Heeb magazine interviewed our pal, Drew Freidman, about his line of astounding Old Jewish Comedians books.
Despite the love, though, you can feel the comedians’ passion, even anger. You once said “I love the angry comedians. These guys that are supposed to make you laugh, but they’re always angry.” What is it about that anger?
That’s very appealing to me, comedians who are angry. It’s a contradiction. Shouldn’t these guys be happy? Also, I enjoy angry cartoonists, that’s just a little thing I have.
Buddy Hackett — later in life he just seemed like an angry guy. I’ve heard the contrary, that he was actually very sweet, and people adored him. I never met him, but my older brother once asked for his autograph, and Hackett waved him away, which I never forgot. My family, we never forget slights. I remember George Carlin adored Danny Kaye when he was growing up; Kaye was his idol. Then he encountered Kaye at a restaurant, and Kaye waved him off. “I got no time for you, kid.” All he wanted was an autograph. He said it was never the same for him again, with Danny Kaye or with comedians in general. It just broke his spirit.
You know, it’s never a good idea to meet your idols.
Were you trying to channel the comedians’ anger in your art, or were you just drawing them as lively as possible?
The main guy I really wanted to put the anger across with was Milton Berle. He’s got his trademark cigar, pointing at the readers as if demanding they buy the book. I remember watching him on “The Joe Franklin Show” in the 70s and 80s, and he seemed like an angry guy, especially when interrupted. Joe Franklin tended to interrupt people. Milton Berle would go on there, start talking, and Joe would say something and Milton Berle would just – you could see the anger, it was palpable. He would point his bony finger at Joe, as if to warn him, “Don’t you dare interrupt me again.” With the big cigar in his mouth, dribbling cigar juice down his chin. That image stuck with me. So I knew some day I would try to bring that back to life, and that’s why I put him on the cover of the first book – to have him shilling for it.
