Who Knows One? Top Ten Moments of 2021
This year was…better than 2020? Is that even saying much? It had some highs and some lows, but one thing we can say for sure is that it happened, and to celebrate its passing, we present our favorite moments from Who Knows One? 2021 edition (click here to see the 2020 List):
10. I feel the need, the need for speed
A shout out to all of our fastest competitors in 2021:
- Tema Smith, who set the (old) Wednesday night format record by finding her Chosen One in 3:19
- Russin Royal, who found his tie-break round Chosen One in 0:42.90
- Kevin Bogart, who figured out his Hey, Jew Know This Person celeb in 0.0000005 seconds
9. A Chanukah buzzer-beater
Joel Swedlove and Josh Steinharter wrapped themselves in glory during their run as teammates to an Elijah’s Cup title, and took down the annual Chanukah show as well. They were excellent contestants, but their path didn’t come without its share of bumps in the road. Perhaps most memorably they juuuuuuuust eked out a win during the Festival of Lights, beating the 15-minute buzzer by 1.8 seconds to stay alive.
Just look at Joel’s reaction to the win:
Never a dull moment with this crew.
Bonus: Can’t mention Joel without also giving him props for the amazing “One Shining Moment” montage he made for Elijah’s Cup, put together in time for the end of the championship broadcast, just like the one CBS makes for March Madness.
8. B’Sheret Chosen Ones
I love to joke how everything we do on Who Knows One? is planned to the last, tiniest detail. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
So OF COURSE I realized that two of the Chosen Ones we drew for a show for de Toledo High School in Los Angeles were actually engaged to be married, and OF COURSE we specifically chose them for a show set on Valentine’s Day, and in NO WAY was I panicking 30 minutes before showtime because that was when I found out they were a couple.
It played out marvelously (as we planned, naturally), when Seth Gordon-Lipkin was the Chosen One in Round 1, then Marisa Briefman was the Chosen One in Round 2, and completely different paths were taken to get to them, so it was a huge surprise for the audience (start around the 1:05:22 mark) when we panned the phone around to reveal the connection.
It was really sweet — just like we planned :)
7. Meeting Tobiah for the first time
There are many things that make me happy about Who Knows One?, but perhaps my favorite thing (aside from moms) is when someone gets tossed into the mix in the middle of a game and has no idea what is going on. Perhaps the most fruitful example of that from this past year was the introduction of one Tobiah Markovitz, who quickly became a fan favorite with his old soul ways and earnest appreciation of the entire experience.
Tobiah got brought onto the show during a tiebreak round, and watching him try to piece together what exactly was going on was a wonderful journey:
He made such an impression we brought him back the very next week to be a contestant, and he’s made several appearances since, capturing the audience’s hearts every single time along the way.
6. Rabbi James Rudin comes through
We’ve seen all sorts of people get us to the Chosen One, both young and old. Everyone has a part to play. But it is particularly enjoyable when someone unexpected makes an appearance and closes the deal, and such was the case when Rabbi James Rudin was brought in by his daughter Rabbi Eve Rudin to help find Susan Heller during Elijah’s Cup. To our knowledge, Rabbi Rudin (the elder) is the oldest person we’ve had contribute to finding a CO, checking in at a youthful and vigorous 87 years old:
5. Micol’s “Put Some Respect On My Name” moment
If you’ve watched Who Knows One? for an extended period of time, you know Micol Zimmerman Burkeman is a force to be reckoned with. It’s not just that she is well-connected to many different places and communities, it’s that she is also (at least in the author’s opinion) insanely competitive. Which is, frankly, a great combination to have on your team if you are interested in winning.
Which is why it was objectively one of the funniest things we saw all year when during a show for the Institute of Southern Jewish Life, contestants Abby Klionsky and Rachel Katz had a decision to make, and they made it very…contemplatively.
I know the rule of comedy that states the more you dissect it the less funny it is, but I’m going to flaunt that rule to point out several things that heighten the hilarity of the situation:
- Rachel not only knows Micol, she works directly with her. This is not a shot-in-the-dark scenario. But being the good teammate she is, she didn’t want to force any moves on Abby, and wanted to let her come to the decision in her own time. Totally respectable — though terrible game strategy in a RACE.
- Abby might want to consider a career as a jury doctor, because her vetting of Micol is in-depth. She really wanted to nail this decision.
- We know something is amiss right off the bat when Abby says, “I don’t know Nicole”. Now I’m not going to throw stones at anyone for mispronouncing a name, but again, knowing the recipient just made it all the more entertaining.
- If I had to describe to a sketch artist the face Micol would make when she joined, I like to think I’d have been dead-on accurate. It was this one:
5. Perhaps the best part: they had several lifelines at their disposal! They risked essentially nothing by bringing her on, and yet it still took several agonizing (for Micol) minutes before they elected to do so.
Naturally, Micol showed off why she’s a superconnector-in-waiting by getting them to the Chosen One within minutes. The whole thing couldn’t have played out more perfectly.
4. Barry @$#%^%@# Magen
Technology is hard, and for everyone who chortles at the people who struggle to use zoom, or a computer, or anything else, just know that your time will come.
That said, one of the most enjoyable moments on the show this past year came when Barry Magen joined us to help find a Chosen One in Philadelphia during a show for Hebrew University Alumni.
Often on the show, someone will get called in and they will announce that yes, in fact, they do know the Chosen One. I will then tell the other team, “listen, this thing isn’t over yet, keep going, you never know what could happen.” This is a great example of why I say that.
Barry knew the person we were looking for, but bless his heart, he just could not figure out how to get the message from one place to another, and as they say, hilarity, often profanely, ensued.
To Barry’s credit, he did eventually complete the transaction and win the game for his team. Go Barry!
3. Jerry and Elka freestyle
I often describe Who Knows One? as an improv show, and so it was a complete delight when unofficial house bandleader Jerry Korman and Rabbi Elka Abrahamson combined to create some musical jingles for us during their game against each other back in March (since replicated on the Chanukah show as well). A real sugar and spice duo, those two — and welcome presences on the show at any time!
2. The Full Antar
I have to admit right off the bat, I never saw this episode. It took place during the Elijah’s Cup opening stages and I was hosting other opening round action at the time. But I was in a lengthy text exchange throughout with hosts Michael Danziger and Joey Lazarus, so I was at least aware that it was happening.
What was happening was that the search for Chosen One Eddy Antar was proving quite fruitless, and ended up taking a record two hours. We even had to bend the rules a tad to allow superconnector Sara Beth Berman into the action so it could mercifully come to an end (the action gets underway around the 17-minute mark).
The sad thing is in an alternate universe it might have only lasted a few minutes, but the person that everyone wanted to bring in to get to Eddy was on their honeymoon and therefore unavailable. We enjoyed meeting Eddy though and even brought him back to be a contestant.
The show had a lasting impact on us — ever since we’ve measured the length of a round in Antars.
1. “Get on this fakakta show, is that right?”
It’s very flattering the nice things people tell us about the show and the community we’ve built, but it’s also important to stay grounded, and nothing keeps us humble like when someone joins the show and quite rightly assesses the abject silliness of what we are up to.
Arna Poupko Fisher was right on target when she got brought in by her daughters Hindy and Adina to help find Marvin Epstein on a Wednesday show on January 20, 2021 (which also happened to be Inauguration Day). Her incredulity at the show’s entire premise was immaculate, and we enjoyed the Poupko family interactions so much we even let them keep playing well after their time expired because it was so much damn fun.
Was that the right decision? Decide for yourself:
In the moment I wondered if, just three weeks into the year, we’d already found our top moment for 2021, and I gotta say, for me it held up.
