{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Radio Chatskill","title":"Alejandro Morales Brings the Laughter Home to the Borscht Belt","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":429,"description":"For decades, the Catskills’ Borscht Belt helped shape American comedy, giving immigrant performers a place to test jokes, tell their stories, and build careers that would later define stand-up nationwide.Now, that legacy is being revived.This weekend, the Borscht Belt Museum launches a new season of the Borscht Belt Comedy Club at Shadowland Stages in Ellenville, with Ellenville-born comedian Alejandro Morales serving as curator, host, and headliner.Morales, now based in Philadelphia, returned home with a clear goal: bring live Catskills comedy back to the place where it all began — and make it reflect the voices of today.A Borscht Belt Family HistoryMorales’ connection to the Catskills resorts runs through his family.“My mom and dad are both from Chile, and they emigrated separately in the 1970s,” Morales said. “My father says that he was the first Chilean in Ellenville — you take that with a grain of salt. But he got a job at the Nevele Hotel, and then my mother got a job at the Nevele Hotel, and they met working in the dining room.”By the time Morales was growing up, the golden age of Borscht Belt comedy had already passed.“By the time I was a teenager, the sort of heyday of the Borscht Belt was more or less in the past,” he said. “So I unfortunately missed all of the wonderful emergence of live stand-up comedy in the region.”He didn’t see live stand-up until moving to Philadelphia, where comedy took hold. When he eventually moved back to Ellenville, he wanted to reconnect the region with its comedic roots.“I really wanted to bring back this original art form that sprang up in the 20th century,” Morales said, “and bring it back so people can continue to enjoy that live art in Ellenville.”Finding the Borscht Belt in His VoiceMorales now recognizes how deeply the Borscht Belt shaped his comedic instincts — even before he understood its history.“I was a big fan of Joan Rivers,” he said. “She was one of my favorite comedians growing up. I was also a big fan of...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/q7XXsnSXT_u4mZLCn3chUorwDmUD_kWiB272D6emB18/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS80N2Uy/OGY5MWUwZThkYTEw/NDVkZGM2ZGZkZDIw/ZjliOS5wbmc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}