For many of us procrastinators, we spend way too much time on YouTube. Between ASMR videos, clips from movies, and lip sync battles, there’s a lot to watch. Some of my favorites are videos from the Try Guys.
The Try Guys, who were originally part of Buzzfeed before they became their own company, consist of Zach Kornfeld, Ned Fulmer, Eugene Lee Yang, and Keith Habersberger. They have over five million subscribers on their current YouTube channel, and have done everything from performing in drag to swimming with sharks. Zach Kornfeld, 28, who is also known as Korndiddy, is very Jewish. Originally from (the very Jewish suburb of) Scarsdale, New York, he attended Emerson College and was a production assistant on Step Up 3D before he started at Buzzfeed. I love when Zach’s Jewishness comes through in his videos, so I rounded up his top five most Jewish moments in the Try Guys.
1. A Hanukkah gift started his love of filmmaking
In a video titled “Which Try Guy Knows Zach The Best?” Eugene, Ned, and Keith competed to see, well, who knows Zach the best (spoiler: it was Eugene). One of the questions Zach asked was, “How and why did I start making movies?” Turns out Zach got a LEGO movie maker for Hanukkah one year, and the rest is history. (I guess that also means it’s my parents’ fault that I want to be a writer because they bought me a diary more than once for Hanukkah.)
2. He’s a self-proclaimed hairy Jewish princess
In one of their earlier videos, the Try Guys tried on wedding dresses. In this video, one of Zach’s nickname was born when he exclaimed that he is a “hairy Jewish princess.” It’s nice to see Zach embrace his “hairy Jewish” self, as many fellow Jews are embracing their Jewish hair from head to toe.
3. He was overjoyed when he was given a sexy Hanukkah costume to try on
This past holiday season, the Try Guys did a video where they tried on “naughty Christmas costumes.” Zach does Christmas-related content every now and then, he makes sure to let the audience know that he’s a proud Jew who celebrates Hanukkah at least once in every video. This time, to his surprise, Zach was gifted a sexy dreidel costume, which he joyfully wore (and which we all need, immediately).
4. Why he chose his Hebrew name
Later on in the “Which Try Guy Knows Zach the Best” video, Zach asked the other Try Guys to guess his Hebrew name and its meaning. While they were all off, Eugene deserves props for his guess: Levi, which means jeans. Because Levi jeans. It’s actually Rakdan, which means the dancer. Fun fact: Zach never had a bar-mitzvah and is a Hebrew school dropout.
5. When Zach talked about his pride over his Jewish heritage
While DNA and religion are different, in the segment “Try Guys Take An Ancestry Test,” Zach talked about his pride in his Ashkenazi Jewish heritage. Also a shock for Zach, he learns that he’s not 100 percent Ashkenazi. And in a rare moment of sincerity, Zach also discussed how he’s always had difficulty tracing back his family history due to World War II.
Now excuse me while I go back to binging YouTube videos.
