About Joel

Joel Chasnoff is a stand-up comedian and writer with stage and screen credits in eight countries, and author of the comic memoir The 188th Crybaby Brigade (Simon and Schuster), about his year as a combat soldier in the Israeli Army.

On tour, Joel was the warm-up act for Jon Stewart and Lewis Black of The Daily Show. Joel recently returned from a USO Comedy Tour of Japan and Korea entertaining American Marines. He’s supplied his voice to numerous cartoons and has performed at more than five hundred colleges, clubs, and Jewish conferences across North America, Israel, and Europe.

Joel’s book, The 188th Crybaby Brigade: A Skinny Jewish Kid from Chicago Fights Hezbollah, is a hilarious and poignant account of Joel’s service in the Israeli Armored Corps. A.J. Jacobs, New York Times bestselling author of The Year of Living Biblically, calls Crybaby Brigade “A great tale, a Jewish Jarhead. It didn’t want to join the Israeli Army, but it made me very glad Joel did, so he could bring us back such a funny, thoughtful, and poignant story.”

A portion of all proceeds from Joel’s book and stand-up performances is donated to Joel’s charitable foundation, Project Elijah. Most recently, Project Elijah sent one hundred low-income New York City schoolchildren to the circus.

Joel lives in New York.