He's Not
Shticking
Around
regularlywith his rabbi in New York state,
but Altman's religion plays a minor role in
is manic stage shows. He is not, he stress-
es, another kvelling Richard Lewis.
"It's very helpful to have a hook," he says,
referring to comics like Lewis who've latched
onto a character and developed their material
solely from that angle. "I don't have a hook. But
— I'm crazy, I'm nuts, I'm funny.
Altman, meanwhile, has dabbled in a little
bit of everything. He's hawked Budweiser,
Valvoline, Nestle Toll House cookies and Pana-
sonic electronics in a fusillade of television com-
mercials. He's recorded an album and two
Showtime specials. He survived a couple short-
lived '80s sitcoms, and though his film career
has been kinder (with starring roles in Doing
Time and American Hot Wax), the big screen
has yet to catapult his name into the limelight.
"I don't think it's helped me" to have had
such an eclectic career, says the 40-year-old
Altman during a phone interview from his
Southern California home. But it's been an in-
teresting ride nonetheless.
Altman grew up in Syracuse, N.Y., the son
of a successful magician whose illusions Alt-
man would incorporate into his earliest onstage
antics. After graduating from Johns Hopkins
University, he fled to the West Coast where he
settled into the life of a struggling comic.
"I was very confident in those days," he says.
"I was getting my feet wet," paying $100 a
month rent for a Hollywood Hills apartment
and palling around with David Letterman.
Both were regulars at the Comedy Store, and
it wasn't long before Altman was landing TV
appearances and, soon after, his first starring
sitcom role on an hour-long NBC variety show
called "Pink Lady & Jeff." The ill-fated story-
line had Altman playing tour guide and inter-
preter to a female Japanese rock duo.
The show lasted only a month, but "it
changed my life remarkably," says Altman,
who went from earning a modest living to
$17,000 a week. Regular spots on "Solid Gold"
and appearances on dozens of prime-time tele-
vision shows, movies of the week and late-night
gabfests (Letterman
has invited him more Funny man Jeff Altman has
than 30 times) fol- two sitcoms and a myriad of
late-night appearances
lowed.
under his belt, but what he's
Altman describes really looking for is a nice
his onstage persona Jewish girl.
as "very physical,
eclectic" and compares his style to that of friend
Robin Williams, though "a little more autobi-
ographical" than Williams. "I reflect on things
that I have happening in my own life," he says.
"My dad, divorce, kids, infertility."
Currently auditioning for two television sit-
com pilots, Altman has never been at a loss for
work (watch for him on Letterman's show April
24). And never second-guessed his career
choice. "I was either going to be a rabbi or a co-
median," he jokes, explaining why he took the
secular route. 'The basis of everything I always
did with my life was trying to make people
laugh."
— Liz Stevens
fl Jeff Altman appears at Joey's Comedy
Club tonight and tomorrow. Tickets are $12
for the show only and $23.95klinner and show.
Paisano's, 5070 Schaefer, Dearborn. (313) 584-
8885.
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Eisenhower
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The company performs with the
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Opens Fri., 8 p.m.
8 p.m.
Detroit's homegrown pop-funk
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Michigan
Authors
On Stage
Actors from the Village Play-
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Dutch Leonard, Stuart Dybeck,
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Sat., 8 p.m.