New Jersey Stage 2016: Issue 1 | Page 29

ent path than Rosenfeld’s. “I think the main difference is that he was saying Russia is horrible, while I say Russia is horrible and so is America,” explained Rosenfeld who says his own comedic influences growing up were Chris Titus, Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, and George Carlin. Yakov was not someone he followed as a kid, but his name has often come up ever since he began performing stand-up. The album titleThe Russian Optimist comes from Rosenfeld finding the upside in all sorts of horrible situations like, “It’s scary how more terrorists are homegrown in America, but on the bright side, we’re back in the manufacturing game.” He had just started speaking Russian when they moved to America. He was about four years old at the time and his father said he simply stopped speaking for about six months. Ben Rosenfeld on “Being Forced Into Being A Nerd” NewJerseyStage.com 2016 - ISSUE 1 Table of Contents 29