The Healing Power of Live Comedy
This article was first published in Pulse in 2005.
A weekly Hudson Valley newspaper that no longer publishes
The Healing Power of Live Comedy by Stan Beinstein
My 30 plus years in the Hudson Valley have put me in touch with many world famous musicians. I have used this column as a forum for some of those encounters. Today I would like to discuss comedy. There is no more fascinating live art form than stand up comedy. No support musicians to lean on…no guitar solo to extend when you forget the words…no pensive moments..as in music or theater, which empowers the audience to capture their private muse in a variety of emotions….. Just you….and your innate ability to.. MAKE THEM LAUGH…….PERIOD… It is the most grueling performance art.
I have had the pleasure of meeting some of the worlds great comedians and today I will use this space to reflect some of those encounters. In 1981 Robin Williams first movie was filmed partly in Millbrook. It was The World According To Garp ..The cast “break” party was held at the then newly renovated Chance. Williams likes to reflect on how he put his career up his nose in those days. That night he came out of the bathroom at the Chance with a sizable smudge of white powder under his nose. He was absolutely wired. On stage that night was a New York City blues band led by guitarist Robert Ross…Williams borrowed a harmonica got up in front of the film crew and cast and began to proselytize . He was ranting like a preacher in the deep south..and he really knew what to do with that harmonica. I was astounded. He was so genuinely funny that I actually had to gasp for air. He finds his audience he grabs them ..and he does not let go… he can segue between accents in a millisecond. Even that crowd ,which was laden with jaded show biz types, knew that they were witnessing a man possessed of incredible powers to make people laugh.
I would meet Robin Wiliams again a couple of years later when he headlined the Mid Hudson Civic Center. A Harvey and Corky presentation….it would be his first piece of business with Harvey Weinstein who would later become Miramax films . He had already retired Mork from his live act… Backstage during a photo shoot for a radio contest “meet and greet “ceremony I lapsed into my fathers Yiddish accent.. Willaims heard this and he came back at me with my fathers voice as if he were born in Bialystock …he did not let go of this accent for a good 5 minutes…He works harder than any stand up comedian I have ever seen…and I was honored to have him personally working me into the ground...He flies without a net.. and he finds the laughs… the same way that Coltrane found applause in the middle of his sax solos..the audience starts to absorb the rhythm of the artist and neither Coltrane or Robin Williams gave their audience much room to breathe. When they’re riffing..fasten your seatbelt. It is an out of body experience.
At the WDST Holiday party last week I was chatting with Doug Grunther. Doug is the host of Woodstock Roundtable .a two hour eclectic talk show on Sunday mornings 8a-10a..(100.1fm…shameless plug)….Doug is an incredibly diverse and witty fellow. We were talking about the healing power of laughter and being in the room live with a stand up comedian.. There is a fine line between laughter and tears..they come from the same emotional well.
He referred to the healing power that a stand up comedian possesses as SHAMANISTIC…and it suddenly occurred to me that there had to be a connection between SHOWMAN and SHAMAN… A shaman is defined in many cultures as a mediator between the human and spiritual world. Sometimes refered to as Medicine Men or Witch Doctors..the meaning that seems to resonate best in reference to modern stand up comedy seems to be Spiritual Healers.
When you go to see a comedian live you want to laugh. You want to physically work yourself into that state of losing control..maybe you cackle or tear up Maybe things fly out of your nose.The kind of laughing you did as a kid . A no holds barred liberating experience. The kind of stuff you just can’t do in front of the tv set…or even in a movie theater.. you want a contagious spiritual chain reaction to occur in the house.. and that can only happen with a live performer at the pulpit in front of you.
Doug said that he was studying this phenomenon of “letting go through laughter..and the healing properties of laughter”..He observed that when we are “in the house” with the comedian we actually laugh at things we might not otherwise find funny. More than just the jokes ..we laugh at the body language..facial expressions..pauses…..and the crowds willingness to let go… we laugh at each others laugh…It has been a common practice for comedians to hire and plant people with contagious laughs in the audience… The late Lorenzo Music was a comedy writer and producer on many TV shows …Smothers Bros., Mary Tyler Moore and on Rhoda he played the voice of Carlton The Doorman. The show was filmed in front of a live audience..and he had a distinctive horselike laugh..which would spread like fire. If You watch more than one episode of Rhoda you will notice the recurrence of this laugh.
Doug also mentioned that his two favorite stand up comedians were Williams and Jackie Mason.. I had the pleasure of meeting both of them more than once each…. Jackie came from a family of Rabbi’s .. so his spiritual bent is truly bent..
