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29269 Southfield Road north of 12 Mile
In The Southfield Commons
569-1400
6golden Tirloco;x
Chinese American Restaurant
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642-8386
4067 W. Maple Rd. Just East of Telegraph
Fpipg,JANupy 26,,1990 .
RITA CHARLESTON
Special to The Jewish News
18 W. PIKE STREET, JUST OFF WOODWARE DOWNTOWN PONTIAC
c
In His Father's Footsteps,
Sandy Can Really Hackett
S
andy Hackett knew
his father was sort of
special; special in that
he often stood in front of large
crowds of people and made
them laugh. He had even
seen his dad, chubby come-
dian Buddy Hackett, perform
on the "Tonight Show" and in
major showrooms in Las
Vegas.
But for a little boy growing
up in Tinsel lbwn, where a lot
of dads seemed "special," it
was no big deal. Not until his
dad brought home something
every kid in the neighborhood
envied.
"I didn't realize just how
famous my father was until
he did the picture The
Lovebug for Disney in 1967.
Disney gave him his own Her-
bie Lovebug, which Dad park-
ed in front of our house. As a
kid, I guess it never dawns on
you how famous your father is
until something of that
magnitude hits. When all the
kids in the neighborhood
started to go nuts, I figured
Dad must really be
something!"
By the age of 12, Sandy
Hackett himself started en-
joying some recognition. Ac-
companying his father to the
set of the old "Laugh In"
show, he watched directors
debate the humor of a par-
ticular scene.
"I'm just a kid but I
thought that was funny," said
little Hackett to no one in
particular.
"That's a great line!"
shouted the directors, who
promptly signed the boy for
the show. He repeated the
line about five times in the
show — once following former
President Richard Nixon. He
returned to the show twice
more for cameo parts.
But Hackett never gave any
real thought to following in
his father's footsteps, except
once, while a freshman at
Beverly Hills High School
when he entered forensics
competition performing his
father's classic Chinese
waiter routine.
"I think that's when the
idea of becoming a profes-
sional comedian firt hit me,"
Hackett says. "When hun-
dreds of people start laughing
hysterically at you, you get a
sort of rush, a tremendous
feeling that's hard to describe.
I think that's what started it
all for me."
Still, after high school
Comedian Sandy Hackett.
graduation, Hackett enrolled
at the University of Nevada
as a hotel major, receiving his
degree in 1977.
His interest in show
business was renewed,
however, when he was hired
to help organize and develop
a talent showcase for his
employer, the Sahara Hotel.
The showcase was meant to
be a training ground for pro-
fessional acts trying to break
into Las Vegas clubs. After
serving a year as master of
ceremonies, Hackett began
receiving offers of his own as
a stand-up comedian.
Hackett admits his father
did try to dissuade him for a
while. "He was against it
because he knows how tough
this business can get. But
once he realized I had made
up my mind, he told me to go
for it; that when I did well I'd
be able to support him in his
old age."
Growing up in a show busi-
ness atmosphere, Hackett's
teachers included Joey
Bishop, Jan Murray, Jerry
Lewis, Jack Benny, George
Burns and many, many more.
Humor abounded in his
home, especially Jewish
humor. But gleaned from his
father were techniques in tak-
ing an audience from highs to
lows, from laughter to tears.
Hackett seems to have learn-
ed well and doesn't at all
mind any comparisons that
people might choose to make.
"The hardest part of follow-
ing in my father's footsteps,"
he says, "comes from the out-
side world. It's not my per-
sonal point of view that it's
any harder to do what your
father has done so well. I've
only expected of myself the
best that I can do. It's the
other people out there who
may expect things of me.
They're the ones who think it
must be really hard for me to
be Buddy Hackett's son."
Hackett counters that it's
not the least difficult for him
to have such a famous father
and to work on him on the
same bill many times. "Ac-
tually, it's very easy. It's like
going to work with your best
friend. You show up with so-
meone you like to work with
and you get to pend all day
together. Instead of opening
for a star who may not even
talk to me and having to
spend all my time alone, I get
to travel with the headliner;
we get to eat together and
then do what we're supposed
to do with the show. That part
of it is very easy."
The hard part, Hackett ad-
mits, was gaining audience
acceptance. "Years ago I
hadn't reached a level of pro-
ficiency where I was com-
pletely comfortable with my
abilities. But now I'm very
secure in my ability to make
people laugh. I work that way
with others when I open a
show and I work that way
with Dad, too. I know the au-
dience didn't come to see me.
They don't even care that I'm
Hackett's kid. They came to
see Buddy. But if I can take
that audience and win them
over, then the rest of it is a
piece of cake."
Buddy Hackett, his son
says, instilled religious impor-
tance in his children. He also
passed on his love of show
business.
"But his best advice was
just to be happy. Dad said if
you're doing something
because you're happy, then
keep doing it. And the mo-
(