Najla Saïd: “Is ‘Gefilte’ a Yiddish Word?”

Meet Najla Saïd, an award-winning actress, comedian and writer whose recent credits include Heather Raffo’s solo show, Nine Parts of Desire, the New End Theatre in London’s Prophecy and Sex, Drugs & Gefilte Fish: The Heeb Storytelling Collection. (Read an excerpt from "”The Eyes of the Beholder" after the jump.) Here’s how Saïd answered our SDGF questionaire:

What was your worst Sex experience?

The guy who wore a condom even though we had established we were not having intercourse, and wanted me to give his condom a blowjob. His apartment was also completely covered in plastic as if he was expecting a flood. And he had a gasmask because he was afraid of terrorists. I told him it probably wasn’t a good idea to bring an Arab girl home then.

What was your worst experience on Drugs ?

Freshman year of college, I was smoking pot and wigging out to a Dueling Banjos CD. I’m not sure why but I also had roller blades on and I went skating through the halls freaking out about how I was going to "die of weed" that very night.

What was your best Gefilte Fish experience?

I love hearing the words with an Upper West Side Palestinian Lebanese lilt. You should hear my mom! She’s always saying "mespuchah" and "meshugas" (the real shit!) wait…is "gefilte" a yiddish word?

Excerpt from “The Eyes of the Beholder”

Maha said to me, “Wow…Najla—that’s pretty…I don’t know that name. What does it mean?”

“It means ‘big black eyes like a cow,'” I told her with a huge beaming smile.

“Oh my God…that’s what my name means!” She said. Not the reaction I was expecting.

“Wait, what? You must be wrong. That doesn’t make sense.” “No, I swear, Maha means ‘big black eyes like a cow,’ too!” At this point, I realized that my parents were evil liars.

In February of 2010, Najla’s (very funny!) solo show PALESTINE will be produced by the Twilight Theatre Company (hosted by New York Theater Workshop). Please check it out and donate!

Related Posts:

Joel Stein: The Guy Who Loves Porn and Hates America

Sex, Drugs & Gefilte Fish book signing in L.A. on November 11 at Borders.

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  1. Anonymous

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