I ENTERTAINMENT I
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THE
BREAK YOUR YOM KIPPUR
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A HAPPY,
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AND
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14555 W. 12 MILE, Just West of Telegraph, Southfield
OPEN 7 DAYS
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Shelley Berman has had a long career as a comedian.
Shelley Berman Turns
To Career On The Stage
Heartiest Wishes To Our
Customers and Friends
For A
Healthy and Happy
MICHAEL ELKIN
Special to The Jewish News
T
New Year
LELLI'S
INN
7618 Woodward
871-1590
Detroit's Finest Italian-American Cuisine
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From
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and the staff of
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Wishing Our Customers
and Friends
A Happy and Healthy
New Year
82
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 1988
362-1262
his is one interview I
could phone in.
"Hello, yes, this is
Shelley Berman. I'm fine, I'm
fine. So let's talk."
Why not? The man's a
natural. At sixty-something,
Berman still handles a phone
call like a pro — which he is,
of course, gaining fame so
many years ago for his com-
edy shtick where he would
hold a comical and imaginary
conversation on the phone,
hanging up on hung up fan-
tasy callers.
His has been a long
distance career, traveling
from nightclub to recording
studio (the Grammy Award-
winning "Inside Shelley Ber-
man") to publishing ("Up in
the Air With Shelley Ber-
man") to television to Broad-
way ("Insideoutsideandalla-
round Shelley Berman").
I am chuckling as we chat,
learning more as I delve in-
sideoutsideandallaround
Shelley Berman as he
rehearses for his role as the
flamboyant transvestite
Albin in "La Cage aux
Folles."
"This isn't just an acting
challenge, it's a musical
challenge," he says of the role
that requires him to sing the
show-stopper "I Am What I
Am."
And exactly what is Shelley
Berman? Is he the same com-
ic who connived us so long
ago into once believing he
really held those magical con-
versations on the phone?
Push the right buttons and
see.
"I don't see a need to adapt
my kind of humor," says Ber-
man. "Kids today get hold of
my records and they love it.
They don't know where to buy
them. Kids are smart enough
to know what appeals. But to-
day the market rules."
And Berman is not sitting
on the throne. "I don't feel
like getting modern," he says.
Modern humor is cursed
with a need for profanity, he
laments, and that's not funny.
"It's contemptuous dialogue.
Today, we have thrown our
subtleties away."
There is nothing subtle
about Albin, whose romance
with Georges is threatened
when Georges's son —
courtesy of a one-night stand
many years back — brings
home his unsuspecting pro-
spective in-laws.
"This is not just another
role," says Berman, who has
played in "Fiddler on the
Roof' and "The Prisoner of
Second Avenue."
"I am assuming the
characteristics of the opposite
sex to play Albin — but I am
not sure what the opposite
sex is," he says. "Maybe it's
just external."
Inside Shelley Berman .. .
If he were starting out today,
his phone routine would have
to be changed. "I'd have to
use a push-button instead of
a dial," he says.
But little else would be dif-
ferent. "Comedy doesn't
change," he says. "Laughs
don't change. Art illuminates
life. All that changes is the
way you illuminate."
Though in the spotlight,
Berman is not in the same
limelight he once owned. "No
one asks most comedians to
make records today," says
Berman, who recalls his
pleasure at earning the first
Grammy for a non-musical
record.