I first met Jackie in ( where else) Miami Beach in 1977. He had been struggling since 1963 when Ed Sullivan virtually pulled the plug on his TV appearance poltential. ..Back in those days of live TV the stage manager put up his index finger to the artist from the orchestra pit when there was one minute left. Jackie was on a roll and he said..” well they’re giving me a finger …telling me it’s time to go ..so I got a finger for you too”…
..and he held up his index finger in a a mock obscene gesture to the stage manager....not his middle finger… The damage was done. Jackie never worked Sullivan again. In fact he got NO TV for over 15 years.
I saw him this night at in Feb. 1977 at The Colonial Inn on Collins Ave. an old fashioned jewish two story beach hotel that was torn down for what is now Trump Tower. He was incredible……..”you’re a better crowd than last night ….the act before me was so bad ..that half way through my show they were still booing him…”
The routines were fast and furious…I was lifted into that state that empowers the shaman/showman to know that he is connecting with you..and it also empowers him to reach for the next level….After the show I was exhausted…I gave my business card to the security guard with the hopes of getting Jackie’s autograph.
I was working at WPDH in Poughkeepsie..The security guy came back and said..” you in radio?”..yeah…Jackie would like you to wait ten minutes…”…I had been backstage after many rock concerts but never backstage with a comedian. I was ushered into his dressing room. He was living in Miami at the time yet his skin was a white as snow in his sleeveless t shirt.
Jackie was still sweating 20 minutes after his show had ended..He was absolutely drained as though he had performed an excorsism.
. He offered me a seat in his dressing room. He looked at my card and said..” you’re in radio?.....I got a question…
The Mutual network is offering me a late night national phone- in talk show…(these were unheard of at the time)..He continued..” I know I would play well in New York or Chicago….but in Alabama?.....”.
….I started to laugh…
Jackie looked at me stone cold and said..”did I say something funny?”…..and I froze…Jackie Mason was being serious.. I looked at him and realized that I was breaking the 4th wall of theater ..I had empowered this guy to put me into a euphoric state just 20 minutes earlier…and now I was expected to have a lucid conversation with him…it was one of the most confusing moments I can recollect…I wanted to laugh..He wanted me to speak..I said something like..” you are the funniest man I have ever seen on stage..you can’t give this up..this is your power..your energy.”...
We traded phone numbers…although his was disconnected a year later when I finally got up the courage to try it.. He took a pass on syndicated talk radio…The person who took the opportunity was the local late night Mutual talk guy in Miami…..named Larry King….. I’ve never met him..but Larry King owes me at least lunch at The Friars Club..
Years later ..1989 or was it 1990 …I would be a part of a committee on the board of the JCC in Poughkeepsie and we would bring Jackie to the Mid Hudson Civic Center (and Alan King the next year). Jackie was riding the crest of Broadway success and TV success…As every politico in Poughkeepsie had paid a premium to shmooze with Jackie for about 45 seconds each, I did not think it appropriate or timely to bring up that prior meeting. He had stuck by his art form…stand up comedy....and it lead him to TV and movies ….but the way to experience Jackie Mason… is live.. without a seatbelt.. That shamanistic power comes out when you are in the room with the artist. He is working off of your energy. He is finding each and every soul in the house. He is hearing every laugh..and every laugh is fuel for him..
That is why comedians often have the reputation for being surly and mean when they are off stage. It is in large part because their work requires them to dig deeply into the soul of their target. We don’t know what to do with them when they are not making us laugh. ,,Tragedy is when you stub your toe…comedy is when someone else does.Comedians must identify the audiences tragedy..and convert it to comedy..When they are off stage ..they are tired and often appear depressed .
I had the pleasure to spend some “off stage time” with Henny Youngman in the late 70’s and early 1980’s . I would go to NYC and pick him up at his apartment on 56th street..We would go to The Carnegie Deli and be served by Leo ( “makes a nice sandwich”....if you remember the Levy’s rye tv ads from the 60s)…. Right out of Broadway Danny Rose. Henny worked a number of events for me… A Poughkeepsie Chamber breakfast .. and a benefit for the JCC.. Henny had a house in Shady outside of Woodstock years earlier and loved this part of the state. He made fun of every ethnic group..played on all the stereotypes..but I remember driving up the Taconic in 1980 and he reflected that we were losing our sense of humor. He was afraid to use material on African Americans for fear of being misinterpreted, so he worked the stereotypes of Jews,Italians,Irish,Poles,.. He came from another time. His material was honed in the 1930’s and 40’s. ..He used all of these stereotypes not as a weapon of anger as many contemporary comedians might..but as a tool of endearment..
