Columnist Lisa Ferguson: Berman won’t be disconnected from careers

Lisa Ferguson

Friday, Feb. 13, 2004 | 8:27 a.m.

If Shelley Berman was just another cog in some big-business wheel, Corporate America would likely have forced him years ago to turn in his time card and call it a career.

Instead, at age 78, the legendary comedian finds himself in demand -- onstage, on television and in the college classroom -- and says he has no intention of dipping into his retirement fund anytime soon.

"I'll keep comeding and I'll keep teaching until somebody shoots me," says Berman, who headlines Tuesday through Feb. 22 at The Improv at Harrah's. It is the first of two Las Vegas gigs he performs annually (the next is scheduled in May at the comedy club).

Still present in Berman's act is his signature neurotic shtick. He's often credited with paving the stylistic way for, among others, Woody Allen, Garry Shandling and Richard Lewis (he'll share an Atlantic City stage with the latter for stand-up shows over Memorial Day weekend).

"I think I went from neurotic to pure psychotic," Berman joked during a recent call from his home in Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley.

The tendencies are an example of life imitating art, he says, claiming he has long been "very insecure. If somebody sort of looks at me strangely, I won't sleep that night ... Some critic on a paper I've never read in my life will say he didn't like me -- oh my God! Or one person in the room is not laughing -- watch out. You'd think after so many years you'd develop some calluses ... No, that one person is a dirty rat, and that one person has come there only to make me miserable."

Also still part of the repertoire are his trademark one-sided telephone calls, for which his hand doubles as a receiver. "I'll put one call in my show because old-timers may want to see that, and the young people don't mind laughing at it because to them, it's brand new."

Besides performing onstage, Berman -- who began his career as a serious actor before turning to improvisational comedy -- is most excited about his recurring role on the HBO sitcom "Curb Your Enthusiasm." In several episodes, he has played Nat David, father of the hit series' star/creator/Executive Producer Larry David.

"I love working that show -- it's outrageous," says Berman, whose improv background is crucial on "Curb's" set. For each episode, only a "detailed scenario" of the plot -- sans dialogue -- is penned prior to production day.

"You don't find out until you're ready to shoot what the hell the scene's about. (Larry David) doesn't tell you because he doesn't want you to plan," Berman explains. It's just as well: "You lock yourself into something, and when you do, you lock yourself out of the creative freedom, so it's just not a good idea to think of funny things to say."

It's a philosophy the "instinctual" Berman follows throughout life, though you might not guess that from his conversations, which are layered with the sort of thought-provoking insight gained from 50 years in the entertainment industry.

The Grammy Award-winner (for his 1959 comedy album "Inside Shelley Berman") has had three albums earn gold-record status. He's appeared on Broadway, and is also an accomplished writer, having authored a trio of books and a pair of plays. For the past 20 years he's taught graduate-level writing courses at the University of Southern California.

And then there is Berman's acting career: He's appeared in many films including "Son of Blob," "The Best Man," "Divorce American Style," "Rented Lips" and "Teen Witch." Meanwhile he's guested on and had recurring roles in a multitude of television series, including such small-screen classics as "The Ed Sullivan Show," "What's My Line?," "The Steve Allen Show," "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In," "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman," "L.A. Law," "St. Elsewhere" and dozens of others.

In the most recent decade he was seen on "Friends," "Walker, Texas Ranger" "Living Single," "Providence" and "The King of Queens."

Berman keeps a critical eye on the tube, calling it both "a good medium" but also "manipulative. The comedy you're watching isn't always as funny as it sounds." That's because, he says, studio audiences are forced to laugh repeatedly at the same jokes when lines are flubbed during sitcom tapings. Later when viewers at home tune in, "There's big laughter and ... you may just be fooled into saying, 'Gee, that was hysterical.'

"The fact is, laughter is not the result of the comedy moment; it's an integral part of the comedy moment. It's the conclusion."

Berman contends that comedy, similar to popular music, is reflective of the times, pointing to the social and political strife endured in this country during the '60s and '70s for having shaped today's comedy climate.

Back then, "Comedians got onstage and started saying it like it is," he says. "A kid named Richard Pryor started saying some very disturbing things. A kid named George Carlin started saying some very strange things, and they were using language, vernacular that upset" people.

"The language of comedy and the substance of comedy changed drastically because there was an articulation of American anger," Berman says. Even as the nation's ire-inducing situations subsided, "The disturbing comedy took hold because it was a good package," and remains en vogue as "a kind of anti-social comedy ... One guy hurting the other -- that's the essence of the cheap laugh."

Is Berman a fan of such humor?

"You can assume I'm not sure what it is," he says, "but I'm not a arbiter or a judge ... of American tastes or American humor."

One element of comedy hasn't changed, however, throughout the five decades Berman has been performing: "The audience has to laugh. They have to come to me with that willing suspension of disbelief, and they have to respond. By virtue of their sitting in that damn seat to watch you, they've already done everything they have to do."

Out for laughs

One-time pharmacist -- and longtime Las Vegas resident, performer and personality -- Lew Sall takes the stage tonight and Saturday at Whiskey Pete's Comedy Club in Primm.

Time to catch up with some previous Laugh Lines subjects: Don't miss Jim David, who headlined the Sept. 26 column, when he appears Feb. 24 as a "comedy consultant" on Bravo's mega-hit makeover series "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" (Cox cable channel 53). David returns to Las Vegas March 22 through March 28 for shows at The Comedy Stop at the Trop.

Meanwhile Bobby Slayton -- featured in this space on June 20 -- has released his latest CD, "I've Come For Your Children." The disc is available at www.dcimprov.com/store, the website of the The Improv in Washington, D.C., where it was recorded last October. Slayton, nicknamed "The Pitbull of Comedy," is scheduled to play Riviera Comedy Club May 28 through May 30.