Shotgun brings The Bay Area's favorite intellectual comedian, Josh Kornbluth, to the Ashby Stage in an East Bay remount of his highly successful new show. He's funny, he's outrageously smart, and his ideas are challenging even to a liberal Berkeley audience. Kornbluth's latest investigation centers on the pop art icon Andy Warhol, and his one man show on the subject makes for a fiercely entertaining night at the theatre. Andy Warhol: Good for the Jews? begins February 9 and runs through February 27th at The Ashby Stage.

In his newest show, Kornbluth examines Andy Warhol and the ten Jewish luminaries he painted in his controversial 1980 series, Ten Portraits of Jews of the Twentieth Century. When Warhol created these prints in 1980, The New York Times noted that "Critics denounced the series as crassly exploitative; audiences responded more favorably."  Kornbluth first saw Ten Portraits of Jews of the Twentieth Century exhibited at The Contemporary Jewish Museum of San Francisco, and had a strong reaction to it. The museum then commissioned Kornbluth to create one of his irreverent monologues about his Warhol journey.

Raised as an atheist by Marxist parents, Kornbluth decided to examine his unease with the show by exploring its history, the subjects and their creator. In wrestling with Warhol's motives and techniques, Kornbluth learned something about his own identity and the spiritual dimensions of Warhol's art, much as viewers of Warhol's paintings have found their own meaning in these works of art.

Andy Warhol: Good for the Jews? runs 90 minutes and has no intermission.

Talkback schedule:

• Wed., Feb. 9: Rabbis Menachem Creditor of Congregation Netivot Shalom, Dorothy Richman of Berkeley Hillel, and Jhos Singer of the Coastside Jewish Community.
• Thurs., Feb. 10: Rabbi Yoel Kahn of Congregation Beth El.
• Wed., Feb. 16: Rabbi David J. Cooper of Kehilla Community Synagogue.
• Sat., Feb. 19: David Biale, author and UC Davis professor.
• Wed., Feb. 23: Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor of Tikkun magazine.