And Henny was relentless on people who were self important …particularly Doctors…... some examples…
“Docotor put his hand on my wallet and said cough”…
“Doctor gave a man 6 months to live..couldnt pay his bill.. gave him another six months”…
“Docotr sez ..Mrs. Schwartz,.. your check came back…Mrs. Schwartz sez..so did my bursitis..”
“Doctor said to me,… pull down yer pants…stick out yer tongue.. now go to the window……good……I don’t like my neighbor.”…..
Henny could fire out 5 or 6 one liners a minute…leave enough room to laugh..stop..stare...then threaten to play the violin which he used primarily as a prop…just to give the audience room to laugh…
Henny was known as “king of the one liners” and he transcended generations….he did it for well over 50 years…he began in radio in the 1930’s on Kate Smith’s radio show as a replacement for Milton Berle.On the 1970’s TV show “ Make Me Laugh “,..where contestants had to face comedians one on one and last 60 seconds to win money Henny could get them going without saying a word…he could walk up to the contestant..stare at them blankly for 15 seconds..then start in the middle of a sentence with…” so then I told him..”.. and the contestant would lose it..a comic persona that cant be translated here on the page.. Off stage Henny was the kindest man I ever met in show business. A gracious word for everyone that he was required to meet…and a delicate insult for the husband of every wife he met……”take my wife…….please….”
Rodney Dangerfield backstage at the Mid Hudson Civic Center mid 1980’s ..in a bathrobe and slippers …surly…angry..and in no mood to fulfill the “meet and greet” radio ritual…but he brought that character onstage and knocked them dead……
I rode in the limo with Joe Piscopo from the radio station to The Chance in 1983 He just kept segueing nervously through the litany of voice characterizations .. his short lived musical impressionist career was being launched.. His band featured the late Wells Kelly of Orleans…an old friend.. Piscopo’s Sinatra ws so good it was scary….but like many impressionists his concentration on impressions sacrificed the humor…
All of his power seemed to go into the impression..not the connection with the audience…in a way this skill is also shamanistic..He appeared to “channel”..Sinatra…..but he could not be Sinatra..and he ceased to be Piscopo.
Brad Grey now executive producer of The Sopranos was Harvey Weinstein’s assistant in the Harvey and Corky concerts at The Mid Hudson Civic Center. ..This was in 1981 when Brad was all of about 24 years old and before he set up management shop with Bernie Brillstein…Brad brought three unknown comics to The Civic Center in a cabaret seating style show..of the 3, I thought the impressionist was best that night…I have forgotten his name…but the other two were Bob Saget and Gary Shandling.. Saget was dry as sand and quite funny before he got squeaky clean thanks to two hits on ABC tv…and Shandling I would not appreciate until The Larry Sanders show…..
Sam Kinison came by Wpdh one Saturday morning to spend time with The Wolf.. When the mike was off he was clean..sober…and a real gentleman…I was months before his untimely death in a car accident..ironically after he had cleaned up his life…Sam understood the shamanistic power of laughter and live comedic performance..he was a Baptist preacher at age 13..and when he built up steam it was absolutely frightening to be in this small radio studio…his booming scream cackle was somewhere between Yosemite Sam and Joe Cocker in the shower with a toaster.
Richard Belzer and Dominic Arrera together at The Chance in 1982..a brilliant night of comedy… I vividly remember Dom’s “ Tom Carvel franchise routine “..I was standing at the bar…and I laughed so hard I nearly passed out….I had to grab the bar to keep from falling down.
The Civic center has hosted Bill Cosby, Howie Mandell, Joan Rivers and George Carlin numerous times….as well as Eddie Murphy in 1983 ( what a young genius)….. Jay Leno ( what a stiff)..
As in the world of music..Poughkeepsie was always a fabulous warm up town for comedians who were going to do NYC TV later that week or a major NYC show…legend has it that generations ago WC Fields and Milton Berle both worked the Colonial Theater in the 20’s and 30’s..that would become the Chance…and George Burns ..back then..worked The Bardavon..…and comedians can never resist doing jokes on Poughkeepsie .28 years ago Firesign Theater did 10 minutes on Poughkeespie word play..and last month at the early show Cosby cited the native American meaning of Poughkeepsie being “little stream that runs into big river…..” He then made an off the cuff joke about an audience member who was going to the bathroom…. The connection was a pisser…
…..(insert groan here)…..
Me with Henny Youngman - Circa 1990
With Sam Kinnison
