Sci Fi Sends Rabbi to Space

By COLlive reporter

Who is Dovid Taub? The guy who made The Itche Kadoozie Show? Or the one who created Stick Figure Vignettes? Or was it Mitzvah Island?

The answer is, “yes, all of the above.” And now with his new series Space Rabbi launching, COLlive caught up with him to ask him a few questions about his past, present and future projects.

* You just launched a new series, so forgive me for asking about the past but will you ever return to Itche Kadoozie? When Mitzvah Island came out a year ago you promised that Itche would be back.

Itche is not gone! Itche will be back, along with Jono and G-Fish and all the cast. But there is this huge gaping void called Jewish entertainment and I just keep looking at all the different stuff that hasn’t been done and I feel this need to go through all the genres and one-by-one create every kind of video that is lacking. If there’s something that could exist but doesn’t exist, then I’m going to want to try to make it exist.

* So what’s with Space Rabbi? Are you doing Science Fiction now or is this supposed to be comedy? Or both?

It’s both. Obviously it’s supposed to be funny. Everything I have done was supposed to be funny. Except for Mitzvah Island. I refrained from slipping in any jokes there.

* Is Space Rabbi for kids or adults?

Look, Itche Kadoozie wasn’t even really for kids. Hundreds of adults have come up to me over the years and “confessed” that they secretly watch Itche Kadoozie. I don’t get what they big confession is though. With IKS it’s pretty obvious that no kid is going to get most of the actual humor in the show. Of course I made it so that kids could also learn from it, but you have to be an adult, and fairly intelligent, to truly appreciate everything that’s put in there.

So to answer your question about Space Rabbi, you can show it to your kids but they’re not going to “get it” the same way that you will.

* What’s the premise of Space Rabbi?

In 1979, Rabbi Berel Blastoffsky, unable to find a position as a pulpit rabbi on earth, signed up for a mission to start a new Jewish community on a distant planet. It’s in the intro to each episode. Basically it’s my friend DovBer talking to a bunch of robots I built.

* Who is DovBer?

DovBer Naiditch plays the rabbi in this series and he is also my co-writer on the shows’ scripts. He lives here in Squirrel Hill and he is an amazingly talented author. He writes short stories. He is going to be the next big Jewish author to hit the American literary scene. Baruch Hashem, I was able to get him to dress up in an orange flight suit before he becomes the next Chaim Potok.

* How many episodes of Space Rabbi will there be?

Right now, there is scheduled to be six. I may go on with it after that, or I may get into something else. Like I said, I am constantly looking to fill the voids there are in quality Jewish entertainment. I can’t just do one thing. There is so much that needs to be done.

EPISODE 1:

EPISODE 2: