In Netflix’s Long Story Short, three Jewish siblings, Avi (Ben Feldman), Shira (Abbi Jacobson), and Yoshi (Max Greenfield), grow up with parents Naomi (Lisa Edelstein) and Elliott (Paul Reiser) and have their lives shaped by traditions, relationships, and unexpected events.
Awards Buzz had the chance to speak with creator Bob-Waksberg and Edelstein in an interview conducted during a cooking class inspired by the Jewish foods featured on the show. Asked whether there was ever any pressure to make something less specifically Jewish and more universal, Bob-Waksberg replied:
“I don’t recall that conversation. I will say, for me, outside of the question of identity, I’m always interested in writing stuff and seeing stuff that’s specific. I watch a show like The Pitt and I don’t know what the hell they’re talking about most of the time, but I enjoy that. I wouldn’t want to do a version that feels like it’s cleaned up or translated because I think that feels less authentic. That’s something that I found making BoJack Horseman too, which was very specific to Hollywood, that I think there was some concern, like, is anyone going to get this show if you don’t know what points on the back end means or if you don’t know the difference between an agent and or a manager or if you don’t know who Margo Martindale is? What we found over and over is that it was not a barrier for anybody and that I think people respond to characters who are vulnerable and real, and if they don’t understand everything about a situation, they don’t need to.”
On whether Naomi is the character she can relate to most, Edelstein shared:
“I have to say that Naomi is so close to my own mother that, yes, definitely. In fact, my mother, my parents came a screening of the show and at the end my mother said, which one were you? I was like, there you go! That’s perfect. She’s not paying attention. I feel like the particular ways in which our parents of that generation failed us, that’s where the humor comes from, right? But we we’re failing our children in brand new ways. We’re never going to be that, but we are something else.”
Watch the video above to hear discussions of how to pronounce fleishig (Yiddish for meat) and what audiences might expect in the upcoming season two of the show.
Season one of Long Story Short is streaming on Netflix.
