Latkes Shmatkes: Enjoy Some Hanukkah Humor

Humorist and songwriter Lauren Mayer looks at the funny side of the season, including family traditions, the joys of holiday cooking, songs and stories about how non-Jewish friends misunderstand Hanukkah, and at times, the feeling of being overshadowed by that other December holiday. Lauren’s original songs include “Good Old Down Home Country Chanukah,” “Chanukah Cha Cha,” and the title song, an ode to the joys and messes, “Latkes Shmatkes”.

Lauren Mayer is a prolific songwriter, performer, political humorist and teaching artist whose work is both informative and entertaining. Her weekly topical comedy song videos have attracted millions of views, (and almost as many trolls), and her work can be heard regularly on Sirius XM’s Comedy Channel.

Lauren is the recipient of five San Francisco Cabaret Gold Awards and has performed all around the Bay Area, including Feinstein’s at the Nikko, The Marsh, Society Cabaret and the San Leandro Performing Arts Center, as well as releasing over 20 albums of original comedy songs and educational music.

Lauren has also created and performed custom-written musical comedy shows for corporate clients ranging from Hewlett-Packard and Bank of America to the California Funeral Directors Association and she has performed at fundraisers for groups such as March of Dimes and the Peninsula JCC, and she has created and facilitated theater-based training programs for Stanford, Electronic Arts, and others.

Lauren graduated summa cum laude from Yale University, where she studied songwriting with Tony-award-winner Maury Yeston, and she is on the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. In addition to writing several published children’s musicals, she is the co-writer of “Unsung: The Marie Dressler Musical,” which had recent productions at Potrero Stage and the SF Conservatory. In her spare time, she teaches tap dancing at ODC and occasionally sleeps.