TORONTO —

Now living and working in Los Angeles, Toronto-born and raised Cait, a comedian, actor, screenwriter and voice-over artist, will be the featured performer and MC at Associated Hebrew School’s 100th anniversary celebration on Nov. 6 at Beth Emeth Synagogue.

Cait is an alumnus of Associated, and he sang in the Beth Emeth Synagogue’s boys’ choir.

 “Despite my comedic shtick about my education at the Associated, my three children attend Jewish day schools,” Cait said by phone from Los Angeles, where he moved 16 years ago.

Cait also attended the Community Hebrew Academy of Toronto (now the Anne and Max Tanenbaum Community Hebrew Academy of Toronto), which he said he had to leave for medical reasons. “They were sick of me.” He went on to explain that he was having trouble at school controlling his desire to go for laughs. “So in Grade 10, I was kicked out of CHAT.”

He graduated from MacKenzie Collegiate Institute, where he achieved fame as one of the Blues Brothers in the school’s musical revue. He went on to Ryerson University, where he studied radio and television arts, as well as theatre.

He joined Yuk Yuk’s Komedy Kabaret, and, within a year, he was headlining at Yuk Yuk’s. He said that after his first successful performance at Yuk Yuk’s, he “came off the stage feeling the rush of strangers laughing at my thoughts.”

Yuk Yuk’s founder, Mark Breslin, encouraged Cait to continue performing and gave the young comedian some advice. “You have to learn to play to your audience,” Breslin told him.

That, said Cait, has been with him ever since.

His first job was as the English commercial announcer for Multicultural Television CFMT (now OMNI Television). “They paid me $20 per spot, which was great,” he said.

He then branched out into other areas, including working as a statistician and reporter for Hockey Night in Canada and as an announcer for professional wrestling.

He won the Bessie Craft Award for his voice work for Seagram’s commercials.

Looking back, he said, “One of the beauties of living in Toronto was its multiculturalism. This allowed me to do a lot of character comedy with Italian, Portuguese and, of course, Yiddish accents, and I had a Hebrew and French day school education.

“My family, my education and my life in the Toronto Jewish community played a major part in developing my Jewish identity.”

As he was building a successful voice career in Canada, he also began working in the United States. In 1992, an American agent sponsored him. He went to Los Angeles, where he continued his voice work and began working in comedy clubs on Sunset Strip.

Cait, who writes all his own material, says he became tired of the standup- comedy-club treadmill in Los Angeles. And he did not want to work on Shabbat.

He and his wife, a native of Los Angeles, were determined to build a traditional Jewish family. “Making Kiddush for my family on Friday night was infinitely more important than making strangers laugh.

“Over the years, I had written a wealth of Jewish material, but I had never performed any of it myself. A modern Orthodox synagogue in Los Angeles asked me to perform at their Purim Seudah. Suddenly, I found myself performing at countless synagogues and organizations,” Cait said.

“Now I perform mostly in synagogues and for countless organizations for everything imaginable.”

After performing at a major-donor cruise for Chabad, he was invited to become part of the Chabad network of some 3,600 communities worldwide.

 “I have found my niche. More than that, I am giving other Jews a chance to get together and laugh and reconnect with their Judaism,” he said. “I think I have created my own shleechus, my Judaic assignment and purpose.”

Cait can relate to the wide spectrum of the Jewish world, from frum to the  secular. He is funny yet tasteful, and not offensive.

Although he still does some voice-over work for commercials, cartoons and films, he said his greatest professional passion is his Jewish standup work. “It started in Toronto and, God willing, it is affecting a positive affirmation or return to Yiddishkeit around the world.”

In  March 2007, Associated invited Cait to Toronto to perform his Jewish standup routine at its Evening of Comedy at the Leah Posluns Theatre. He was a hit with the audience.

In December, Video Service Corporation will release a DVD titled Kosher Not Kosher. The DVD includes Cait’s Jewish and non-Jewish performances. This, he said, is a reflection of the Toronto/Canadian scene.

“The Toronto Jewish community has played a major part in developing my strong Jewish identity. I still remain closely involved with his family and many friends in Toronto,” he said.