Thursday, July 23, 2015

Hilarity for Charity bar mitzvah for James Franco

We've been tracking stories of the business world's elite spending exorbitant amounts on bar/bat mitzvah parties for their sons and daughters, which often feature celebrities making special appearances.

We've also brought you similar reports of celebrities re-committing or reconnecting to their Judaism through the ceremony.

In 2012, David Arquette and Drake both grabbed headlines, and last year, Lisa Kudrow's son avoided an all-out lavish affair by "becoming a man" in a drive-by bar mitzvah.

Apparently it's now James Franco's turn in the spotlight.

Good friend Seth Rogen, who has worked with Franco, 37, on half a dozen films since first meeting on the set of TV's Freaks and Geeks in 1999, is planning to officially initiate Franco into manhood with the traditional right of passage. It's scheduled to take place during the annual Hilarity for Charity variety show at the Hollywood Palladium on Oct. 17.

The Hilarity for Charity fund was founded four years ago by Seth and his wife, actor and screenwriter Lauren Miller Rogen, to raise money and awareness for Alzheimer’s disease.

Actors and comedians such as Paul Rudd, Aziz Ansari, Sarah Silverman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and even Montreal Canadien P.K. Subban have performed at past benefits.

If it'll be anything like Franco's comedy roast or the spoof's of Kanye West's and Kim Kardashian's shenanigans, like their Bound music video, you know it will be a laugh-out-loud affair.


Rogen has said he may also hire a mohel and add to the occasion “a live bris for James.” Mazel Tov!

Tickets to the event are available for sale starting Aug. 11 from Hilarity for Charity.org.

Details on the broadcasting of the ceremony have yet to be announced.

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