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June 20: Allison Raskin and the Youtube Generation

lawrencebush
June 19, 2015

0Allison Raskin, who with her friend Gaby Dunn produces “Just Between Us,” a weekly YouTube video series featuring the two of them responding to e-mailed questions, was born in New York on this date in 1989. Raskin is a writer and improv comedian in Los Angeles. She plays with Jewish themes in some of her videos, most notably in “1-800-4-Jew-Now,” in which she and “Rebecca” offer to stay in touch with young Jewish men’s parents while the guys are off “banging hot chicks” who aren’t Jewish. “Unlike traditional hookers and escorts,” says her partner, while cleaning a toilet, “we’ve attended some of the finest Jewish day schools in the country.” Raskin’s budding career reveals much about young people’s capacity to use social media to promote themselves without major capitalization, without higher-ups, and based mostly on a cozy generational intimacy. To see “1-800-4-Jew-Now,” look below.

“All I wanted growing up was to fit in. I wanted to seem normal and popular. I wanted to be like everyone else. Now that I’m adult, I feel compelled to shout: ‘I’m different! I’m irreplaceable! I have a specific point of view!’ The scary part is that this is not true.” —Allison Raskin