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Laughter And Song

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ZOA's Balfour Concert to showcase
Jewish comedy and melodies.

SUZANNE CHESSLER

Special to the Jewish News

j ewish humor and Jewish
music team up at the 68th
annual Balfour Concert, to
be held Sunday, Oct. 21, at
the Millennium Theatre Center in
Southfield.
Comedian Freddie Roman and ver-
satile tenor Alberto Mizrahi, both
familiar to Detroit audiences, will
entertain to raise funds for the
Zionist Organization of America as it
supports programs for Israel and pays
tribute to Harry and Sally
Nosanchuk, who will receive the
Justice Louis D. Brandeis Award for
their community work.
"Fortunately for Alberto, he sings
beautifully, and I don't," jokes
Roman, who has appeared at the
Fisher Theatre in

j

nightclub audiences around the
country, was away from the stage for
10 days after the World Trade Center
terrorist attack — not all that far
from his New Jersey home. He's glad
to be back on the road.
"Now that I've started working
again, I think that I'm going along
with the message that the president
and Mayor Giuliani gave out — it's
time to get back to our lives," says
Roman. The standup comedian
brings his family into the act through
his jokes.
"In the last few days that I've
worked, people have been laughing a
lot, and I think they need that
release."
Roman, whose son Alan produces
the CBS sitcom Yes, Dear, has spent
the past eight years as president of
the New York Friars Club, coordinat-

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to celebrate the upstate
New York region
whose hotels hosted
scores of America's
foremost humorists.
"Fortunately for me,
I tell jokes beautifully,
and he doesn't. We do
pretty much our own
thing."
Roman, who finds
humor in everyday liv-
ing and shares his
observations with

Comedian Freddie Roman Tenor Alberto Mizrahi

What About Bob?

Rabbi Bob Alper,
a standup comic, brings
the "holiness of laughter
to Temple Israel.

Rabbi Bob Alper

10/12

2001

78

SUZANNE CHESSLER

Special to the Jewish. News

abbi Bob Alper hasn't been
giving many sermons in
recent years, but the tragic
events of Sept. 11 changed that a bit.
As he travels around the United
States and Canada, he wants to give
a message that has to do with the
power and holiness of laughter.
During the past 15 years, Alper's
message has been in humor as he
transitioned to becoming a full-time
comedian. During the past few
weeks, he has been offering a serious
introduction before getting into his
actual jokes.

