My Mother's Italian, My Father's Jewish and I'm in Therapy with Steve Solomon

Announcer (00:06):

You are connected and you are listening to specifically for seniors, the podcast. For those in the remember when generation today's podcast is available everywhere you listen to podcasts. And with video specifically for seniors, YouTube channel. Now here's your host, Dr. Larry Barsh

Larry (00:36):

Today on specifically for seniors, we're sitting down with the creator and star of one of the longest running one. Man comedy shows on Broadway with almost 10,000 performances. My mother's Italian, my father's Jewish and I'm in therapy has met with rave reviews to sold out crowds in the United States and abroad. Steve Solomon. Welcome to specifically for seniors. It's great to have you

Steve Solomon (01:06):

Here. Thanks a lot. Larry, it's good to be here. It's good to be any place after 16 months of being no place, but thanks to COVID

Larry (01:14):

Thanks to COVID. I hope it's over, but

Steve Solomon (01:18):

Yeah. Well, it is because the shows are opening up. The venues are opening up and it's, it's good to see people back really is.

Larry (01:28):

Okay. You grew up in sheep's head bay in

Steve Solomon (01:33):

<Affirmative>. Yes.

Larry (01:35):

What was it like as a kid in school

Steve Solomon (01:39):

School? It was fine. It was she was, it was a tough half. My family's Italian, half of 'em are Jewish, which is the truth. And growing up in that environment, it was pretty much, it, it was a mixture of every culture. And I, I tell in the show that it's true. I, 10 times a day, people will walk past me, grab their crotch, go, Hey, Stevie, how you doing everything? Good. I hate when women do that, it's it's

Larry (02:02):

<Laugh>

Steve Solomon (02:04):

So it was a great neighborhood. It was a multicultural neighborhood. And if you did wrong, you got hit by anybody somebody's parents, it didn't matter. And then when you went home, if they called your mother and said, I had to hit Stevie, cuz he did something wrong, my mother would hit me anyway. So it didn't matter <laugh> it was a great place to grow up.

Larry (02:23):

When did you start using dialects and voices like you just did?

Steve Solomon (02:28):

When I was a kid in the summers, my mother wouldn't let me just sit around the house and scratch my butt. So she told me to find a job. There was a big Chinese restaurant just an ocean avenue, an avenue X and J Wongs. And so I would deliver to the apartment houses. And, but I found it was very difficult because I'd pushed the button. Somebody would say, who is it? I would say Chinese delivery. They'd never open the door. So I learned as a kid when they would say, who is it? I would say just a minute. And that was it. Then when they opened the door, I'd say the guy just left. And I was very successful like that. I used to do that all the time. I used to do my, I had the ability and that was one of my gifts to change the pitch of my voice.

Steve Solomon (03:14):

I could go way high. I can go like this and talk like my sister, the smoker, and what that got me outta trouble. Because if I would, if I would cut school back then when you and I were in school, they would call home to find out where the kid was. You know, you know, Johnny didn't show up in school today, but if you called ahead, they would they would say, okay, he's he's good. So I would call the school. I remember I got in a lot of trouble. I called the school. I spoke to the truant officer like anybody under 50 knows what a truant officer is. I spoke to the truant officer. He said can I help you? I said, yes. Calling on behalf of Steve Somon, he can't come into school today. He's very sick. And the guy said, who's calling us. This is my father

Larry (04:03):

<Laugh>

Steve Solomon (04:05):

And that got me punished. So it was a lot of fun growing up. I'd been doing voices all my life.

Larry (04:12):

What was your life like before you became a comedian? You had some other jobs.

Steve Solomon (04:18):

Yeah, I was a I was a physics teacher. I spoke I taught advanced placement physics in high school and first year of college. And then I went on I worked on PhD for secondary administration. I became an assistant superintendent of schools on long island assistant to the superintendent of schools on long island.

Larry (04:40):

I can imagine what your classroom was like.

Steve Solomon (04:43):

They loved me. I was the lunatic. And that was the big problem because if there was an explosion, Steve did it. If the lights went out in the building, Steve did it and the teachers would know to look for me. He's working on something. And the only, the only thing was that I had to leave because my brain was turning to jello. I can't stand bureaucracy. I can't stand politics. I can't stand that stuff. I can't stand on rules for the sake of rules. And in a school setting, there were a zillion rules and I couldn't handle it. So I used to break the rules all the time and everybody would yell at me, you know? Yeah, this is not for you. Yeah. You're gonna get arrested one day. You're gonna do that. And one day I just said, I, I couldn't do it anymore.

Steve Solomon (05:25):

And, and I had always been doing men's club roast for my dad's temple and for my mom's church, I would do ladies club speeches. So I wasn't afraid of getting a front of a microphone and I could do the accents and dialects. My father spoke like a little old Jewish man, you know, that's the way it was. And my mom shared that tie <affirmative> and my mama, she had that Italian accent. So we did the best we could <laugh> so I just I, I couldn't live it and I followed my heart and I was very lucky.

