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NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST

NEW JEWISH SNL CAST MEMBER; PLAYOFF HEBREWS; ‘JEWISH’ GHOST

The season premiere of Saturday Night Live was Oct. 2. However, the three new SNL cast members were not announced until just a few days before the premiere show. So, as usual, I am doing a bit of catch-up in this column. Fortunately, it was surprisingly easy to quickly confirm that one of three, Sarah Sherman, is Jewish.

Sherman, who is about

Sarah Sherman

IMDB

27, grew up on Long Island. She went to Northwestern University in Chicago and graduated in December 2015. Shortly thereafter, she began hosting a monthly variety show in Chicago put on by an ensemble company called Helltrap Nightmare. Helltrap Nightmare is a group of professional “edgy weirdo” comics who dress in outrageous costumes.

Sherman was a core member of this ensemble and appeared in every show Helltrap put on from 2016-2019. She was voted Chicago’s best comic (2016) in a “big-time” reader poll. In 2018, the Helltrap ensemble moved to Los Angeles.

Sherman’s high school nickname was “Squirm” because, she said, she was “really skinny and gross and squirmy.” She embraced the nickname, and Sarah Squirm was Sherman’s Helltrap Nightmare stage name. She told Helltrap audiences to “embrace their inner squirm.”

In a 2019 profile/interview in Vice Magazine, the author began the piece by noting that “Helltrap Nightmare is billed as an ensemble. But it really is the Sarah Squirm Show.”

Sherman mixed in so many Jewish references in her Vice interview answers that I can’t repeat them all here. Here’s most of the text of one memorable “Jewish” exchange. The interviewer (a Catholic) and Sherman ventured into Jewish versus Catholic guilt.

Sherman said: “I wasn’t raised to be told I was bad, or that there were sins inside me I needed to exorcise. I think Jews post-Holocaust are raised like, ‘We are the chosen people.’ I’ve always been taught that I’m gifted and a genius.”

The interviewer replied: “Catholic guilt is like, ‘You’re never going to be truly pure’.”

Sherman responded: “Jewish guilt is more like my dad … He’s always calling me on the High Holidays: ‘Did you go to shul?” I’m like, ‘No.’ And he always says, ‘Just remember, 6 million in the oven, that’s all I’m gonna say.’ That’s Jewish guilt.”

POST-SEASON BASEBALL

The major league baseball playoffs began Oct. 5. As I write this, 12 teams have clinched or are still in the running for a playoff spot. Milwaukee and Tampa Bay have already won their division title and will not have to appear in a one-game wild card playoff. It is likely that Houston will win its division and, also, avoid the wild card round. Atlanta, too, has a good chance of winning its division. San Francisco has already clinched a playoff spot and is the favorite to win its division. It’s possible that Toronto will play well, and get lucky, and snare a wild card spot. I mention Houston, Atlanta, San Francisco, and Toronto because they all have an on-field Jewish connection. Houston’s star third baseman is Alex Bregman, 27. He missed about half the games this season with a muscle injury but returned to the lineup in September and has been hitting pretty well. Meanwhile, Atlanta starting pitcher Max Fried, 27, has had an odd season. He was rocked in early appearances but turned things around in the second half. He is now 13-7, with a low ERA.

San Francisco, not seen as a contender last March, is now viewed by many as the best team in baseball. Virtually everyone gives great credit to Gabe Kapler, 46, a former major leaguer who took over as the Giants’ manager last year. His training regimen and smart “platooning” helped dramatically raise the Giants’ hitting stats. Finally, there’s Toronto, whose roster includes first baseman/designated hitter Rowdy Tellez, 26. If Toronto makes the playoffs, this power hitter may be a big asset.

NEW COMEDY

Ghosts is a CBS comedy series that premieres on Oct. 7 (9 p.m.). The premise is that a nice young married couple inherit a huge country estate and decide to turn it into a bed-and-breakfast. The estate house is inhabited by a close-knit group of “souls” who once lived in the house. One ghost lived in the 1700s, while others died recently. The house’s new female co-owner is a descendant of one of the ghosts, and she is the first living person to be able to see and talk to the ghosts. Asher Grodman, 34, plays Trevor, one of the ghosts. This is the first big TV role for this very handsome fellow. His father is a prominent New Jersey physician.

Gabe Kapler

YOUTUBE SCREENSHOT