„7-eetee
observing their mannerisms and materi-
al. On the same day he graduated from
Queens College in New York, he did his
first standup act at Manhattan's Catch a
Rising Star open-mike night — and
froze, muttering a few jokes, then leav-
ing the stage.
He later performed standup — free, at
times — just to perfect his act. To make
ends meet, he took a variety of odd jobs,
including selling light bulbs over the
phone and peddling fake jewelry on the
street.
His comedy work paid off. He even-
tually guested on Late Night with David
Letterman and the Tonight show, and
did some network and cable specials.
One of his early jokes was about a
detergent commercial in which a
woman brags that she can remove
bloodstains. He noted: "If you have a
T-shirt with bloodstains, maybe laun-
dry is not your problem."
Although he was doing well in New
York, Seinfeld felt he wasn't getting
ahead quickly enough, so he moved to
Los Angeles — writing comedy, landing
some bit TV roles and developing such
trademark lines as: "If I'm the best man,
why is she marrying him?"
In 1988, he teamed up with writer
Larry David to formulate the TV show,
often dubbed "a show about nothing."
But, writes Epstein, with its humor ema-
nating from conversations rather than
situations, it was "really a complex guide
to the deepest needs of the American
mind."
Jewish Sensibility
As author Epstein points out, the success
of the award-winning Seinfeld came
from the grafting of the sweet, funny
and clean-humored real-life Seinfeld to
the selfish and self-absorbed TV Seinfeld
and his friends: George (Jason
Alexander), Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus)
and Kramer (Michael Richards).
They cheated, lied and used each
other for their own ends, but remained
lovable characters.
Seinfeld was the only person on the
show (other than his parents) who was
identified as being Jewish — despite the
overwhelmingly "Jewish sensibility" of
the program.
In one episode, Jerry admits he's
Jewish to a priest in a confessional,
where he's gone to complain about a
dentist who converted to Judaism just
for the jokes. He's not offended by the
dentist as a Jew, he tells the priest, but as
a comedian.
"The emotionally distant Jerry, the
depressive George, the self-centered
Elaine and the perpetually failing
Kramer seemed like odd characters,"
Epstein relates, "but the relationship
.114:Wer
among the characters went right back to
Jack Benny. He let his audience laugh at
him, and, in doing so, they laughed at
those parts of themselves they recognized
and probably felt guilty about.
"The young audiences that watched
Seinfeld got the same kind of emotional
release. The Jerry character, like Benny,
was the straight man."
Whereas the average TV sitcom script
is 50 pages long, Seinfeld's were about
70. "The excess of language betrayed a
nervousness, a distinctly urban and dis-
tinctly Jewish approach to dealing with
anxiety," Epstein points out.
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Can We Talk?
As a youngster, Epstein, 55, always
watched Jewish comedians and followed
their careers, gathering books and video-
tapes with their material. It took him
three years to research and write The
Haunted Smile.
He interviewed 70 people for the
book, including some of the top Jewish
comics in the business, as well as relatives
of deceased comedians.
Fanny Brice, George Jessel, Eddie
Cantor, Groucho Marx, Jack Benny,
George Burns, Milton Berle, Mort Sahl,
Woody Allen, Jackie Mason, Rodney
Dangerfield, Roseanne, Joan Rivers,
Andy Kaufman and others are analyzed.
Although Milton Berle, 93, was too ill
to talk, Epstein spoke with Sid Caesar,
Buddy Hackett, Shecky Greene, Shelly
Berman, Soupy Sales, Abe Vigoda,
David Brenner, Norm Crosby and oth-
ers — but not Seinfeld.
"Jerry is among the ilk of young
comedians who declines to be inter-
viewed," said Epstein. "Paul Reiser and
Adam Sandler are two others who
wouldn't talk."
On the other hand, young Jeff Ross,
who has become popular on recent TV
roasts, spent a great deal of time with
Epstein.
"Great stars of the past gave me a lot
of their time," said Epstein. "Shecky at
first told me he only had a minute to
talk — then spent 45 minutes on the
phone, doing practically his entire Las
Vegas routine, including fantastic imita-
tions.
"Hackett made my wife laugh for two
minutes before I even got on the phone.
I laughed so hard at Crosby I could
hardly take notes."
Epstein recounts the jokes, routines
and anecdotes that have captivated audi-
ences for more than a century and
turned Jewish comedy into an American
idiom.
Rich in Jewish history in general, not
just Jewish comedy histom the book
offers a deep and subtle understanding
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