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\u201cThe Monty Pickle Show\u201d is the first-ever series aimed at introducing kids to the Jewish experience.<\/p>\n
A kosher dill with a lot of personality, Monty Pickle has a YouTube channel, where there are videos of him performing the new Hanukkah song \u201c8 is Great\u201d with Kosha Dillz, as well as cooking episodes: solo and with celebrity chef Duff Goldman.<\/p>\n
\u201cDuff taught me everything from rolling the matzo balls and popping them in the stew to adding a little bit of seasoning,\u201d Monty Pickle told the Journal. \u201cThat guy knows lots and lots about cooking, and he\u2019s a good pal.\u201d<\/p>\n
The goal of the show is to get kids and their parents laughing out loud together and celebrating being Jewish.<\/p>\n
\u201cMonty\u2019s amazing,\u201d executive producer and co-creator Halle Stanford, told the Journal.<\/p>\n
A primetime and children\u2019s Emmy award-winner, Stanford, who produced content for the Jim Henson Company for more than 30 years, served as an EP on celebrated kid\u2019s programs such as \u201cFraggle Rock: Back to the Rock,\u201d \u201cThe Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance\u201d and \u201cHarriet the Spy.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was really thinking a lot about children \u2013 Jewish children and non-Jewish children \u2013 getting to know the Jewish experience,\u201d she said. \u201cWhat better way to introduce them to it all than through an amazing pickle puppet.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stanford teamed up with former \u201cSesame Street\u201d EP and creative director Benjamin Lehmann and world-renowned puppeteer Victor Yerrid to create Monty. Then went out and recruited colleagues from the kid\u2019s content world, including Emmy-nominated children\u2019s TV showrunner and writer Elise Allen, Emmy Award-winning producer Jill Hotchkiss and Emmy Award-winning producer, Jewish educator and founder of Hebrew Helpers Todd Shotz, to bring him to life.<\/p>\n
Stanford grew up in a household of food lovers, but said her love of the Swedish Chef that really got her into cooking.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Swedish Chef on \u201cThe Muppet Show\u201d made me laugh so hard; he was my first cooking show, [he was] before The Food Network,\u201d she said. \u201cFor me, there\u2019s always been this theme of puppets and food in my career and in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Like the Swedish Chef, Monty has tons of personality.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that kids not only love food, they love seeing how food is made,\u201d Monty said. \u201cI think kids and adults like a little peek behind the curtain.\u201d<\/p>\n
With a sensitivity to pickle ethics, a wink and a laugh, Stanford and Monty shared a recipe for pickle latkes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are two main ingredients: pickles and latkes,\u201d Monty said.<\/p>\n
Well, maybe there is a little more to it. That recipe is below.<\/em><\/p>\n Monty and Stanford are great fans of food, entertainment and education \u2026\u00a0 and one another.<\/p>\n \u201cHalle is one of the most amazing and prolific producers in Hollywood, in family entertainment; her list of credits are ridiculously long,\u201d Monty said. \u201cWhen she asked me if I wanted to make a show with her that is all about Jewish culture and spreading Jew joy, I said, \u2018Sign me up.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of children\u2019s media that does celebrate Jewish characters,\u201d said Stanford, who created the show, \u201cSid, the Science Kid;\u201d the first Jewish preschooler. \u201cAnd you can even think of your favorite episode [in a specific show.]\u201d<\/p>\n However, Monty hosts the first actual series that dives \u201cdeep into the pickle barrel of all kinds of Jewish cultural experiences,\u201d she said. \u201cThere\u2019s this opportunity that The Monty Pickle Show gets to fill, and we feel so privileged to be the ones bringing it to the table.\u201d<\/p>\n Learn more at TheMontyPickleShow.com<\/a>, subscribe to @MontyPickleShow on YouTube<\/a> and follow @MontyPickleShow on Instagram<\/a> and @Monty_Pickle_Show on TikTok<\/a>.<\/p>\n For the full conversation, listen to the podcast<\/a>:<\/p>\n