
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, January 27, 1995                   TAG: 9501310022
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: ALMENA HUGHES STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

THE RABBI LEAVES THEM LAUGHING

On a recent morning, Bob Alper said by telephone that he was sitting in the silo of his Vermont post-and-beam barn-style house writing and watching snow fall. Alper's press releases had described him as a "rabbi by day/comic by night," and he said that indeed he was in a rabbinical mode as he sat working on what he hopes will be his first book, based on "life things I've learned as a rabbi."

Unintentionally defying separation of comedian from rabbi, Alper was also very funny, freely peppering his conversation with snatches of the type of low-key comedy he'll bring to Temple Emanuel in Roanoke on Feb 4.

"Comedy is the realization of a childhood fantasy," Alper said, recalling how he'd been hooked on it since making his first successful joke before an audience composed of his parents and a sibling when he was 3.

"I remember thinking I am one funny toddler," Alper said. "But - and I don't want to sound too much like a rabbi here - there's also a bit of a mission involved, to do clean, appropriate humor and help people laugh and feel good about why they're laughing."

Alper cited as his main comedic influences Bob Newhart, because of his style and cleanliness, and teacher turned humorist and writer, the late Sam Levenson, whose material everyone could relate to.

It probably doesn't hurt that Alper physically resembles a few funny people, too, a fact first brought to his attention at Congregation Beth Or in Philadelphia, where he led his last full-time pulpit from 1978 to 1986. Alper now conducts High Holy Days services for a congregation of approximately 350 at Temple Micah in Philadelphia.

"Not members of the congregation, but occasionally guests would amble up after the service and say, 'You know, you look like Steve Martin.'... Of course it's impossible, but if Steve Martin and Alan Alda ever had a child together, I'd be him," Alper said.

During a recent interview on the British Broadcasting Corp., the talk-show host told Alper that he resembles another celebrity, as well.

"I thought I'd take advantage of it," Alper said. "So when I appeared at a comedy club in England in January, I asked the audience, 'Do you think I look like [British] Prime Minister John Major?' When they said, 'Yes,' I said, 'I thought so, because as soon as I got to Heathrowe [airport], people kept running up and slapping me.'"

Alper gets most of his material from real people and real life. His comic persona tests what's funny with improvisations made while delivering his church's announcements or while performing weddings because "You're essentially bringing two families together who usually don't know each other, and they're desperate for some comic relief."

And his rabbi persona, defying separation, garners the experiences for chapters in a book about things like a recent visit to his daughter's college during parents' weekend.

"The president apologized for the condition of the dormitories, but explained that the man who took care of them had recently been diagnosed with cancer but the prognosis was good.

The president said the college didn't want to hire a replacement, either full- or part-time,'' Alper continued, ``because they wanted the custodian to know that his job was there waiting for him. I thought that was a very humanitarian thing to do."

by CNB