1AON G HU4
- FINE CHINESE DINING
Invites You To
'A wonderful adventure in fine dining" — Danny Raskin
show, they could skip the canned talk.
"I'm not going to give you specific
questions. I'll just give you topics:
Lakers, marriage, kids. Interrupt me
any time you want, even if it's not the
end of my story. I will find my way
out."
Carson said it wouldn't work. But
"sometime later he needed me to fill
in [in a guest spot] at the last moment.
I said I'd fill in but do it my way,"
Steinberg recalls. "[Johnny] was funny
in my segment, funnier than I was,
because he didn't have to look at his
notes and could respond any way he
wanted to.
"When I started to do Sit Down,
I wanted to get back to all that spon-
taneity. I don't know anything at all
[about the guests]. I'm the anti-James
Lipton." (Detroit native Lipton is the
very well prepared host of Inside the
Actors Studio on Bravo.)
"Given that I'm the Zelig of the com-
edy world, I know everyone," Steinberg
adds. "But I don't know where they're
from or anything like that, and [the
spontaneity] is what seems to be
working with the audience."
Guests this season will include
Jon Stewart, Garry Shandling, Ray
Romano and Robin Williams (post-
rehab). If the advanced tapes sent to
critics are any indication, Steinberg is
clearly right. Spontaneity works.
Not bad for a rabbi's son from
Winnipeg. Steinberg's father was a
Romanian-born rabbi and grocer; his
mother, a rebbetzin.
"Growing up Jewish in Canada is
very different from growing up Jewish
in the States," Steinberg says. "Here,
you're obsessed with the melting pot.
There is no melting pot in Canada.
Ethnicity is encouraged, and you can
be what you are much more comfort-
ably than you can in the States."
The comic spent his formative years
attending Talmud Torah in Winnipeg
and then a yeshivah in Chicago. When
he was 18, the B'nai Akiva Zionist
organization sent him to Israel to
study at the Hebrew University. He
came back and attended the University
of Chicago.
By that time it was clear he wasn't
going to follow in his father's footsteps.
"I realized that the guys I was with
[at yeshivah] were incredibly brilliant
scholarly types; I wasn't as good at the
Talmud as they were."
While in Chicago, he attended a per-
formance of the Second City comedy
troupe. "I said, `Oh my God, I can do
this:' He and a buddy auditioned, were
accepted and the rest, as they say, is
comedy history.
Even though this was the early '60s,
Steinberg was urged to change his
name. He was told "it would look like
Frankie Valli was playing a date with
his accountant." But Steinberg refused.
In fact, he says, "I got laughs by
being militantly Jewish." He'd say, for
example, "My father never lived to ful-
fill his dream — a Yiddish-speaking
Canada:'
As for his experiences with the
Nixon dirty tricks squad, says
Steinberg, "I wear that as a badge of
honor. Remember, this was before
Saturday Night Live, and a lot of
people weren't doing political humor.
I was out there, and I talked about
Nixon selling his tapes just like the K-
tel commercials [that sold song com-
pilations during the period]. I had no
idea [the Nixon people] were watching.
"I was doing a series of college con-
certs. Every time I'd talk about Nixon
or Watergate, I'd start to get heckled.
A writer friend of mine who was with
me said it was the same guy in every
concert everywhere we'd go.
"Once I was at the Plaza [in New
York] when a guy came to the door
and claimed he was from the FBI. He
said they'd received a threat through
the switchboard that someone said
he'd shoot me if I did my Nixon mate-
rial."
Meanwhile, Sit Down Comedy
has whetted Steinberg's appetite for
a return to performing. "I didn't real-
ize how much I missed being in front
of an audience,' he says. "If the book
creates any momentum, I might just
consider it. But you gotta remember
that by 10 at night I like to be in my
jammies. So it would be better if I
could work in the afternoon."
Featuring Gourmet Oriental Cuisine
Excellent
Lunch
and
Dinner
Selections
7 Days
a Week
11 a.m.-
Midnight
Complete
Menu
Carryout
•
Gift
Certificates
Available
•
We Cater
To Private
Parties
27925 Orchard Lake Road, north of 12 Mile • Farmington Hills
248.489.2280
1209770
I& KING OF EGGWHITES
N N
F
r
1
ilrealcfast Special
Buy One Item, Get
I 2nd Item of Equal or Lesser I
Value FREE
all day M-F
no weekends or holidays
I
L
lam-11 am71
eggs, hash browns,tj
E
I toast:
wit • 70
add meat of
your choice:
no weekends or holidays
$3.95
I
TWO
With Coupon • Exp. 04/01/07
Wi th Coupon • Exp. 04/01/07
J LOCATIONS! L
28637 Northwestern Hwy
Promenade Plaza • Southfield
West Bloomfield
Hours: M-Sa 7am-lOpm or later!
Hours: M-Sa: 7am-3pm, Sun: Sam-3pm
Sun: Sam-4pm
Ph.: 248-626-3750
Ph.: 248-440-0577 Fax: 248-440-0599
6680 Orchard Lake Rd.
• Cocktails • Beer & Wine •
• Healthy Diet Dishes •
•€ It? cte
3
2-GC it Cktri-et
32,5050
10%
OFF
DINNER ONLY
96:1,
I Dine-in or carry-out. Not good on
holidays or with any other offer.
Expires 3/04/07
DELIVERY AVAILABLE FOR OFFICES min $20
29875 Northwestern Highway
For complete menu:
At Inkster • Applegate Square
www.empirechinesefood.com
(248) 353-7890
OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK FOR LUNCH AND DINNER 120653
TRUST YOUR AFFAIR TO THE FINEST CATERER
WE'LL BEAT YOUR BEST PRICE!
Weddings • Bar/Bat Mitzvahs • Showers • Banquets
Reunions • Anniversaries • Birthdays • Etc.
We Cater at Most Synagogues,
Temples, Hotels and the
Halls Of Your Choice
PHILIP TEWEL, Food & Beverage Director
248.661-4050
CLASSIC CUISINE
Farmington Hills
February 15 • 2007
67