Shelley Berman

Berman taught humor writing at the University of Southern California for more than 20 years.

• Name — Shelley Berman • Birth Name — Sheldon Leonard Berman • Born — 3 February 1925 • Birthplace — Chicago, Illinois, U.S. • Died — 1 September 2017 • Place of death — Bell Canyon, California, U.S. • Resting Place — Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery Culver City, California • Education — Art Institute of Chicago (BFA) • Occupation — * Comedian • actor • writer • teacher • lecturer • Years Active — 1954–2014 • Children — 2

Berman was born in Chicago, the son of Irene (née Marks) and Nathan Berman. He was Jewish. He had a younger brother, Ronald. He served in the Navy during World War II, after which he enrolled in Chicago's Goodman School of Drama at the Art Institute of Chicago (now at DePaul University) as a drama student. There he met fellow student Sarah Herman, whom he married in 1947. His career began with an acting company in Woodstock, Illinois, and in 1949 he and his wife made their way to New York City. He studied acting at the HB Studio and made ends meet as a social director, cab driver, speech teacher, assistant manager of a drug store, and a dance instructor at Arthur Murray Dance Studios. Later, Berman found work as a sketch writer for The Steve Allen Plymouth Show.

Berman began as a straight actor, receiving his training at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, performing in stock companies in and around Chicago and New York City. In the mid-1950s, he became a member of Chicago's Compass Players, which later evolved into The Second City. While performing improvised sketches with Compass, Berman began to develop solo pieces, often employing an imaginary telephone to take the place of an onstage partner.

In 1957, Berman was hired as a comedian at Mister Kelly's in Chicago, which led to other nightclub bookings, and a recording contract with Verve Records. His comedy albums earned him three gold records and his debut, Inside Shelley Berman, won the first Grammy Award for Best Comedy Performance - Spoken. Berman appeared on numerous television specials and all of the major variety shows of the day. He starred on Broadway in A Family Affair and continued with stage work in The Odd Couple, Damn Yankees, Where's Charley?, Fiddler on the Roof, Two by Two, I'm Not Rappaport, La Cage aux Folles, The Prisoner of Second Avenue and Guys & Dolls. On March 12, 1961 he became the first stand-up comedian to perform at Carnegie Hall. Berman's voice was the inspiration for the voice of the Hanna-Barbera cartoon character Fibber Fox, performed by Daws Butler.

Berman performed both comedic and dramatic roles on television, including appearances on episodes of The Twilight Zone (both radio and TV versions), Rawhide, Bewitched, Peter Gunn, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Adam-12, Emergency!, Brothers, Night Court, MacGyver, L.A. Law, Friends, Walker, Texas Ranger, The King of Queens, Grey's Anatomy, Boston Legal, Lizzie McGuire, Hannah Montana, CSI: NY and the revived Hawaii Five-0. He made some appearances as a panelist and one as the "Mystery Guest" on the CBS game show What's My Line in the early and mid-1960s. He also had a recurring role on the short-lived sitcom Walter & Emily. From 2002 to 2009 he appeared as Larry David's father on Curb Your Enthusiasm, a role for which he was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2008.

Among Berman's film credits are Dementia (1955, with Shorty Rogers), The Best Man (1964, with Henry Fonda and Cliff Robertson), Divorce American Style (1967, with Dick Van Dyke and Debbie Reynolds), Every Home Should Have One (1970, with Marty Feldman), Beware! The Blob (1972, with Robert Walker Jr.), Rented Lips (1988, with Martin Mull and Robert Downey Jr.), Teen Witch (1989, with Robyn Lively and Zelda Rubinstein), The Last Producer (2000, with Burt Reynolds), Meet the Fockers (2004, with Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller), The Holiday (2006, with Cameron Diaz), and You Don't Mess with the Zohan (2008, with Adam Sandler).

For over 20 years, Berman was a lecturer (later lecturer emeritus) in humor writing in the Master of Professional Writing program at the University of Southern California. He was also a teacher for the Improv Olympics program.

Berman married Sarah Herman on April 19, 1947. The two met while they were studying acting at Chicago's Goodman Theatre. In the mid-1960s, Berman and wife Sarah adopted two children, son Joshua and daughter Rachel. The Bermans were planning Joshua's bar mitzvah when he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Joshua died on October 29, 1977, at age 12. Berman and his wife were supporters of the Motion Picture and Television Fund (located in Woodland Hills, California), a charitable organization that offers assistance and care to those in the motion picture and television industries with little or no resources, and contributed their time and resources to benefit the facilities and the residents. In the 1980s, the Chamber of Commerce in Canoga Park, California selected Berman as one of the celebrities to serve a term as honorary mayor of Canoga Park.

