thank you” (he even has a thank you book) and said: “I want to say thank you to all the Jewish moms I met backstage. I got offered 10-15 dishes of food — I’m not kidding — in the span of five minutes. It was so awesome and cute.”
And of course, like many others before him, Fallon suggested his very own solution to the Middle East conflict: a kumbaya song called “Carwash for Peace.”
“Well, I’m so sick of all the news on TV,” his song began. “All this fighting got me going crazy … let’s have a carwash for peace. There’s trouble in the Middle East. Put down those guns and pick up a sponge — carwash for peace.” I’m sure the Israelis and Palestinians will be thrilled.
Before Fallon, Jewish comedian/writer Wayne Federman took the stage for a special stand-up appearance. Federman, who also writes for Fallon from time to time, told the crowd: “I grew up in Florida, and then moved to New York City, where I worked, and then I’m going to retire to Minsk — I’m doing the whole thing backwards.”
Thanks to Cindy Sher for the information.
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