Metro: Mingling For MOT • World: Enabling Disabled Soldiers • Family: At Home In The Library • Home: Living Green
DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
A JEWISH RENAISSANCE MEDIA PUBLICATION $2.00 DEC. 17-23, 2009 / 30 KISLEV-6 TEVET 5770
theJEWISHNEWS.com
Last Laugh Ben Konstantin finds life after layoff in a comedy career.
Inside: Teen2Teen NEWSPAPER OF THE YEAR
67
Years
1942 - 2009
Covering and Connecting Jewish Detroit Every Week
Ar ts & Enter tainment SERIOUS ABOUT COMEDY / ON THE C0VER
Last Laugh
Photo by Angie Baan
Ben Konstantin finds life after layoff in a comedy career.
| |
Bill Carroll Special to the Jewish News
T
he economic downturn cost him his job as senior art director at a premier advertising agency, but Ben Konstantin of Oak Park is getting the last laugh. Today, Konstantin, 44, is a full-time comedian riding a wave of popularity among comedy audiences nationwide. Appearing at comedy clubs and festivals locally and around the country, he is earning a decent living in his second career. Local audiences will get a chance to check on Konstantin’s progress when he stars in Ha!liday Laugh-A-Palooza, a mini comedy festival featuring a mix of local and national comedians, at the Palace of Auburn Hills on Saturday, Dec. 19. Performing along with Konstantin will be nationally known comics Dan Grueter, Bill Squire, Dwayne Gill (also a Michigan State Police sergeant) and master of ceremonies Joel Fragomeni. “I’ll perform about 35 minutes in the
Laugh-A-Palooza, with about seven to eight minutes on the Jewish perspective of things,” says the tall, slender Konstantin, sipping coffee after his daily workout at the Jewish Community Center of Metropolitan Detroit. “I do mostly observational humor about people sweating the small stuff in life, getting annoyed and angry about daily happenings. “For example, when I was working in an office, I got an e-mail feeler for a new job opening and I answered it. Turns out, the feeler came from my own company — and they rejected me!” Early Years Growing up, Konstantin didn’t show an inclination for standup comedy. He was shy in public, although he was a practical joker among his close friends and, as a camp counselor — at Camp Sequoia in Rock Hill, N.Y., and Camp Tanuga in Kalkaska, Mich. — often entertained his bunk kids. A graduate of Oak Park High School, he attended Michigan State University
sort of quiet outside of the and transferred to Wayne State Ben Konstantin: “My family. But he was a very University in Detroit, where he comedy emerged in my cartoons and other talented illustrator who did earned a degree in fine arts/ humorous drawings in outstanding portraits,” they painting. Exhibiting a strong my early years.” concurred. talent as an illustrator and “People who didn’t know desiring to build a portfolio for Ben well when he was future employment, Konstantin growing up are often surprised to find out went on to study at Detroit’s Center for what he’s doing now,” says his sister, Lynne Creative Studies, specializing in commerKonstantin of West Bloomfield. “He came cial graphics and illustrations and earnoff as reserved, and he wore glasses, so ing a second bachelor’s degree in graphic everyone thought he was very studious. communications/commercial art. “But he always had it in him — he just “I guess my comedy emerged in my cartoons and other humorous drawings in took a while to get to the point of being comfortable, then really letting go, on my early years,” he recalls. “I would draw stage. I think that’s part of what he loves comic strips and sell them to friends. I about doing it now, that many people would amuse them by basing the comic expect one thing of him, and surprise! strip characters on my classmates and And, she adds, “he always was drawing other people I knew. I still draw a lot in my really funny caricatures and comic books spare time now.” His parents, Bill and Miriam Konstantin — even in elementary school. He still does them for my kids.” of Oak Park, agree they didn’t foresee his Konstantin hit a roadblock as a stufuture as a comedian, other than a few dent when he developed attention deficit youthful appearances at Congregation Shaarey Zedek of Oakland County, where the family belongs. “Otherwise, he was Last Laugh on page 46 December 17 • 2009
43
Ar ts & Enter tainment
Little Daddy’s Southfield Northwestern Highway At Inkster OPEN 248-358-1700 CHRISTMAS DAY
SERIOUS ABOUT COMEDY
Last Laugh from page 43 Ben Konstantin as an elementary-school hockey player in the early 1970s. “I like to draw material from my sports experiences,” he says.
