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November 14, 2013 - Image 61

Resource type:
Text
Publication:
The Detroit Jewish News, 2013-11-14

Disclaimer: Computer generated plain text may have errors. Read more about this.

arts & entertainment

Make 'Em

Author-comedians "stand up"
for books at comedy event.

Laugh

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A MEMOIR Of A
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J.

Marion Grodin

I

Suzanne Chessler
Contributing Writer

M

arion Grodin and Fred Stoller
traveled very different routes
as they headed toward the
same goalpost: a career in comedy.
Grodin, the daughter of funnyman
Charles Grodin, was encouraged and
praised for the steps that led to work in
television and clubs.
Stoller was discouraged by a mother
who thought an entertainment career
would be disastrous even as he found
jobs in clubs and television.
The two, who have revealed their bit-
tersweet experiences through new mem-
oirs, will share a stage for the first time
as they talk about their books and add
some new personalized joking during
the JCC Jewish Book Fair.
"Comedy Night," on Nov. 16, will
take a local turn as well with Michigan
native Mindy Raf joining the program to
describe her route to the same comedy-
career goalpost. Raf, who transformed
her teenage experiences into a novel for
young adults, also has worked in televi-
sion and clubs.
Alan Muskovitz, Detroit Jewish News
columnist and independent writer-
producer-comic known for radio humor
with Dick Purtan, will be emcee.
"I really want us to have a good time,"
says Grodin, 53, author of Standing
Up: A Memoir of a Funny (Not Always)
Life (Center Street; $23). Following her
standup routine, she will do an extensive
Q&A session.
"I like what's interactive and fun for
the audience," she says.
Grodin explains how she has managed
to let comedy override the downtimes,
including divorce, breast cancer and
alcohol dependence. Her many showbiz
stories include the one about her crush
on Jeff Bridges.

Fred Stoller

"I'm deeply proud of my book," says
the entertainer, who grew up in New
York and now lives in New Jersey.
"There's deep honesty and authenticity.
At the same time, there are laugh-out-
loud funny parts.
"At the end of the day and the end of
the book, it's about hope and looking
for the joy in life, knowing that each
person is far more than the sum of the
worst things that have happened to that
person:'
Grodin, sober for 25 years, started as
a sitcom writer, became a screenwriter
and worked with her dad on the Charles
Grodin Show.
Deciding to speak her own humorous
lines, she went into stand-up and brings
Judaism into the act.
"I come from a long line of funny
Jews," she says. "My father's grandfather
was a talmudic scholar known for mak-
ing the Talmud humorous."
Enjoying the travel involved in pro-
moting the book, Grodin has another
writing project in mind.
"I would love to write what it's like to
be a female stand-up comedian of a cer-
tain age on the road," she says. "There
are hilarious and heartbreaking stories.
Stand-up comedy is extremely patriar-
chal:'
Stoller also brings happy and sad
times into his autobiography, Maybe
We'll Have You Back: The Life of a
Perennial TV Guest Star (Skyhorse
Publishing; $24.95).
"By doing book events, I came up with
material and took it back to the comedy
clubs," says Stoller, 55. "I have funny sto-
ries about the writing of the book.
"I wrote about what I like to read —
the sides of Hollywood that we don't
often see, the average actors and quirky
experiences, and I feel it has a humanity
to it all.
"I've always been a nebbish and ner-

Mindy Raf

vous guy, but I think I'm more dimen-
sional in the book. I think we typecast
ourselves in show business and life. In
my own way, and through writing, I felt
more proud about all the steps I've taken
trying to get to the next level."
Stoller, who grew up in Brooklyn and
lives in Los Angeles, tried stand-up
after seeing a show with Richard Lewis
and Billy Crystal as they were starting
out. He found an agent and entered the
sphere of auditioning for TV series.
The many sitcoms on which he
has appeared include Murphy Brown,
Empty Nest, Amen and Everybody Loves
Raymond.
"I wrote a whole chapter about work-
ing on Seinfeld," Stoller says. "I worked
with Larry David on the writing."
A lot of Stoller's book and comedy
have to do with his mother, who didn't
understand how a shy, depressed kid
could become a comedian.
"I think I get my self-deprecating
sense of humor from my family," he says.
"My father's family has a dry sense of
humor, and I identify with the Jewish
history of being an outsider:'
Stoller, who appeared in Michigan
years ago as the opening act for Ben
Vereen, hopes that his visits to Jewish
book events will lead to stand-up
bookings for Jewish events not related
to books. He is glad to be receiving
Facebook communications from people
planning to see him in West Bloomfield.
"It's been liberating to tell about my
frustrations and what makes me ner-
vous," says Stoller, planning another
book with quirky stories. "It's really
about a guy trying to find a home in
show business.
"I wrote down anecdotes from differ-
ent shows I was on, and a friend helped
with the editing. I think I have a unique
story."
Raf, 33, started working on The

Symptoms of My Insanity (Dial; $16.99)
at the suggestion of someone watch-
ing her do stand-up in New York. A
graduate of Andover High School in
Bloomfield Hills, she went on to the
University of Michigan and celebrated
her Judaism at Temple Israel.
The book brings a new dimension to
a career that also has included musical
performance. Raf introduces her own
songs through vocals and guitar.
The main character in Raf's book is
Izzy Skymen, a Jewish teenager living
in a Detroit suburb and facing lots of
turmoil. The teen worries about physical
changes she's enduring while her mother
actually confronts serious illness.
Izzy, tied to a deadline for an art
scholarship submission, also has to
make decisions about a tentative boy-
friend who lets a revealing photo go
viral and a girlfriend whose personality
seems to have changed.
Although Raf's book is fictional, it
shares a message with the memoirs.
"I wanted the book to say that you
can go through times in your life when
everything gets very bad," explains Raf,
who has written for VH1, TNT and the
Daily Comedy Network and performed
as her alter-ego, Leibya Rogers.
"Maybe you can't make it all better,
but you can choose how you respond
and move forward.
"There's a way to get through it even
if you can't tie up every single loose end
in a perfect way or find an immediate
happy ending. That's part of life."



The JCC Jewish Book Fair presents
"Comedy Night" at 8:30 p.m.
Saturday, Nov.16, at the Jewish
Community Center in West
Bloomfield. $20 includes snacks.
(248) 432-5462; www.jcc.org/
bookfair.

November 14 • 2013

61

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