‘I can’t do it anymore’: Alex Edelman on ending ‘Just for Us,’ his hit show about antisemitism

Not everyone wakes up to an avalanche of antisemitic tweets and then decides to attend a meeting of white nationalists in New York City. Because, well, not everyone is Alex Edelman, who has recounted the evening hundreds of times onstage in his hilarious and thought-provoking hit show “Just for Us.” And after spending six years revising his incisive 90-minute set and performing it all over the world, he’s ending it with an encore run in Los Angeles — just before the April 6 release of the corresponding HBO special, filmed during the show’s run on Broadway last summer. “Doing it can be a wrenching experience, but I’ve loved it.” Ahead of his final seven performances of “Just for Us” at the Mark Taper Forum, the comedian participated in an exit interview of sorts, where he talked about the trick to recounting the time his Orthodox Jewish family celebrated Christmas, the loss of his director and close collaborator Adam Brace, and the to-do list for starting a new show — one that possibly addresses the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a topic that’s fascinated him since childhood. I said, “It’s true!” and he said, “Well, it’s a shame it isn’t more entertaining!” A few weeks after Adam passed away, a woman came up to me after one of the Broadway shows and said, in front of a whole bunch of other people, “Do you think your show would be better if your director was still alive?” But the funny thing is, if you think about it, it’s not a cruel thing to say. People were like, “God, you’re really acting there,” and I’m like, “No, I’m sad.” Part of the reason this show is ending is because I can’t do it anymore.