Israeli’s Jon Stewart a YouTube Sensation

When 17^th century English cleric Charles Caleb Colton said “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,” I’m pretty certain he wasn’t referring to The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart,

But, it looks as though Stewart’s style and flair and love of deadpan has sparked some Israeli interest.

The Israeli Show, hosted by David Sidman, is quickly and profoundly grabbing some serious media attention with his short, weekly segments being aired on YouTube.

Born in Jerusalem, Sidman, who has called Boston home for the last decade, describes himself as a news anchor, and claims “it’s a one-man show.”

Testing the philosophy that “brevity is the soul of wit,” Sidman’s vignettes, which are Stewardtesque news reports about news in Israel, are two to three minutes long,

His inspired grass roots attempt at journalism is certainly not ready for a network bidding war, but his unique, provocative style has put him on the map.

Sidman has participated in stand up comedy before, but, for the time-being, the Youtube sensation is committed to his newfound project.

“It became obvious to me that the entire world was obsessed with news about Israel,” said Sidman in an interview with the Jerusalem Post. “The Daily Show is America’s third most popular news source, and I realize why – people want to know what’s going on but the news generally is very boring,”

He’s got a point.

Ironically, even though the rising star has followed the The Daily Show prototype, he’s not a big fan of Stewart.

“I like his show, but I don’t love it,” he says. “I like the idea of it more than I like the jokes – they’re touch and go. For comedy, I like Conan O’Brien more.”

Even though, he’s still a work in progress, Sidman’s one-line zingers definitely hold some weight, including one of my favourites: “Shakira visited Jerusalem and went to the Kotel where her hips apologized for lying.”

Top news, indeed.