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Thursday September 27, 2007

Comedian will rail to the chief at Bush Going Away Party

by dan pine
staff writer

By now, most David Letterman fans are also fans of comedian Andy Kindler. He’s become a regular puckish presence on “The Late Show,” thanks to his filmed segments at off-center locales like Alabama’s Unclaimed Baggage Center.

And every one of those segments has at least one Jewish joke.

“I did a rodeo bit once,” he says, “and standing next to a cowboy I said, ‘Guess which one is the Jew?”

There’s no mistaking Kindler for anyone but a certified member of the tribe, a true-blue, true-Jew funnyman. The New York native brings his acerbic observations to the annual George Bush Going Away Party, set for Oct. 13 at the Herbst Theatre in San Francisco. Also on the bill, Aundre the Wonderwoman, Tisa Hami and hostess/impressaria Lisa Geduldig.

For the show, Kindler will mix Jewish humor with political humor, though lately he’s finding the current occupant of the White House too easy a target.

“It’s almost hard to do comedy about Bush,” says Kindler. “I’m still amazed 29 percent of the people still like him. What do they say? ‘I gotta admit: Not bad. I like what I see!”

While he rejects the label of “Jewish comic” per se, Kindler is proudly Jewish, and proud to be part of the unending chain of professional funny Jews. “I have a theory,” he says. “All Jews are funny, whether on purpose or not.”

He cites as an example a memory from his youth, watching a Simon and Garfunkel concert on TV with his father and uncle. Suddenly the uncle blurts out, “That Paul Simon is OK. He’s not one of those jazzed-up characters in a cockamamie outfit.”

To Kindler, that is pure comedy gold.

Hailing from the Bayside neighborhood of Queens, Kindler grew up in a noisy Reform household. He says everyone in his family is funny, so it didn’t occur to him early on to become a comic. Instead, proper baby boomer that he is, he dreamed of becoming a rock ‘n’ roll musician.

He did a little more than dream. In the 1970s Kindler moved to Los Angeles, joined a succession of failed bands and hung out in his apartment writing songs and trying to become the next James Taylor.

Turned out the world already had one.

For a while, Kindler was reduced to selling Time Life books and home improvement contracts door to door. “I learned a valuable lesson,” he reflects. “People don’t like to be disturbed at home!”

Then, at the urging of friends, he took the stage on open-mic night at L.A.’s Comedy Store. He loved the rush, and that sealed his fate. Kindler went on to work the stand-up circuit, land guests roles in shows like “Everyone Loves Raymond” and write for TV. He even wrote promos for the fledgling WB network. “All the shows were terrible,” he remembers. “I wrote one promo, ‘The WB: There’s No One Below Us.”

The Letterman association vaulted Kindler to national renown. He has always revered the late-night master, and now it looks like the feeling is mutual.

Meanwhile, Kindler is looking forward to his trek to the Bay Area, which will include the George Bush Going Away Party as well as a couple of headline gigs at the Punchline.

Will he lay down a few Jewish jokes? How could he not? “I don’t want to rely on it to get jokes,” he says. “There is a balance point. But I keep returning to Judaism for jokes.”

Even his surname –– Kindler –– is a bit of a tip-off.

“It’s a lot more Jewish than my birth name,” he says, “which is Tony Curtis.”

Kung Pao Kosher Comedy’s “The 4th (and penultimate) Annual

George Bush Going Away Party: An Evening of Political Comedy” 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 13, at Herbst Theatre, 401 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco. Tickets: $22-$35. Information: (415) 522-3737 or online at koshercomedy.com.

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