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A LAUGH from page 39

the top-quality seats, so that everyone
will have a good view of the stage."

Funny Business

Each of the three
comedians did well
on Last Comic
Standing, which
brought the reality of
the intimate comedy
club to national TV.
Gulman garnered
$50,000 for placing
third and fourth
respectively in two of
Rob Cantrell
the show's seasons.
and Alonzo
"It was a great expe-
Baden
rience, and it has
changed my whole
career," he said from
Atlanta, Ga., where he
was appearing as part
of a new round of bookings. "I'm
busier now than at any time since
I became a professional comic."
Gutman, in his mid-30s and single, is
a native of Peabody, Mass., a suburb of
Boston that has a population of 50,000
and two synagogues. He was in the first
grade when he started watching TV
comedians, and his parents soon let him
stay up to see Saturday Night Live each
week.
Captain of his high-school basketball
team, Gulman played tight end on the
Boston College football squad. "It's a
mainly Catholic school," he said, "and I
had the perfect nickname: Jew."
With his accounting degree, he
worked for a former Big 8 accounting
firm for two years,. "but I saw no pur-
pose in spending the rest of my life just
adding columns of numbers," he said.
"I didn't like that lifestyle."
So, like Leo Bloom, the fictional
accountant in the Broadway hit musical
and film The Producers, Gulman turned
in his ledgers and No. 5 Ticonderoga
pencil. He sought other lines of work,
such as waiter and substitute teacher.
"My parents got quite concerned
about my future," he noted. "They
thought I was a little meshuggah for
abandoning accounting. Then I went to
California with my mother to visit rela-
tives. She got us into the audience for
the Johnny Carson show, and I became
infatuated with comedy. I was very sad
when Carson passed away last month.
"My mom really helped further my
comedy career. I began doing 'open
mike' nights at comedy clubs, discussing
the business with other comedians,
meeting agents and doing crazy shows. I
would drive six hours to some obscure
club to do only five minutes."

Gulman's big break was his perform-
ance at the prestigious Montreal
International Comedy Festival. That led
to stints on the Tonight Show With Jay
Leno, the Late Show With David
Letterman and Comedy Central's
Premium Blend He also did a half-
hour solo performance on cable TV's
Showtime Network. Now, he appears
at the top comedy clubs around the
country.
The JVS gig at the Fox will be the
first Detroit appearance for Gulman,
whose forte is mainly
observational and reali-
ty humor. The comic
said he tries his best to
observe the Jewish holi-
days while touring.
"Last year, I found
myself in Cleveland on
Yom Kippur, so I
attended a beautiful syn-
agogue and fasted," he
said.

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Worthy Cause

JVS, with six Detroit-area branches, last
year helped nearly 30,000 individuals
and many businesses and unions
through its 60 support programs, most-
ly in training and education, carried out
in accordance with traditional Jewish
values.
Nurenberg cited Michigan's depressed
economy, budget cutbacks and the
unemployment rate, currently at 7.3
percent one of the highest in the nation,
as causing dwindling revenues for the
"increasingly important work" of JVS.
"Nonprofit organizations like ours are
suffering — and the need to help indi-
viduals is even greater in times like
these. Corporate cutbacks and collaps-
ing small businesses are causing very
serious unemployment problems in the
Jewish community," she said.
"This includes a lot of white-collar
unemployment in Oakland County.
Also, there are more and more people
with severe disabilities, plus a growing
number of elderly people who need
attention."

ow
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a

Phone: 248-569-0105 OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK (call tor hours)
29267 Southfield Rd. I Southfield. MI
Fax: 248-569-0133

•

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West
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(BREAKFAST LUNCH & MORE)

Our Restaurant is available
for evening casual or elegant private parties to fit
anyone's budget. Book your party by March 313t, 2005

& receive $5 of per person with security deposit.

❑

The Last Comic Standing Reunion,
to benefit JVS, will be held at
Detroit's Fox Theatre beginning 9
p.m. Saturday, March 5. Doors
open at 7:30 p.m. Ticket range:
$45-$500. For tickets and infor-
mation, call (248) 233-4225 or go
to vvwvv.jvsdet.org. General chair-
persons of the event are Elyse and
David Foltyn of Birmingham.

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43

