How does a ‘nice Jewish boy’ from Jersey win a porn award?
By YVETTE J. DEANEUpdated: FEBRUARY 3, 2019 22:54Eitan Levine, a rising Jewish comedian. (photo credit: JENNI WALKOWIAK)
Eitan Levine is the man behind Hamiltoe. No, not, Hamilton, but the porn parody loosely themed around the smash Broadway hit.I was introduced to the New York-based comedian/journalist when I was an avid listener to his late-night college radio show from his alma mater, Yeshiva University. His eclectic broadcast mixed talk-show segments and a recurring appearance of “Vinterskugge,” a five-minute song by the Norwegian black metal band Isengard.Levine has come a long way and now has more than 2,500 followers on Twitter. Sporting his customary baseball cap and T-shirt, he admits he is not your average winner for an adult-film equivalent of the Oscars.With no background in porn (other than as a viewer), the 29-year-old won the AVN (Adult Video News) Award for “Best Clever Title,” on January 29.Levine’s parody was nominated for four separate awards by the adult video industry, including best sound track, best featurette and best marketing campaign for an individual project.“I think everyone watches porn, to be completely honest,” Levine said. “It’s a bigger red flag now if you don’t watch porn. If you don’t have a computer full of porn, you must have a freezer full of human feet.”Levine – who was raised as a Modern Orthodox Jew in Springfield, New Jersey – said he didn’t feel conflicted about writing a script for a pornographic film, but rather saw it as “a natural extension” of his comedy. He wasn’t in the porn industry, merely taking advantage of a “silly opportunity.”Hamiltoe was an accident for Levine. He had been working at EliteDaily.com, being filmed working odd jobs, spending a few days in the circus, as a paparazzi and finally, pitching porn titles to WoodRocket.com, a porn site that specializes in comedies such as Strokemon and Game of Bones.Levine called his experience as a paparazzi “terrifying.” Something about stalking Gigi Hadid at Panera Bread didn’t sit right for him. Yet, WoodRocket loved the comedian’s pitch. After hearing about Alexander Hamiltoe, the man who invented the threesome in 1769, WoodRocket encouraged him to write a script.The movie trailer has been viewed 102,000 times on YouTube.Clever things come naturally to the now Upper Westsider. When asked if his fans should be expecting an Israeli-Palestinian conflict porn parody, he said: “Yeah, for sure. Let me come up with a something, intifada, outafada, skintafada.”While Levine makes light of politics, he is rather vocal on Facebook and Twitter. In 2016, after the British tabloid Daily Mail ran a headline that said “Palestinian girl, 13, who was shot dead as she tried to stab an Israeli guard, is laid to rest in emotional scenes in the West Bank,” he tweeted, “Daily Mail must have pulled a back muscle trying to spin this title against Israel.”During an interview with The Jerusalem Post, Levine said, “My whole take on comedy is, you can make fun of anything you want, but you have to acknowledge that people have the right to disagree.”Levine started his comedy career by battling cancer at the age of 10. He had a lot of downtime and that’s when he started writing a journal full of jokes. At 15, he performed at the Stress Factory, a comedy club in New Brunswick, New Jersey. “It was unlike anything I’d ever done,” Levine told The Jewish Standard.Since then, he has continued to perform, appearing at PIT (The Peoples Improv Theater), Magnet Theater and Stand Up NY in New York. After a short stint at the Orthodox Union and majoring in marketing, he moved on to journalism, writing for the websites Elite Daily, Cheddar, and Mashable.“I guess that’s the big break: getting enough money from comedy to not feel guilty using GrubHub,” Levine said when asked if he “made it.”Hopefully this makes his parents proud. When asked how they felt about his comedy career, he said they were overall very supportive. Hamiltoe, however, has “been a tougher pill to swallow.” While filming a documentary about writing his porn parody, Levine videotaped his mother’s initial reaction to his creation. She told him, “I would have rather you have joined ISIS than do this.”While slowly working to get his parents on board, Levine speculated whether he would make it to Yeshiva University’s notable alumni page on Wikipedia. “I think at this point, they couldn’t not tag me,” Levine joked.Hamiltoe might have been a “silly” opportunity, but we expect to see this up and coming comedian’s name on YU’s Wikipedia page in no time.“It’s just the best. I’ve been calling myself Skin Manuel Miranda,” Levine said.While Hamilton has no official ties to Hamiltoe, Levine won the first lottery ticket to the premiere at the Public Theater.Follow Eitan Levine's Twitter @eitanthegoalie, Facebook @AtEitanLevine and of course his website
