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See the showFebruary 14, 2008
By now, the routine is routine. If they perform their comedy in a mosque or college setting, Azhar Usman, a Muslim lawyer-turned-comic, goes first. If it’s a synagogue or a primarily Jewish audience, Rabbi Bob Alper leads off. Call it playing to the audience’s comfort zone.
Alper, a former full-time pulpit rabbi in Buffalo and Philadelphia for 14 years, and Usman will have their work cut out for them as they try to set an unofficial world’s record on Sunday, March 2, for most Jewish-Muslim comedy shows performed at New Jersey synagogues in a single day. The “comicathon” will include Temple Shalom in Aberdeen at 1 p.m., followed by Temple Beth-El in Hillsborough at 4, with the finale at Temple Shalom in Succasunna at 7:30.
As a “training exercise,” Alper and Usman will conduct a week of warm-ups at a Long Island synagogue, a Queens College interfaith event, a Manhattan fund-raiser for a Muslim women’s organization, and a Habitat for Humanity gala in Baltimore. Alper confirmed that no performance-enhancing prayers would be used in preparation for the tripleheader.
Alper discussed the daunting task in a telephone interview with NJ Jewish News from his home in East Dorsett, Vt., where there are still some adjustment challenges.
“A friend of mine works in the bank in town and this call came in last fall asking for ‘Sue.’
“He said, ‘I’m sorry, Sue’s not here. This is Yom Kippur.’
“And the caller said, “Well, maybe you can help me, Yom.”
The rollicking rabbi began his comedic career in 1986, and by 1990 had shifted his focus from the bima to a different stage. He began his collaboration with Usman in 2005 after sharing the spotlight for several years with Ahmed Ahmed, another Muslim comedian. Like many searchers these days, Alper used the Internet to find his new cohort.
“I might have Googled ‘Muslim comedians,’” he said. How many hits did he get from that? “One — no, there’s actually a lot, increasing numbers.” Alper and Usman’s first appearance together, at a synagogue in Florida, made for an inauspicious beginning.
“His plane was late, he arrived in the middle of my set, so we had never even met, just talked on the phone…,” said Alper. Usman’s routine “was terrible; no one laughed. Afterward the rabbi came over to him and said the show had been awful” — but not for anything Azhar had done. Turns out the sound system was balky and the audience simply couldn’t hear him. “But since then, things have gone very, very well,” Alper said.
Alper is 63, Usman, 32, yet there’s no generation gap between them. “There’s a real camaraderie among comedians,” Alper said. “It’s almost like fellow addicts. Comedy is an addiction, but it’s a good addiction. Comics love to perform…. That’s what binds us together: the laughter.
“We’re kind of daredevils in a lot of ways, risk-takers,” Alper said, recalling one gag that came to him while driving through Tulsa on the way to a performance at the University of Oklahoma.
“It must have been Clergy Appreciation Week, because all these little churches by the side of the road had these huge billboards with [slogans like] ‘Pastor Rick is #1 in Our Hearts’ or ‘We love you, Pastor Ruth,’ and I was thinking, we Jews would never do something like that, but if we did it would be something like, ‘Rabbi Larry has great potential.’” (Alper said he has specific language in his contracts stipulating that he not be called “Rabbi Bob.”) He called both his wife and Usman for their opinions and, with their encouragement, used the joke in the show that night. “And I killed,” he said proudly.
At the mention of “killing,” the question came up about any topics that are considered taboo in their act. “We don’t do anything political,” said Alper. He doesn’t shy away from talking about Israel, however, and, he said, “I certainly don’t shy away from making it known that I travel there and I love it there — but we don’t talk about war” or other touchy issues.
He and Usman are both “religious men,” Alper said. “I don’t do jokes about circumcision, for example, or anything else that would mock Judaism. The way people behave at weddings is fair game, but not a sacred ritual. I do a lot of ‘Jewish stuff’ that goes over very well with Muslims; there’s no problem with that at all. Azhar also; he’s a very religious Muslim. He would not do anything that would be offensive.”
Riffing on terrorism is fair game, however, Alper said. “It’s cathartic. It’s making fun of a painful issue, which is one of the best things comedy does. Jews have always done that and Muslims do the same.”
Rabbi Bob Alper, left, and Azhar Usman are aiming for a new world’s record, or some such thing. “Azhar’s the one who looks like a rabbi…” wrote Alper when he e-mailed the photo. Photo courtesy Rabbi Bob Alper
See the show
RABBI BOB ALPER and Azhar Usman will appear together three times in New Jersey on Sunday, March 2: at Temple Shalom, Aberdeen, at 1 p.m.; Temple Beth-El, Hillsborough, at 4; and Temple Shalom, Succasunna, at 7:30.
Tickets for each show — which is suitable for adults and children over 11 — cost $25 at the door, $20 in advance. For information, call Temple Shalom at 732-566-2621, Temple Beth-El at 908-722-0674, or Temple Shalom at 973-584-5666.
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