Inside the hysterical world of Zach Margolin’s Israeli parodies

Zach Margolin – or Zach Margs, as he is better known to his legions of followers – is not a shy man, at least not when he slips into his comedic personas. It would not do to be shy when imitating hard-headed Israelis right in front of their faces for the entertainment of Jews on social media.

Since August 2023 Margolin, a 30-year-old comedian from northwest London, has been making videos impersonating Israeli waiters, baristas, shawarma restaurant workers, airport security, taxi drivers and beach-going sleazeballs who hit on tourists, all the while steadily growing his audience of international Jews with an appreciation for a spot-on Israeli accent.

“It started as just a way to make my friends laugh,” Margolin told the JC at his family home in Mill Hill. “We were just on the beach in La La Land in Tel Aviv and we had a particularly obnoxious waiter, the service was awful, and I basically bought one of the La La Land bucket hats, put it on, rolled up my sleeves, tied my bag around me and started impersonating this waiter.

"We had such a funny time filming this video, then got kicked out of the restaurant,” Margolin said.

It was the first of many confrontational encounters with Israelis for the sake of amusing his now 132,000-strong following on Instagram and 108,000 on TikTok, as Margolin has since gained a reputation for inserting himself into the roles of the Israelis he so deftly impersonates.

Take the time he commandeered a taxi driver’s car for a sketch about what it’s like to get a taxi in Tel Aviv.

“I always think, what experiences have people had in Israel that I can bring to life? I’d done the beach waiter, I’d done restaurants, so I thought – everyone’s got in a taxi. So I just found one on the street and he was just sitting in his car and I knocked on the window,

“I told him, I want to sit in your seat and I want to drive your taxi around Tel Aviv and my friend will film, it’ll be very funny,” Margolin said, switching into his Israeli accent: “And the taxi driver said, ‘are you crazy? What do you think, my job is a joke for you? I have a family and I have to put food on the table, you don’t have a license, you don’t have insurance, you want me to risk my job for you to make funny video?’

“I said, ‘Oh no, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you – I can pay you.’ And he said, ‘oh, beseder, come! My friend, come, come, come, drive, I need to smoke anyway!’ and he literally gave me the keys, he said, ‘drive the car, I will go have a cigarette, come back to this spot in one hour.’ He let me take the car. We just drove up and down the same street back and forth but he literally let me take his car. I don’t think I could do that anywhere else – only in Tel Aviv,” Margolin said with a smile.

The experience exemplified the aim of his comedy: to show people – Jews and non-Jews alike – a different side of Israel, not as a war zone but as a colourful place full of good-humoured, brash people and the funny little elements of their day-to-day lives there.

“British people are very reserved, low-key, self-deprecating, shy, we apologise for everything that we do, whereas Israelis are so unapologetic,” Margolin said. “They will tell you exactly how it is, like they will tell you that your outfit looks terrible, but then they will give you the shirt off their back to help you.”

Born and raised in northwest London, Margolin attended Immanuel College and “grew up very traditional Ashkenazi Jewish,” with fun Passover seders, Shabbat dinners every Friday and bi-annual trips to Israel from the time he was a baby.

Margolin picked up the knack for comedy early thanks to his late grandfather, who was a comedian in his early 20s and passed along his sense of humour and love of funny voices and impressions. When Margolin went to Israel on a trip with FZY at 16, he learned he also had a flair for imitating Israeli accents.

“That is actually where it started because I used to impersonate the madrich,” Margolin said. “I would impersonate him on the bus - he would always make announcements in the front of the bus and then I would go to the front and take the microphone when he was asleep and pretend to announce things as him.”

In more recent months, Margolin has leveraged his growing audience to play matchmaker in addition to Jewish jester, posting a “Shidduch of the week” in which he tags three eligible Jewish singles on Instagram and posts a blurb about what they’re looking for, where they're based, and how old they are.

"I've found that your person might not necessarily be in your city; just because you live in London doesn’t mean you might not connect with someone in Paris or Israel, so it’s about bringing diaspora Jews together and the reaction has been amazing. I get so many applications each week, I've basically got a database now of thousands of single Jewish people.”

Margolin, who also wears the hats of qualified chartered surveyor and live stand-up comedian, said he’s never felt more connected to Israel or his Jewish roots than he does now, and he’s found a real purpose in bringing joy to the Jewish community during a difficult year.

“I think that also ties in with what happened on October 7 and the antisemitism that we’ve seen in London and all around the world and really feeling like the community is smaller than ever,” Margolin said. “That has really made me feel proud to be Jewish and the fact that I now have a voice has brought me closer to Judaism, and to Israel.”