“What I Like About Jew” has been simultaneously offending and entertaining crowds since it launched in 1999 at the Knitting Factory’s annual Christmas Eve Jewsapalooza, to which the boys return this year. The bawdy, schmaltzy but undeniably hip stage duo returned for two shows at Ryles in Cambridge on Dec. 20, as part of their holiday east-coast tour. “We’ve tried it in Alabama,” says Tannenbaum. “Didn’t work.”

Comparisons and epithets abound and Sean Altman and Rob Tannenbaum, who met in a political science class at Brown University in Providence, R.I., welcome them all. The show was originally formed to promote “Hanukah with Monica,” their riotously risqué topical hit based on l’affaire du Clinton. The acoustic, electric and karaoke-enhanced revue has featured many guest performers since, who have included Moby, Matisyahu, Andy Shernoff of the seminal NYC punk band The Dictators, Tammy Faye Starlight, Eric "Badlands" Booker, Howie Statland (Thin Lizard Dawn) and many other “guitar-toting tribesfolk and honored goyim,” according to the duo.

Myriad media has included a 2004 Time Out Magazine cover story on “The New Super Jews.”

This Ryles show featured Florida based singer-songwriter Carla Ubrick, who calls herself a “professional smart aleck” and has released three albums. After suffering two strokes and kidney failure in 2002, she re-learned the guitar and produced her third CD, “Sick Humor.” Her song “What If Your Butt Was Gone” is included on radio personality Dr. Demento’s 2005 Basement Tapes compilation.

New York-based guest musician Eric Schwartz, who spent high school Sundays listening to both Doctor Ruth and Doctor Demento, was a good fit for the bill as well.

What I Like About Jew’s first CD, “Unorthodox,” was recorded with a full band and will hit the stores in 2006. “The most remarkable thing about ‘Unorthodox’ is that we were able to get such accomplished New York musicians to play songs about circumcision, bar mitzvahs gone awry, a fractured Passover story, Santa’s shunned Jewish reindeer, and those pesky, damnable Jews For Jesus,” said Altman, who maintains that the record is entirely radio-worthy. “However, the FCC might beg to differ (anti-semites),” he added. The duo released it independently and although the “official” release will be around Pesach, Altman says that the CD is available now exclusively at www.whatilikeaboutjew.com and at concerts.

The disc includes WILAJ standbys that include “Hot Jewish Chicks,” “JDate,”
“(It's Good To Be) A Jew at Christmas,” “I’m Better Looking (Than The Guy You're Going Out With)” and “Today I Am a Man,” as well as new tune “They Tried To Kill Us (We Survived, Let's Eat).”

Altman, an a capella maven who helped found the vocal group Rockapella, co-wrote the “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego” TV theme song, This year, he was named “Best Male Artist” in the International Acoustic Music Awards and was a Kerrville New Folk finalist. Altman continues to help produce the Loser's Lounge series in New York and is a contributing producer-performer Voices For Israel and Kol Zimra, who he sang with at the 2004 White House menorah lighting ceremony.

VH1 listeners will be seeing Rob Tannenbaum in “So Jewtastic,” a one-hour special about “hipster Heebs” that he created and stars in that debuted Dec. 19. Tannenbaum, the music editor of Blender Magazine, was also behind “Sexaholix,” a Tony-nominated Broadway comedy he co-wrote with John Leguizamo.

The boys also appeared on “Now That Sounds Kosher,” a January, 2005 Shout Factory! Records that includes songs by Mel Brooks, Tom Lehrer, Kinky Freidman and others.