King Of Comedy
Returns To Detroit
LESLEY PEARL
Jewish News Intern
T
he incidents which
make Alan King mad
are the same events he
finds funny.
"It's like when someone
loses his money in a pay
phone and starts pounding
on it. It's maddening. But
it's so stupid that it's
funny," the actor-comedian
said this week.
Mr. King will bring his
humor of everyday life to
Pine Knob Aug. 7.
"My show is about my
life," Mr. King said. "I talk
about my parents and go
all the way through
chronologically to my grand-
kids. When the audience
leaves they have lived my
life, felt my pain and seen
the futility of it all.
"Life is hard; it's easier if
you look at it with humor.
"I was never
discovered, I just
arrived."
Alan King
And that is a very Talmudic
way of viewing things," he
said.
A self-proclaimed secular
Jew, Mr. King (born Irwin
Alan Kniberg) was raised by
an Orthodox mother and an
atheist, socialist father — an
upbringing he refers to as
"the best of both worlds."
Growing up in New York,
Mr. King began frequenting
vaudeville shows with his
father at age 5. However, it
wasn't until a few years
later, when he started get-
ting laughs on the street
corner, that Mr. King real-
ized his career goals.
A 13-year-old Alan King
toured with Major Bowes'
amateur show for the
summer. That fall, he
dropped out of school.
"It was too difficult to go
back to the mundane
classroom after getting a
taste of the world," Mr. King
said.
"My parents said very
little," he added, "very little
I could understand. There
was a lot of screaming."
Four years later, Mr. King
had become a regular at
Leon and Eddie's cabaret,
and by 22-years-old he was
appearing at the Paramount
Theatre. Mr. King later
became a familiar face on
television's "Ed Sullivan
.
Show," boasting more than
90 appearances.
Mr. King said his parents
were supportive of his
success, but retained their
shtetl mentality.
"My mother was a pes-
simist. If it was good, it was
good for the minute. It could
change," Mr. King said.
"They lived in fear even in
the United States."
Mr. King attributes much
of his own humor and
success to the funny sarcasm
of his family.
"Of course, it helped that I
was good," he added.
Before Mr. King realized
comedic success in his 20s —
"I was never discovered; I
just arrived" — he had al-
ready given the music busi-
ness a shot with his band
"Earl Knight and his
Musical Knights." Mr. King
played drums and was the
infamous "Earl Knight" for
the bar mitzvah and wed-
ding circuit.
Mr. King quit the band
because he wasn't too
musically talented and
because he liked the in-
dividual spotlight of stand-up
comedy.
He enjoys the adoration of
standing up alone because it
gets him the best seats in
restaurants, reservations on
previously booked airline
flights, brown-nosing by
people who really don't
matter and a lot of recogni-
tion.
However, Mr. King's life has
been more than the limelight.
In addition to his movies —
Bonfire of the Vanities,
Enemies, A Love Story, tele-
vision ("thirtysomething")
and stand-up fame, Mr. King
has founded the Alan King
Diagnostic Medical Center
in Jerusalem, established a
nonsectarian scholarship
fund at the Hebrew Univer-
sity and created a dramatic
arts chair at Brandeis Uni-
versity.
"The Zionism is definitely
from my father," Mr. King
said.
The scholarship fund is
unique because it brings
only foreign students to
Israel, thus educating them
about the people, the politics
and the state. And at 64-
years-old, Mr. King has only
positive remarks about edu-
cation.
"I've become so successful
without school," Mr. King
said. "Can you imagine how
successful I would be if I
went?" 0
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