When Zach Margs was three years old he was at nursery school with my son. One day he pricked his thumb with a pin until he drew blood and persuaded my son to do the same. He solemnly pushed their thumbs together and said: “This means we are school brothers.”
This was an early sign of the cute, funny, passionate, expressive man he is today, who has attracted 153,000 followers to his Instagram platform, where his frankly hilarious comedy creations are providing a little frisson of joy almost every day.
Zach says this has happened because there are Jews all over the world who feel underrepresented and hesitant to reveal their identity, so when they find someone on Instagram making light-hearted Jewish-related content they can relate to there is an instant connection.
His connection to us is via a hilarious series of Israeli personas he has created. There’s the Israeli beach waiter who gives terrible service, takes your food while you’re still eating, but still expects a 20 percent tip; the taxi driver who doesn’t believe in Waze, will try set you up with someone every journey and will always smoke in the car; the Shuk vendor, who is a fierce negotiator known for bending the truth and will say anything for a sale.
Zach doesn’t stop at Israelis. He’s also created some brilliantly exaggerated British-Jewish personas: the nice Jewish boy looking for love, the neurotic serial complainer Jewish dad and of course a typical Jewish mum – an over-dramatic hypochondriac always looking to set her daughter up. Each video has a ‘POV’ headline to show that this how Zach sees life.
Sisters Zoe (left) and Tania help Zach with his videos
Keeping it in the family, his older sister Tanya, who has been working in the entertainment industry for 12 years, is his manager, and his younger sister Zoe does much of the filming.
Zach, 30, has loved comedy since he was a small boy and his idols are Larry David, Jerry Seinfeld, Elon Gold and Modi. “But before them came my grandpa Gerry. He was a professional standup comedian, and he used to tour around the UK until he wanted to marry my grandma. Her father said: ‘If you haven’t become big a year from now, can you give it up? Otherwise, you’re not marrying my daughter.’”
Zach’s Grandpa Gerry was a comedian
Grandpa Jerry chose love over laughs so he gave it up, but it was always his passion. “He’s the one who really showed me about comedy, because he used to take me to shows and when I was at his house, he would sit me down and make me watch episodes of Sergeant Bilko and Only Fools and Horses – things no-one else my age was watching!” Nothing says comedy like watching 1970s sitcoms with your grandpa.
Zach followed a slightly more conventional path. He went to Immanuel College and Nottingham University and then did a master’s in real estate management. He is a qualified surveyor with a full-time job and fits in filming, editing and producing his videos around that. His motto is: “If you are driven and passionate, if you believe in yourself, you can make it work.”
Zach’s biggest audience is in the USA and at the end of last year her did his first standup show at a deli in New York. Because where else would a Jewish comedian’s career take off? “That’s the beauty of social media – that you can reach the world! I’m making relatable content for Jews everywhere – not just in England or Israel.”
Zach with his Grandpa Gerry and Grandma Josie
Live shows were the natural next step for someone who used to do them at university and has hosted several weddings, including his sister’s last year. He has no shortage of material as there is a lot behind the scenes stuff that he hasn’t posted on Instagram, plus he has a lot to say! He sold out a show in Tel Aviv in January (and is doing another one there in March), he is doing two shows in London this month to raise money for Beit Halochem, and he is sorting dates for shows in Paris and Australia.
Zach travels to Israel every couple of months to create his videos and now has a huge network of friends in Tel Aviv. The first time he went after October 7 was in December 2023 and he was invited to go and see two of the kibbutzim that were attacked. He posted a moving video about what he saw there and regularly uses his platform to advocate for the hostages.
Balancing comedy and tragedy is no easy task. “There’s always been a fine line between being respectful of what’s going on and not wanting to release a comedy reel when something might have happened in Israel. When we found out last summer that six hostages had been murdered, I didn’t want to post anything – I felt like all the Jews around the world wanted to grieve. But on the flip side, we need to find moments of joy and the feedback I’ve had is that we’ve had such a difficult year that we want some relief, even if it’s for 30 seconds. Those of us who are doing stuff like I am are playing a really key role in making Jews feel represented, bringing joy, bringing light, and influencing people to connect.”
One reason Zach’s content resonates so well is his improvisational style. He doesn’t use actors or scripts—he uses real people and real moments. The first time he did a ‘date’ video he recruited his friend Ariella, and, he says, she made it 10 times better because she was coming out with her own experiences. “So then I created a running theme – nice Ashkenazi Jewish boy goes on a date with fiery Israeli girl.” The next one was Donna who he met on the street in Tel Aviv. “I said to her, ‘You’re so funny. Want to be in a video?’ We went for lunch to talk about it and then on the way there I realised the lunch itself would be the ‘first date’ scenario.”
Zach as a little boy with Grandpa Gerry
“Sometimes I’ll dm someone and say I love your videos. Let’s do it together. And sometimes they’ll reach out to me and say, if you’re in Israel, let’s collab. We’ll film a 10-minute video, and in that will be 10 seconds that are just gold.”
It’s not all fun though – Zach is subject to lots of trolling and hate messages, including death threats. “But I do have a loyal fan base of non-Jewish followers who love Jewish people and Judaism, or really love Israel.”
Whether he’s embodying an overbearing Jewish mum, an infuriatingly chill beach worker, or an Israeli waiter with a PhD in customer neglect, Zach Margs is making people laugh—and in a world that could use more joy, that gets a thumbs up, even without the pinprick.
@zachmargs
