EXCLUSIVE: Rick Moranis Interview and ‘My Mother’s Brisket’ Giveaway

Exclusive Giveaway: For a chance to win 1 of 5 copies of Rick Moranis’ album ‘My Mother’s Brisket & Other Love Songs’, either share this article or ‘Like’ Shalom Life on Facebook . Winners will be selected randomly on Friday, July 5^th, 2013.

Perhaps best known for playing a slew of odd characters in cult film hits, Rick Moranis has taken an apparent departure with his latest endeavor.

My Mother’s Brisket and Other Love Songs is the album from the famed Canadian comedian, a collection of smart, cheeky, and catchy tunes infused with Jewish life and jazzy styles. Released earlier this June, the 13 songs are comedic to be sure, but speak to cultural, familial, and religious themes. Of course too, as the title suggests, there are songs about food.

“This stuff was always very much in my head, though more so in the last few years,” said Mr. Moranis during a phone interview from New York City. “It was due to having more conversations with my mother as she’s gotten older, and seeing that more language was creeping into the conversation.”

The language Moranis refers to is right in the titles of some of the songs, as in the opening track, ‘I’m Old Enough to be Your Zaide,’ the Yiddish term for ‘grandfather,’ here used in a song about awkward and wary romance. A similarly lounge-style song that is both seductive and silly follows, as ‘My Wednesday Balabusta’ describes the singer’s affection for his housemaid.

For casual fans of Moranis’ work, a man known especially for his roles in films such as Ghostbusters, Spaceballs, and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, this may seem a curious tangent. Moranis, though, has long incorporated music into his comedy, from days at SCTV to beloved musical The Little Shop of Horrors. He retired from film in the late 90’s, and in 2005 released an album called The Agoraphobic Cowboy, which was nominated for a Grammy. One track on the album, Moranis explained, became the jumping off point for his latest release.

“There was one song called ‘Mean Old Man,’ about fathers in steam baths. My father never belonged to a steam bath of any sort, and I never know what went on in there,” said Moranis. An encounter with an older Russian man tending to the eucalyptus leaves in a steam room later inspired the song, and that especially Jewish track seemed to spur others.

Details on our exclusive Rick Moranis giveaway on page2!