In a 2012 podcast interview with Marc Maron, Berman alleged that comedian Bob Newhart plagiarized his improvisational telephone routine style, describing its genesis and saying it was a "very special technique that couldn't really be imitated. It could be stolen. And it was." "I was coming to work at night and a guy stopped his car, passed me by, and said 'Hey, Shelley! There's a guy [who] stole your act!'" When asked by Maron if it was done maliciously, Berman replied, "Maliciously? He wouldn't do it maliciously. Nobody does that. But he did it to make a living. And he became a star." When asked by The A.V. Club about the telephone issue, Newhart said: Shelley Berman did it before I did it. Mike (Nichols) and Elaine (May) did a version of it. There was a thing called "Cohen on the Telephone", which was a very, very early recording by Edison [Records] of a guy on the phone. According to The New York Times, "George Jessel had a radio show," Mr. Newhart recalled. "At the end, he would call up his mother and tell her how the show had gone. As a kid growing up, I remember listening to him and he would call his mother up and say, 'Mama, this is Georgie'" – he paused, skillfully – "'from the money.'" Newhart cited other influences on his comedy, rather than Berman -- most notably Jack Benny and Bob and Ray.

Berman died from complications from Alzheimer's disease at his home in Bell Canyon, California, in the early morning of September 1, 2017. He was 92 years old. His archive was donated to the National Comedy Center in Jamestown, New York. Comedian Steve Martin praised Berman on Twitter, thanking him for "changing modern stand-up [comedy]". Marc Maron also tweeted "Shelley Berman has hung up the phone. RIP. The guy who inspired me to sit. Great comic."

