BUSINESS

On The Flip side

Some business professionals can be found on the
entertainment circuit after hours.

KIMBERLY LIFTON

Staff Writer

The Laughing Stock

S

ecretly, Gilda Hauser
always wanted to be
on stage.
"But it seemed so self in-
dulgent," she says. "I guess I
was too scared."
After four years of working
as a stockbroker, she gave in
to that desire to perform,
taking the bull to the stage
as a stand-up comic.
Today, about a year after
her stage debut, Hauser, 28,
is an investment broker with
Shearson Lehman Hutton by
day and a stand-up comic at
local clubs like Chaplin's
and Joey's by night. She
travels a bit to clubs in Ann
Arbor, Flint, Holly and
Toledo.
"It all melds together,"
she says. "Doing comedy
enhances my career as a
stockbroker. If I didn't work
during the day, I wouldn't
have enough life experiences
to write jokes. I wouldn't
know how to relate to people.
"You need a sense of
humor to hold a sales job like

who has a lot of complaints
and gripes about life and
doesn't care how much any-
one knows it.
"In the beginning, I was
real bad on stage," she says.
"Now I'm not embarrassed
with my stuff. Comedy is my
life."
Relatively new to the pro-
fession, Hauser strives to be
a headliner, which she fig-
ures will take a few more
years. For now, she has
about 20 minutes of mate-
rial. She plans to keep
writing until she has enough
material to fill a 45-minute
headliner spot.
"I love doing it," she says.
"Every spare moment I have
goes into it. It's not a job — it
is just always there."
At the moment, Hauser
doesn't have much time for
socializing, although she
saves time for working out;
she likes aerobics classes.
Yet the bulk of her free time
is spent these days writing
comedy.
On a recent weekend,
Hauser, sporting a yellow
turtleneck sweater and a
black suede mini skirt, per-
formed before a packed
house at Chaplin's at Seven
Mile and Telegraph. She was
the final gig.
Sitting outside the
showroom before her ap-
pearance, she scribbled
notes, studying material and
practicing some new ideas
on other comics.
"In six months to a year,
I'll be ready to go on the
road."

a stockbroker," she says.
"And on stage, you are sell-
ing yourself to an audience."
As a child, she played the
flute. That satisfied her
creative juices. As a student
at the University of Mich-
igan, she took writing and
loved it; she majored in
music.
Then it came time to make
a living. Hauser interviewed
for several sales jobs, even-
tually securing a position as
a financial adviser. There,
she learned the market.
At 9 a.m. on weekday
mornings, Hauser arrives at
her Birmingham office,
wearing a conservative suit,
ready to play the stock
market for her clients. She is
rather focused on the task at
hand, often spending hours
on the phone making cold
calls.
"To be a stockbroker, you
must be very disciplined,"
Hauser says. "And being
disciplined also helps with
comedy."
Most weeknights and
weekends, Hauser takes her
sometimes silly, observa-
tional stuff to the stage.
There, she attacks some of
life's social ways. She is
often introduced as a woman

"Football is like guys at the bar," Gilda
Hauser says. "A bunch of guys are on a
field trying to score and mostly fumbling."

The Music Man

W

l-
c

a)

0

At work in her Birmingham office, Hauser looks for the best investments for her clients.

50

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 1990

hen he's not playing
the Torah, he play-
ing the horah.
And during the week, he
writes musical scores for
commercials and audio
visuals.
Marty Liebman is the
music man, both in his pro-
fessional life and for fun.
By day, Liebman arranges
sound effects for videotapes
for his recently formed busi-
ness, PM Productions in
Southfield. He writes the
music, too. On most Shabbat