til he was 17 and his brother con-
vinced him to get onstage during
an open-mike night at a Boston
comedy club. Sandler was
hooked; he continued performing
at comedy clubs while he earned
a fine-arts degree at New York
University, and by 1990 he land-
ed a spot as a writer for "Satur-
day Night Live."
That gig grew into a full-scale
spot in the cast, where Sandler
showcased his musical comedy
— and where "The Chanukah
Song" had its first national air-
ing. Sandler says Allan Sher-
man, the famous Jewish musical
comedian, was not a particular-
ly important influence; rather,
he cites Shelly Berman, Rodney
Dangerfield, Eddie Murphy and
the Cheech & Chong as models.
Determined "not to get stuck
in a rut doing the same stuff,"
Sandler decided that five years
of "Saturday Night Live" was
enough and set his sights on dif-
ferent areas. His films Billy
Madison and Happy Gilmore,
both comedies, were hits. But for
his next film role, Sandler de-
cided to take on the action-dra-
ma Bulletproof, in which he stars
alongside James Caan and Da-
mon Wayans.
"(Caan's) a cool, funny guy. He
likes joking and making people
laugh," says Sandler, who re-
grets that his grandmother, a
Caan fan, isn't alive to see the
movie. "But he (Caan) is tough;
you do have that in the back of
your head — that he can beat
the hell out of you. No doubt
about it."
On tour, meanwhile, Sandler
is living out a bit of teen-age fan-
tasy by taking out a high-pow-
ered rock band — led by veteran
guitarist Waddy Wachtel (Keith
Richards, Jackson Browne, Ste-
vie Nicks) — to play his songs
plus covers of some of his favorite
Bruce Springsteen, Led Zep-
pelin, Elton John and Barry
White (really) tunes.
"I never had the discipline for
anything but comedy and acting
— more so comedy," Sandler ex-
plains. "Even when I was a bus
boy, I didn't do well. I got fired.
I just couldn't deal with the job,
even though it wasn't that dif-
ficult. I didn't like running
around, listening to people
telling me what to do.
"But I do have the discipline
to stay up all night and make
sure I write something that, to
me, feels good. That I'll do."

If you don't stop your friend from driving drunk, who will? Do whatever it takes.

FRIENDS DON'T LET FRIENDS DRIVE DRUNK.

. wir s, V V

Every year, your heart pumps
2,625,000 pints of blood.

Surely, you can spare a few.

❑

Adam Sandler, with special
guest comedian Allen Covert,
will perform at 7:30 p.m. Friday,
June 28, at Pine Knob. Tickets
are $25 for pavilion and $12.50
for lawn. Call Ticketrnaster at
(810) 645=6666.

U.S. Department of Transportation

am American
111- Red Cross

-

9ive blood again. It will be felt fora lifetirne.

...... . .