• Year — Title — Role — Notes • 1954 — The Repertory Theatre — Sheldon Berman — Episode: "Time of Delivery" • 1955 — Goodyear Playhouse — Manager — Episode: "The Catered Affair" • 1959 — Peter Gunn — Danny Holland — Episode: "The Comic" • 1961 — The Twilight Zone — Archibald Beechcroft — Episode: "The Mind and the Matter" • General Electric Theater — Stanley — Episode: "The $200 Parlay" • Car 54, Where Are You? — Rabbi Einsenberg — Episode: "Catch Me on the Paar Show"; Episode: "See You at the Bar Mitzvah" • 1962 — Rawhide — Mendel Sorkin — Episode: "The Peddler" • 1963 — Breaking Point — Roy Chase — Episode: "Whatsoever Things I Hear" • 1964 — Burke's Law — King Dmitri — Episode: "Who Killed Cassandra Cass?" • Bewitched — Mr. Brinkman — Episode: "The Witches Are Out" • 1966 — Mister Roberts — Performer — Episode: "The Replacement" • The Man from U.N.C.L.E. — Sheldon Veblen — Episode: "The Super Colossal Affair" • The Hero — Performer — Episode: "The Truth Never Hurts" • 1967 — The Girl From U.N.C.L.E. — Doctor Toulouse — Episode: "The Moulin Ruse Affair" • Get Smart — Elwood Box — Episode: "Classification: Dead" • 1968–69 — That's Life — Mr. Quigley — 6 episodes • 1969 — The Tommy Leonetti Show — Performer — 1 episode • 1970 — The Mary Tyler Moore Show — Dr. Walter Udall — Episode: "Divorce Isn't Everything" • 1971 — Adam-12 — Phil Duke — Episode: "Log 165: Once a Cop" • 1970–71 — Love, American Style — Various Roles — 3 episodes • 1974 — Emergency! — Art Frommich — Episode: "The Screenwriter" • 1975 — Police Woman — Eddie Bender — Episode: "The Company" • 1977 — Forever Fernwood — Mel Beach — 1 episode • 1978 — Vega$ — Mickey — Episode: "Milliken's Stash" • Flying High — Phil — Episode: "High Rollers" • 1979 — Brenda Starr, Reporter — A.J. Livwright — Television Movie • Eischied — Performer — Episode: "Angels of Terror" • 1978–81 — CHiPs — Strum/Desperate Car Owner — 2 episodes • 1983 — Matt Houston — Dickie Bevak — Episode: "The Yacht Club Murders" • 1984 — Brothers — Marcus — 2 episodes • 1985 — Hotel — Barney — Episode: "Obsession" • Knight Rider — Josh Bevin — Episode: "Knight Song" • 1987 — St. Elsewhere — Bill Belvedere — Episode: "Getting Ahead" • The New Mike Hammer — Comedian — Episode: "The Last Laugh" • CBS Summer Playhouse — Harry — Episode: "Mabel and Max" • ABC Afterschool Special — Harold — Episode: "The Kid Who Wouldn't Quit" • 1988 — Night Court — Al — Episode: "I'm OK, You're Catatonic" • 1989 — What's Alan Watching? — Mel Krasoen — Television Special • The Munsters Today — Sam Hawkins — Episode: "The Trial" • 1990 — What a Dummy — Grandpa Lou — Episode: "Grandpa Lou" • 1991 — Monsters — Leo Tandoski — Episode: "Werewolf of Hollywood" • MacGyver — CIA-Agent Abe — Episode: "Honest Abe" • Walter & Emily — Albert — 1 Episode • 1992 — Carol Leifer: Gaudy, Bawdy & Blue — Himself — Television Movie • Civil Wars — Performer — Episode: "The Triumph of DeVille" • 1992–93 — L.A. Law — Ben Flicker — 6 episodes • 1994 — Garfield and Friends — Dick Drake (voice) — Episode: "Horror Hostess" • 1995 — Living Single — Hyman — Episode: "Baby I'm Back...Again" • 1996–97 — Friends — Mr. Kaplan Jr. — 2 episodes • 1997 — Chicago Sons — McGlashan — Episode: "The Things We Do for Love" • The Blues Brothers Animated Series — Alderman J. Alderman (voice) — 8 episodes • 1998 — Arlis$$ — Ollie Fogle — Episode: "The American Game" • 1999 — L.A. Doctors — Performer — Episode: "Been There, Done That'" • 2000 — Providence — Performer — Episode: "Syd in Wonderland" • Walker, Texas Ranger — Ira Goldberg — Episode: "Lazarus" • 2001 — That's My Bush! — Principal — Episode: "Fare Thee Welfare" • 2002 — Lizzie McGuire — Nobby Frostybump — Episode: "Xtreme Xmas" • Even Stevens — Jackie the Janitor — Episode: "Dirty Work" • 2003 — The King of Queens — Skitch — Episode: "Queens'bro Bridge" • 2004 — Dead Like Me — Theo — Episode: "The Shallow End" • 2005 — Grey's Anatomy — Jed Sorento — Episode: "Let it Be" • 2007 — Entourage — Uncle Shelley — Episode: "Return of the King" • State of Mind — Harvey Fleischman — Episode: "Passion Fishing" • 2006–08 — Boston Legal — Judge Robert Sanders — 11 episodes • 2008 — Hannah Montana — Dr. Froman — Episode: "Don't Go Breakin' My Tooth" • Pushing Daisies — Gustav Hofer — Episode: "Robbing Hood" • 2009 — CSI: NY — George Savar — Episode: "Yahrzeit" • The Unusuals — Tom Speigelman — Episode: "The Tape Delay" • Raising the Bar — Danny Rose — Episode: "Rules of Engagement" • 2002–09 — Curb Your Enthusiasm — Nat David — 13 episodes • 2012 — Hawaii Five-0 — Morty Sapperstein — Episode: "Ohuna"

• Year — Title — Role — Venue — Ref. • 1959 — The Girls Against the Boys — Husband — Alvin Theatre • 1962 — A Family Affair — Alfie Nathan — Billy Rose Theatre • 1973–74 — The Prisoner of Second Avenue — Mel Edison — National Tour • 1980 — Insideoutsideandallaround with Shelley Berman — Playwright-Performer — Bijou Theatre

Berman released the following albums: • Year — Title — Peak chart positions • US 200 — Cashbox Top LPs • 1959 — Inside Shelley Berman — 2 — 2 • Outside Shelley Berman — 6 — 4 • 1960 — The Edge of Shelley Berman — 4 — 6 • 1961 — A Personal Appearance — 25 — 25 • 1963 — New Sides — — — — • 1964 — The Sex Life of The Primate (And Other Bits of Gossip) — 88 — 67 • 1965 — Let Me Tell You a Funny Story — — — — • 1995 — Live Again! Recorded at the Improv — — — — • 2013 — To Laughter with Questions — — — — • When Jews Were Funny — — — —