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JEWISH ENSEMBLE THEATRE

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BY IRA LEVIN

Directed by Yolanda Fleischer

Featuring Broadway Actor SOL FRIEDER
in a return engagement.

Comedy ensues when a pair of upbeat
yuppies clash with a tenacious intruder - tradition. .

APRIL 17 - MAY 26

Special rates for students, seniors & groups.

Tickets

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788 2900

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OR

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645 6666

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Aaron Deroy Theatre • Jewish Community Center
West Bloomfield

Contemporary American Cuisine

Dinner 4 p.m.

Lunch 11 a.m.

Entertainment Tuesday Thru Saturday

Now Appearing: NOUVEAUTE
Banquet Facilities
Available

TOP OF TROY BLDG. , 755
w Big Beaver at 1-75
Concourse

362-1262

MOM WILL ENJOY

THE ITALIAN-AMERICAN SPECIALTIES AT

NINO' RISTORANTE

SUNDAY, MAY 12

# BRUNCH

10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

DINNER FROM OUR REGULAR MENU

2

p.m. to 7 p.m.

15015 13 MILE RD., West of Hayes, Warren

84

FRIDAY, MAY 10, 1991

293-2800

Jerry Seinfeld Finds Happiness
In 'The Supermarket Trance'

ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM

Assistant Editor

F

ans' conversations
with comedian Jerry
Seinfeld rarely begin
the usual way.
Nobody says, "Excuse me,
but aren't you . . ." or, "I saw
you last week on TV and
. . ." Instead, fans prefer to
just begin rambling away,
like old friends in the middle
of a long chat.
"It never ceases to amaze
me," says Mr. Seinfeld, who
will appear May 18 at
ClubLand in Detroit. "People
come up to me and start
talking like we've been car-
rying on a conversation.
They come right up and say,
without any introduction,
`Now that guy who plays
your next-door neighbor . . ! "
A New York native, Mr.
Seinfeld has been appearing
for years on "The Tonight
Show" and "Late Night with
David Letterman" and on
tour with his stand-up act,
which he calls "my real job."
His other job is a new televi-
sion series, "Seinfeld,"
which intersperses situation
comedy with stand-up
routines.

The idea for the program
came about one day as Mr.
Seinfeld and a friend were
drinking coffee. Part of the
appeal of "Seinfeld" was
that it would allow the com-
edian to give insight into the
ubiquitous question, the one
he hears most often and the
one he most loathes, "Where
do you get your ideas?" He
does this by using the stand-
up comedy segments of the
show to address issues raised
in the situation comedy por-
tion, which focuses on a group
of friends in New York.
Everything becomes fodder
for humor, from suspicious
laundromat workers to a
disgruntled girlfriend
displeased when her
sweetheart's birthday card
is signed with the
thoroughly unromantic, "To
my pal."
His comedy ideas —
wherever they come from —
are often scribbled down in a
notebook, Mr. Seinfeld says.
Other jokes are simply ad-
libbed.
The TV show demands
much of Mr. Seinfeld's time
today; he compares working
on "Seinfeld" to "being an
astronaut. Every second
must be organized and ac-
counted for." . But his first

-/

Jerry Seinfeld: Bringing what's funny to life each time.

and real love is stand-up
comedy.
He grew up in Long Island,
"a pretty funny kid, but
never particularly funny."
After studying theater and
communications at Queens
College, he worked as a light
bulb salesman and a street
vendor of jewelry in
Manhattan. He also found
jobs performing as a stand-
up comedian in some of New
York's backstreet clubs,
making his comedy debuts
anything but glamourous.
Still, Mr. Seinfeld was con-
fident he would be a success.
"I always realized I had the
ability," he said. "I only had
to work out the details." To-
day, he praises that slow
road to fame, which allowed
him to take pleasure in each
breakthrough, he said.
One of his first
breakthroughs was a 1980
appearance on "The Tonight
Show." Soon after, he
brought his routine to "Late
Night with David Letter-
man" and has since per-
formed in nightclubs
throughout the country and
on HBO and Showtime spe-
cials. He continues to make
about 300 performances
each year at clubs, casinos
and in casino halls.
Mr. Seinfeld, who main-
tains homes in Los Angeles
and New York, describes his
approach to comedy as spon-
taneous. He does a different

show in each city, "and I
never know which stuff I'm
going to use." Though
routines will be repeated,
part of the challenge of his
work is "bringing what's
funny to life each time," he
said.
Among his favorite
routines is what he calls
"the Supermarket Trance."
It involves a typical shopper
who wanders down a grocery
store aisle where he needs
absolutely nothing. Sudden-
ly, he finds himself in the
middle of the aisle, staring
blankly at the unneeded food
on the shehies. Mr. Seinfeld
calls this, "one of my favor-
ite moments in life."
When not thinking about
shoppers roaming grocery
store aisles, Mr. Seinfeld in-
dulges in his favorite
hobbies: "cars, girls,
baseball — and that's about
it." He's a devoted Mets fan
and an outspoken critic of
Astroturf and people who
"try to be funny when
they're not."
Many of his best friends
are comedians, Mr. Seinfeld
said, "and we all know we
get away with murder.
We're never working on
anything that isn't fun.
"Being a comedian is
almost too good to be true,"
he says. "It's making a liv-
ing at the kind of stuff you
used to get in trouble for in
school." ❑