Ernie Schwartz is an out-of-work actor who’s reduced to applying for a job as a gorilla impersonator. When he gets it, he’s shocked to discover that he’ll be working at the Central Park Zoo, where budgets cuts have made it impossible to replace the old gorilla who passed away.
Ernie puts on the costume, gets in the enclosure, goes through the act, and starts to realize that the kids love it. And he gets into it because he’s an entertainer, after all. He’s beating his chest, eating the bananas, swinging on vines, and he gets so into it that when he’s swinging on one of those vines, he ends up going out of the gorilla enclosure and lands right in the lion’s den.
The king of beasts comes over and starts growling right in Ernie’s face. Terrified, Ernie can’t think of anything to say except the prayer that a Jew recites right before he dies: “Shma Israel, Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem echad.” And he’s shocked when the lion pauses his growl and responds, “Baruch shem kavod malchuto l’olam vaed.”
Then over from the bear enclosure someone hisses, “Will you guys shut up? You’re going to get us all fired!”
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