SEPTEMBER 7, 2017 // 19
coa st weeken d MARK ETPLACE Shelley Berman, comedian-bard
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of everyday life, dies at age 92
By FRAZIER MOORE
ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — Comedian
Shelley Berman, who won
gold records and appeared
on top television shows in
the 1950s and 1960s deliv-
ering wry monologues about
the annoyances of everyday
life, has died. He was 92.
Berman died Friday at
his home in Bell Canyon,
California, from complica-
tions from Alzheimer’s dis-
ease, according to spokes-
man Glenn Schwartz.
Berman was a pioneer
of a new brand of comedy
that could evoke laughter
from such matters as air
travel discomforts and small
children who answer the
telephone. He helped pave
the way for Bob Newhart,
Woody Allen, Jerry Seinfeld
and other stand-up come-
dians who fashioned their
routines around the follies
and frustrations of modern
living.
Tributes came in Fri-
day from Steve Martin,
who tweeted that Berman
“changed modern stand-up,”
and Richard Lewis, who
said there was “no better
wordsmith.”
Late in his career, he
played Nat David, father
of Larry David, on HBO’s
“Curb Your Enthusiasm.”
With dialogue improvised
by its cast, the comedy
series gave Berman the
opportunity to return to his
improv roots and introduced
him to a new generation of
TV viewers.
“I’m not a stand-up
comedian,” Berman often
insisted. “I work on a stool.”
Comedy was not a child-
hood ambition for him. He
trained as an actor, with the
Goodman School of Drama
in his native Chicago and
with the prestigious ac-
PHOTO BY CHRIS PIZZELLO/ASSOCIATED PRESS
In this Dec. 16, 2004, file photo, comedian Shelley Berman,
who has a role in the film “Meet the Fockers,” poses at the pre-
miere of the film in Universal City, Calif.
tress-teacher Uta Hagen in
New York.
“I had dreams of being
an actor,” he said in a 1960
interview. “For 10 years I
tried, picking up small jobs
in summer stock and TV. I
had a hard time of it.”
As a last resort, he put
together a 20-minute rou-
tine and auditioned at the
Chicago nightclub Mister
Kelly’s. He was given a job,
and then he had to scramble
to write more material for a
half-hour show.
“I was always one of
those life-of-the-party
boys,” he admitted, “though
I never stooped to wearing
women’s hats or lamp-
shades. I was always mak-
ing people laugh, in school
and later in life.”
Berman’s success in
Chicago led to a booking in
Las Vegas. He bombed. The
gamblers didn’t laugh nor
did they talk. Accustomed
to slam-bang comics out of
vaudeville and burlesque,
they listened in amazement
to the guy sitting on a stool
and using big words with a
routine that often consisted
of one side of a make-be-
lieve phone call.
He continued on the
saloon circuit, honing his
craft and deciding on which
direction to go. He didn’t fit
any category. He wasn’t a
joke teller nor a “sick” co-
median. He figured he was a
“humanist humorist.”
Berman made the first of
many appearances on “The
Ed Sullivan Show” in 1959.
That year he issued his first
album, “Inside Shelley Ber-
man.” It won a gold record
and received the first-ever
Grammy Award for the spo-
ken word. Two more albums
achieved gold status.
Along with his busy
schedule in nightclubs and
auditoriums, he fulfilled his
first ambition to be an actor.
He appeared in a Broadway
play, “The Boys Against the
Girls,” in 1959 and a mu-
sical, “A Family Affair,” in
1962. His film debut came
in 1964 with the adaptation
of Gore Vidal’s hit politi-
cal stage drama “The Best
Man,” starring Henry Fonda
and Cliff Robertson.
“Not only an accom-
plished comedian, actor, and
author, Shelley was among
the new breed of comedi-
ans who made a significant
impact through recordings,”
said The Recording Acade-
my in a statement. “Shelley
will be deeply missed, but
the influence he exerted on
our creative community will
remain forever.”
Berman’s comedy career
stalled in 1963. He was
performing his act before
an audience for a docu-
mentary-style NBC show,
“Comedian Backstage,”
when a telephone ringing
interrupted him; it was the
second night it happened.
He stormed backstage and
ranted at everyone in sight.
His outburst, edited to make
him appear temperamental,
was included in the telecast.
“Once you’re known
as being difficult, it be-
comes too hard to deal
with management and even
fellow artists,” he remarked
in 1986. The bookings fell
off, and Berman returned to
acting, with little luck. He
and his wife, Sarah, were
forced to file for bankruptcy,
and he began a long struggle
to pay off his taxes and
creditors.
He found work in tele-
vision series such as “The
Twilight Zone,” ‘’Rawhide”
and “Peter Gunn” and
occasional movies including
“Divorce American Style.”
He became active in region-
al theater and also worked
his old routines before col-
lege and lecture audiences.
For more than 20 years
he taught comedy at the
University of Southern
California.
In recent years, he landed
guest roles on series includ-
ing “The King of Queens,”
‘’Boston Legal” and “CSI:
NY,” and appeared in the
film “Meet the Fockers.”
He retired from per-
forming in 2014 after being
diagnosed with Alzheimer’s
disease.