Robert Klein
Robert Klein
Robert Kleinis an American stand-up comedian, singer and actor. He had several popular and influential comedy albums in the 1970s, was nominated for a Best Actor in a Musical Tony Award for 1979's They're Playing Our Song, and has made a variety of TV and movie appearances, including hosting Saturday Night Live twice...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionComedian
Date of Birth8 February 1942
CityBronx, NY
CountryUnited States of America
I have what we call a 'symphony act.' I'm the only comedian, I think, in the country that does it.
I did the first HBO special ever in 1975 at Haverford College. Cable was new then: HBO was a Time-Life entity, with maybe 400,000 or 500,000 subscribers and maybe 50 employees.
But to do it professionally is a quantum leap difference and my father had to be persuaded by these kind of Ivy League professors that I should go to the Yale Drama School, another one of the stories in there.
When I started, there was no comedy community, no comedy industry; there were comedians.
The '50s were terrifying with nuclear bomb stuff but boring in a social way, and then the '60s were happening, and remember, there was no AIDS.
Regis and I were inducted into the original Bronx Walk of Fame.
My 1974 album 'Mind Over Matter' was a detailed thing about Watergate. I always had some righteous indignation.
In some articles written about me, writers have said I'm a link between the old and the new, and I think, in a certain sense, that's legitimate.
I was a class clown. My father was a class clown. My son has been a class clown, and it sort of ran in the family.
One of my greatest inspirations for stand-up was Jonathan Winters. He was a genius. One thing about him, and also Lenny Bruce, is that they were in the tradition of the one-man show. That's why Richard Pryor was so great, and George Carlin, too. They prowled the stage, they used voices, they were really talents.
There is a cliche that probably has some anecdotal evidence on the side that comedians are very depressed people, but that's because no one is ever going to seem as funny in a normal conversation as compared to when they're up there onstage in the spotlight making a huge audience keel over with laughter.
I guess I'm pleased and proud of the respect of my peers, and that when I disappear from the scene or from this earth, I will have left a mark. They'll say, 'He did it well.' I like being funny; it opens people up.
We're heartened by the fact that (the state Supreme Court) agreed to take another look at the rationale for the decision.
I still think the Legislature has to do the right thing (about the disputed revenue sources).