12/25/09 - From 9:30 AM To 8 PM
BREAKFAST SPECIAL
Coupon
20% DISCOUNT
$1.99
Anytime Thursday 12/24/09 To Sunday 01/03/10 - Carry Out Or Dine In - For All In Your Party Not Valid With Other Discount Offers - Beverages Not Included - Present Coupon For Discount
NOT VALID ON CHRISTMAS DAY
Now To 12/31/09 With Coffee or Tea Served 7 AM To 11 AM Monday To Friday
(No Beverage For Carry-Out Orders)
Christmas Day At Southfield Served 9:30 AM to 11 AM
Photos courtesy of Ben Konstantin
Discount Coupon And Breakfast Special Offer Good At All Little Daddy s Restaurants
G H UA N O HF C D INE
HINESE
INING
“A wonderful adventure in fine dining” ~ Danny Raskin
Open 7 days a week for lunch and dinner Catering and carryout available Gift certificates 27925 Orchard Lake Rd., North of 12 Mile, Farmington Hills 248-489-2280 www.honghuafinedining.com 1557190
Restaurant Italian Cuisine
248.476.0044
$600
Buy any dinner entrée and receive $600off the second dinner entrée Salads, pizza, sandwiches and ribs for 2 excluded. Off One coupon per table
Expires: 01/10/10
Farmington Hills • Corner of Grand River & Haggerty Road Auburn Hills • 1 1/2 miles south of the Palace of Auburn Hills
46
December 17 • 2009
1553210
disorder. “I had trouble learning and processing information, and I just didn’t understand the questions in class and on tests at a time when there wasn’t a lot of understanding and help available,” he explains. “I experienced a life-changing event at MSU when a counselor at the learning resources center there helped me deal with the problem. I began to write down everything I read and heard in order to focus on my studies and soak up the information. My learning process improved immensely.” After graduation, Konstantin plunged himself into the world of advertising, spending 13 years in Detroit with two major national ad agencies, working on the accounts for Lincoln-Mercury and Mazda vehicles. He often worked 60 hours per week, writing and illustrating print ads and television commercials and serving as an art director. Again, his humor emerged in the ads and he earned kudos from his bosses. “I loved the jobs, especially at the second agency, and everything was going fine,” he says, “or so I thought. After working overtime on a weekend in 2007 to finish a big ad campaign, I came in on Monday and got laid off, along with about 15 other people. The poor economy in the nation was really affecting the auto industry. Anyway, that ended my ad agency career.” New Direction Konstantin says that’s when he really got serious about comedy.
“I decided to switch careers and become a full-time comedian, and I started watching and listening to clips from my favorite comedians,” many of whom, like Konstantin, are Jewish. He mentions Lewis Black, Woody Allen, Jackie Mason, Don Rickles and Richard Pryor as favorites, plus Robert Klein and Demitri Martin, with whom he has worked. “I think Black is the best,” says Konstantin, “and I [once] opened for him at a concert.” With a nod to his heroes, Konstantin has a unique voice, dry sense of humor and an offbeat delivery, spicing his observations with edgy rants. He attended a comedy class at Mark Ridley’s Comedy Castle in Royal Oak, which taught him how to overcome stage fright, not to be afraid of an audience, to convert comic ideas into actual stage material and other standup staples. When he began to perform, he realized his attention deficit disorder no longer was an issue. “Ha!” exclaims comedy impresario Mark Ridley. “Having ADD is nothing new in this business. Almost all of the comedians who come through my club, young or old, have or have had ADD — or come from a dysfunctional family. We don’t care what they are or have, as long as they’re funny. Whether they’re young, old, Jewish or not, funny is funny.” Ridley says he has seen Konstantin perform many times, at the club and in other venues around the Detroit comedy circuit. “He’s starting to find his own voice, to be comfortable on stage and using his own style,” says Ridley. “It takes a few years to really get going in this business. You have to crawl, walk then run, then hope you hit the big time.” On His Way Konstantin feels he has passed through the crawling and walking stages, with the many stumbling blocks that accompany them, and is currently “running” on the comedy
Ben Konstantin performs in the Ha!liday Laugh-A-Palooza comedy festival 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 19, at the Palace of Auburn Hills. $20 reserved/$15 general admission. (800) 745-3000; www. Palacenet.com. You can also catch him Sunday, Dec. 20, at the Comedy Castle in Royal Oak as part of Dick Purtan’s Jingle Jokes for Kids to benefit Children’s Hospital of Michigan in Detroit, beginning at 5 p.m. $25. (248) 542-9900 or (800) 5143848; comedycastle.com or www. womc.com. He’ll also appear 8 and 10:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 2, at the Ann Arbor Comedy Showcase as part of the Comedy Showcase AllStars. $8 advance/$10 at the door. (734) 996-9080; www.aacomedy. com. For more on Ben Konstantin, including video clips of some of his performances and a schedule of his appearances, go to www. benkoncomedy.com
1552300
Detroit Deli & Catering ABSOLUTELY FREE
WITH ANY MEAT, DAIRY OR SALAD TRAY ORDER:
1 lb. Corned Beef or Turkey! 1 lb. lb Coleslaw or Potato Salad! 2 lb. Rye Bread! 15 person min. • 1 coupon per order • Order tray by 12.31.09 Free voucher valid after tray purchase thru 1.31.10
TRY R OU
$3.99
Recession Buster Sandwiches!
