Jeff Goldblum is my comfort TV jaddy

Warning: lots of Goldblum fawning ahead.

I have to watch a lot of Jewish TV and movies for work, which means I’m often unwinding with something that I will eventually have to cover. But after feeling particularly down last week, I decided to draw a firm boundary and just unwind in front of something that had zero things to do with my work.

I chose my childhood source of comfort — Greek mythology — in the form of a new Netflix show called “Kaos,” full of all my favorite mythological characters, from Dionysus to Orpheus and Eurydice (also featured in my favorite musical "Hadestown"). It has everything you need in an escapist watch — great music, a thrilling plot — and also some things you don’t need, like some echoes to our current times, a selfish leader willing to watch other people’s pain like a spectator sport, especially in the character of Zeus, played by Jeff Goldblum.

And that, my friends, is where I realized that I can’t watch anything without work meeting me, because Jeff Goldblum, the only Jewish actor on this show, is what I chose to hyperfixate on. Why is he so good and comforting as this villain? Why am I always rooting for Jeff Goldblum no matter who he plays? Why is it that this salt-and-pepper-haired geeky Jew has everyone in his thrall? I quickly realized that Jeff Goldblum is my, and maybe the nation’s, the world’s, the universe’s, comfort TV and film jaddy.

What is a jaddy, you ask, if you are fortunate enough to have never run into the term? Well, a Jewish zaddy, of course! And what is a zaddy, you may ask, if you live in a world much sweeter and more innocent than mine? Well, a zaddy is “an attractive man who is also stylish, charming, and self-confident,” according to Dictionary.com, who may or may not be a literal dad (Goldblum is a dad).

I mean… Just look at this man!

I adore Goldblum: His sense of style (I seriously covet every item in his wardrobe). His enunciation. His slight sheepishness and dorkiness. His signature Buddy Holy glasses (as a fellow bespectacled Jew, I appreciate him making us cool). The way he gesticulates and hems and haws. In fact, Goldblum beautifully breaks down the taxonomy of Goldblum mannerisms in this excellent video in which he rates impressions of him:

But most importantly, I adore the Pittsburgh-born NJB’s (that’s Nice Jewish Boy) charm and sincere fascination with people and the world. It’s a charm and candor and sense of humor that he claims he inherited from his Jewish mom, a self-proclaimed “weaver of enchantment and charm.” (His mother also taught him how to fight his Hebrew school bully, David Schwartz.)

That fascination is exemplified in an underrated, and to my belief unduly cancelled, show called “The World According to Jeff Goldblum,” which isn’t streaming anywhere!!! At the moment!!! I’m so mad. In every episode, Goldblum, full of childlike wonder, explores a topic that fascinates him. In the third episode, he talks about tattoos and shares that while he loves them, one of the reasons he doesn’t have one is because he’s Jewish and, while not particularly observant, it just doesn’t feel right to him. And while you can’t watch this charming episode, you can watch Goldblum rate tattoos of his image for GQ, in what I think is one of the most delightful videos on the internet:

(Is this post just an excuse for me to share a bunch of Jeff Goldblum videos? Yes, yes it is, because you deserve a treat, and Jeff Goldblum is one.)

I love Goldblum because he feels so fully himself, and I feel like often he is cast to play echoes of his larger-than-life personality. I think Judaism has a little to do with him being so fully able to embrace what makes him different. Goldblum didn’t grow up in Squirrel Hill, the Jewish neighborhood of Pittsburgh, but in West Homestead, where he and his three siblings were the only Jewish people at their school. And he felt that difference. “I had many experiences that started to wise me up about what I was, the religion... about being Jewish, I became aware by and by,” he told Ari Melber.

But maybe that’s just me trying to overanalyze. Hashem gave us Jeff Goldblum as a gift and we just have to simply accept and enjoy every moment of it, because life is fleeting and we need to embrace joy where we can find it, and I, for whatever reason, can always find it in Jeff Goldblum.

Is Jeff Goldblum also your comfort jaddy? What’s your favorite Jeff Goldblum role? Let me know in the comments.