When Baltimore Hebrew Congregation held its first-ever LOL Comedy Night last year, the event proved to be a rousing success. The performance by comedian and actor Mordechi “Modi” Rosenfeld raised over $50,000 for the synagogue’s educational programs, and people still talk about it a full year later. With how successful the first comedy show was, the event’s organizers knew they had a tough act to follow for 2024.

This year, the congregation brought triple the laughs with three different comedians: headliners Gary Vider and Talia Reese, as well as Jeremy Schaftel, who served as LOL Comedy Night’s master of ceremonies on Thursday, May 9.

The event initially had humble beginnings. While BHC has had an annual tradition of holding a large fundraiser for a long time, 2023 was the first time staff thought to host a comedy show.

“During COVID, one of the people on staff — [Director of Engagement Jillian Manko] — was scrolling through TikTok and kept cracking up at videos by this one guy, Modi. Everyone thought he was so funny, so we reached out to him for last year’s LOL Comedy Night,” explained Amanda Shapiro, the event’s chair. “This year, we looked at at least 10 different Jewish comedians for our lineup. We wanted to have three completely different styles of comedy.”

The three this year all have different approaches to telling jokes. Modern Orthodox comedian Talia Reese often builds her routine around stories from her own life, including growing up in the Orthodox community and becoming a mother. Much of her comedy is inspired by Joan Rivers, whom she cites as her childhood hero. Shapiro describes her as “sarcastic, upbeat and really funny.”

“I’ve heard for years about how great Baltimore’s Jewish community is, and how diverse it is,” Reese said in an interview with the JT. “I was really excited to have an opportunity to come, because for me, it’s not just about performing for the community, but I really enjoy meeting everybody and hearing their stories and how they came to be where they are.”

An “America’s Got Talent” alum, Gary Vider has a dry and deadpan approach to comedy and tackles a wide variety of subjects. He’s also previously appeared on “Conan” and “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”

Finally, Jeremy Schaftel is actually a former BHC member — his family belonged to the synagogue while he was growing up in Baltimore. Since then, he’s gone on to direct several award-winning short films and currently writes and produces for comedian and actor Robert Smigel.

“One of our hopes was that bringing in three different comedians with three different styles [would] appeal to a larger audience who might prefer different types of comedy,” said event co-chair Jennifer Cameron.

Profits from LOL Comedy Night help fund JLAB, BHC’s Hebrew school; NextGen: The Millie and Alvin Blum Teen Program, which is for students who have passed b’nai mitzvah age; and the E.B. Hirsh Early Childhood Center. Shapiro noted that it’s important for JLAB to continue offering high-quality b’nai mitzvah preparation.

“You’ll find a lot of kids these days are going down the route of getting tutors for their bar mitzvah and skipping the whole Hebrew school platform,” she said. “Sending my kid to JLAB every week, though, has been super beneficial to his growth as a Jewish person.”

Cameron and Shapiro hope to keep LOL Comedy Night as a staple of BHC’s annual programming, and even have a shortlist of Jewish comedians that they would like to have perform at future shows. Michael Rapaport was nearly selected for this year’s LOL Comedy Night, and while he was passed over, they would love to have him perform at the synagogue in the future. Another one of their dream comedians is Sarah Silverman. But they’re open to suggestions from the community about Jewish comedians they would like to see perform.

While some members of the Jewish community may not feel like laughing with everything that Jewish people in the world are facing, the event chairs say that having a place to laugh is more important than ever.

“We’re all emotionally drained as a community,” Cameron said. “This is a time for all of us to come together for a few hours and celebrate our culture, community and religion, and to just laugh for the night. I think it’s healthy for all of us, and I look at it as therapy. It’s so needed right now.”

Reese agrees, saying that she’s never been as busy as she has been during the past few months.

“After October, I didn’t think anything was really going to be funny again,” she said. “After a few weeks, though, things started picking up. People needed to laugh again. … At the end of certain shows, I always say, ‘We deserve to laugh tonight, and then you can go back to being miserable. But tonight, we’re going to laugh.’”