Business Meetings • Chanukah Parties Shiva • Bris • Simchas
248.723.3354
Fax: 248.723.3905 31645 Southfield Rd. (at 13 1/2 Mile) Beverly Hills
1547140
Into The Future Konstantin won a comedy contest called “Robert Klein and Six Guys From Detroit,” was named the “Best of Fest” in the first-ever Detroit International Comedy Festival, won the (Detroit) DC Comedy Festival competition and was a finalist in the local “Comedy Idol” competition. He has been featured in Heeb Magazine and on Sirius Satellite Radio’s comedy station and has made guest shots on Detroit’s WDFN sports radio. He auditioned and landed a small role in The Lake Effect, an independent movie filmed over the summer in South Haven, Mich., and played a delivery man in a commercial for a pizza maker. He also supplements his standup career by doing freelance graphic design work, designing Web sites and
doing voice-overs for commercials and promos. Comedienne Lynne Koplitz of New York, who stars in Z Rock, a new Web series on IFC.com, met Konstantin five years ago when they were both on the road, booked into an Indiana college concert. They have kept in touch ever since. “Young comedians have to hit the road to hone their material and get that ‘combat’ experience and know-how,” Koplitz explains. “I see a lot of that in Ben — character, perseverance, writing ability, motivation, all the trademarks of a comedian in this tough business. He’s very reliable, and I always highly recommend him to others.” While on the road, Konstantin does a great deal of sightseeing during the day and works on his act, “but I’m up practically all night, so I also have to rest a lot to maintain my energy,” he says. “It’s hard to do any serious dating anywhere because I’m on the road so much, but I would like to find a nice Jewish woman and settle down.” As for the future, over the next few years, Konstantin hopes to build his career to the point where he is a headliner in clubs across the country as well as doing some commercial acting and voiceover work. “My immediate goal,” he says, “is to get on TV as a comic.” ■
r to the finest caterer i a f f a r u o y t s u r T Showers Banquets
Weddings
Bar/Bat Mitzvahs
Birthdays
Reunions
Anniversaries
Etc. WE CATER AT MOST SYNAGOGUES, TEMPLES, HOTELS AND THE HALLS OF YOUR CHOICE
We’ll beat your best price!
CLASSIC CUISINE Approved by Council of Orthodox Rabbis
1470030
circuit, using several agents. “I’ve appeared in the cold of Canada, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Toledo and some college campuses in Indiana and in the warmth of Los Angeles and 100plus degrees in Florida,” he says. “I did a Jehovah’s Witness wedding at a golf club, where I was very clean and softspoken, and opened at some country music festivals. “I’ve been at Meadow Brook Music Festival and DTE Energy Music Theatre [both in Oakland County] several times. I opened for a laser light show at DTE to empty seats, with people on the back lawn drinking and getting high. I felt I had to yell to them so they could hear me, and they kept booing until I finished and got off quickly. There are many ups and downs in this business.” One time, Konstantin performed in a tavern during Monday night football, trying to be funny with the TV sets blaring. At another concert, the promoter wanted to make sure the person who introduced him pronounced his name correctly [Kon-stan-teen]. He did, but the program booklet referred to him as “Bruce Constantin.” “People feel I’m too tough on the Detroit Lions, our habitual losing team,” he said, “and I also razz the Washington Redskins for having a racist nickname. That’s like having a team called the Brooklyn Heebs, where they would wear yarmulkes instead of helmets. By the way, the Heebs would beat the Lions. “I try to do some topical jokes at each performance, but I stay away from politics because that’s really not my passion.”
PHILIP TEWEL, Food & Beverage Director
248-661-4050 Farmington Hills December 17 • 2009
47