Page 30 - ARUBA TODAY

A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Monday 4 deceMber 2017

The godfather of comedy looks

back on a lifetime of laughs

By JOHN ROGERS At least one would surely “Afterward I said to Budd,
Associated Press decide to bankroll a show ‘What does this mean?’
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The the distinguished-looking He says, ‘It means you can
godfather of comedy has fellow wearing the mon- come here any night that
a few secrets to share: ocle wanted to produce. you want and work for
First, he never intended to (He wouldn’t tell them he free.’ I went, ‘Wow, I can
become the godfather of wore the monocle only be- work for free!’
comedy, never had any cause it was too difficult to “But I was ecstatic,” Lewis
In this Friday, Dec. 1, 2017, photo shows Budd Friedman, idea how to accomplish read receipts in his dark- added more seriously dur-
godfather of comedy at his home in Westwood district of Los the feat and, a half-centu- ened club.) ing a recent interview.
Angeles. ry later, isn’t quite sure how Most of the singers and pia- “Budd stands as the god-
Associated Press he did it. nists, save for Bette Midler father of comedy. He re-
When Budd Friedman and Barry Manilow, never ally was that important of
opened a dingy brick- caught on. But the comics a figure. Everybody had to
walled nightclub called poured in from the coffee- go through that club if they
The Improvisation on the houses and began getting wanted to make it.”
edge of New York’s theatre on stage. As the ‘60s melded into
district in 1963, there were Richard Pryor was one of the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s,
no other major comedy the first to come through they kept coming: Leno,
clubs to speak of in the U.S. the door, followed soon af- Billy Crystal, Lily Tomlin, Jerry
Stand-up comics were gen- ter by George Carlin. Rod- Seinfeld, Adam Sandler.
erally relegated to playing ney Dangerfield wandered Now 85 and slowed by a
small coffeehouses, tell- in drunk one night and recent stroke that has low-
ing mother-in-law jokes at bombed, then returned so- ered the volume of that
summer resorts or keeping ber the next, killed and was Zeus-like voice, the semi-
audiences entertained be- quickly hired as the emcee. retired Friedman says he still
tween strip shows. It was the dawn of a de- enjoys catching a new act.
There are comedy clubs cade of tumult that marked In his book, he recounts a
across the country now, the Civil Rights Era, political colorful life by any mea-
and in Friedman’s just- assassinations, escalation sure: Born Gerson Friedman
published memoir, “The Im- of the Vietnam War and and nicknamed Budd in
prov: An Oral History of the other events that provided childhood, he lost his father
Comedy Club That Revo- endless amounts of dark at age 5 to a blood infec-
lutionized Stand-Up,” gen- humor. tion and years later nearly
erations of comedians from “I think the time was just lost his own life during the
Jay Leno to Jimmy Fallon right for it,” Friedman muses Korean War. Carried off the
give the author the lion’s now. battlefield wounded, he
share of the credit. It quickly became clear says he saw dead soldiers
“Budd Friedman is one of that the Improv was the lying all around him.
the greatest influences in place to express that dark His New York Improv closed
comedy ever. Bar none. humor — often in the most in 1992, years after it had
He changed pop culture colorful language people been surpassed in im-
forever,” Fallon says in like Carlin or Pryor could portance by the one he
the book co-authored by manage. Friedman might opened in Hollywood in
Friedman and veteran en- advise them to swear a lit- 1978 and that almost im-
tertainment journalist Tripp tle less, but he instituted no mediately burned down.
Whetsell. real restrictions. Of course, Andy Kaufman and Robin
To hear Friedman tell it, he didn’t pay them either. Williams hosted fundraisers
changing comedy’s di- “I went in there on open to keep him afloat until it re-
rection was about the last mic night. I didn’t even opened. Since then Fried-
thing the former ad man know it was called that. It man has added nearly two
set out to do. was probably called ‘Bring dozen franchised Improvs
“It was a complete fluke. I some friends and buy some across the country.
wanted to be a theatrical booze night,’” recalls Rich- There was never any se-
producer,” he said during a ard Lewis, who most re- cret formula to finding the
recent phone interview. cently can be seen playing comics for them, he says.
So he opened an after- a comical version of himself All they had to do was be
hours club in a section of on Larry David’s long-run- funny. “I picked only the
midtown Manhattan that ning pseudo-reality sitcom right guys,” he says, add-
although dicey was within “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” ing, “There were some that
walking distance of Broad- To Lewis’ surprise, Friedman got away.”
way’s theater district. He came on stage after that Asked who, he struggles to
figured he’d bring in some first set, put his arm around name one.
aspiring singers and pia- him and, in a voice the co- The thing is, he says, if some-
nists, serve food and wait median recalls sounding one didn’t make him laugh,
for deep-pocketed, hun- like that of the Greek god he forgot their name.
gry people leaving those Zeus, declared he’d found “So if they got away, I
Broadway shows to wan- the hottest young comic of guess I don’t know who got
der in. 1971. away,” he says, laughing.q