Larry (05:55):

Where did your story go from teaching?

Steve Solomon (05:58):

I left abruptly. I woke up one of these mornings. I had this epiphany. I said I can't do I, I, I I'll go crazy. And I thought I was a, a great standup comic. I wasn't, I really was terrible. I didn't have two minutes and of material. And this gentleman named Rick Morgan, who I still keep fr in contact with on a daily basis. He's a great guy. He had seen me at one of the church functions and he called me and he said, you know, you have a gift and not too many people have that gift. Did you ever think about doing it professionally? So I said, of course not. You know, I was I was an assistant to the superintendent of schools and he honed me and put me in some clubs and paid me 35, 40 $8 a night.

Steve Solomon (06:45):

It was great money. And I, I was terrible. I had no material. I had no idea what was involved in developing material for it to do standup. And and, and I was the grandpa of the industry. I mean, the, the people backstage hated me. You know, what are you doing here? What's the matter with you? What do you think you had stuff for you? And I did at that time, but I had, no, I had no talent, no skills, no nothing. Well, I had skills. I could do voices and characters. Nobody did that, but I didn't have any material to work with it.

Larry (07:20):

And you met a couple of people who changed your life?

Steve Solomon (07:23):

Well, Rick was one. Rick was a big one. But I don't know if you, you remember pat Cooper. Yes. Yeah. What a great man he is. And I got a call one day from an agent that said, pat wants somebody to open for him, but the guy's gotta be over 50. He didn't want any of these kids going, Hey, how you doing? Where you from? Good to be here. I flew in for so and so, so I had the opportunity to open for pat Cooper in New Jersey. And we were doing two shows and I was such a nervous wreck to me. He was, he was in an idol. He was on all the TV shows and everything. And he's, he comes back and, and his course way, he says, Stevie, Stevie, Hey, nice to meet you. Nice to meet you.

Steve Solomon (08:05):

How much time are you doing? I said, 20 minutes. No, no, you gotta do 30, 35 minutes. My back's killing me. I can't get up there 35 minutes. I said, I don't have, well, I'll do what you gotta do. So I squeezed out 35 minutes and we went into mission. We go backstage and he says to me, what are you doing here? What hell's I with you? I never heard voices like this in my life. You don't belong here, go down to Florida. They'll eat you up. I said, I don't know anybody in Florida. And he says, well, you go down, I'll make an appointment for you. And Pat's pat Cooper is the one who set me down to Florida and meet with the big agencies. And then I was the most sought after comedian in my price range. <Laugh> in south Florida. And it was very interesting cuz I was doing 30 shows a month at about a hundred dollars a show. It was pathetic. But and I was button heads with everybody who thought they were terrific and they weren't. And it was very interesting thing.

Larry (09:10):

Where did you get the idea to write a show based on your

Steve Solomon (09:13):

Family? I was your wife and met lady named Abby Koffler, who's the director of she's vice president of century villages. And she also handles all the entertainment. She didn't like me. I didn't like her. And subsequently she became a manager. She's been my manager for 21 years. But I said, I, I don't wanna do this. I'm starving if it wasn't for the fact that Jane my lady at that time we weren't, weren't married, was making a good living. We would, we would've starved. I wasn't making any money at all. And I said, I gotta come up with something. I gotta create something that nobody has done. Well, it was only one, one man comedy show floating around on Broadway. It was called defending the caveman. And that was it. So I said, I gotta create something. So I sat, sat with Abby and we went through a hundred titles and I'm good with titles.

Steve Solomon (10:04):

And I picked I, my mother's Italian, my father's Jewish and I'm in therapy. She agreed, we loved it now, what do we do with it? We didn't have a, we didn't have a, a minute's worth of material on that show. So I said, we gotta get an appointment with the biggest agency in the world that William Morris agency, well, what the hell? William Morris wouldn't wouldn't even, I mean, they would step over my dead body. What, who am I I'm nobody. And the make a long story short too late. We just got five minutes with a gentleman named Kenny D Camilla, who was the executive vice president of William Morris, five minutes. And he made it very clear. It was five minutes, not six minutes. And we went into his office up at the William Morris agency and in the lobby, the, the cast of law and order was sitting there.

Steve Solomon (10:59):

I mean, my nipples were hard. I couldn't believe this, but, and Kenny starts chatting with Abby and my other manager Howie and they they're talking about war stories. Oh. During the time that Tony Bennett threw up on stage. And so, and so, and all I know is my, my five minutes is clicking away. And I said, Mr. D Camilla, I, I really would like to talk to you about it. He says, listen, kid, kid, my roster starts with George Colin and ends with Ray Romano. Do you think I need another comic? My bubble was burst. I was, I was out of it. And I said, well, I have a show. It's called my mother's Italian. My father's Jewish. And I'm in therapy. He busts out laughing. He says, can I get that show exclusively? I said, sure. We didn't have a show. We had a title, a title.

Steve Solomon (11:46):

<Laugh> Kenny then calls the king center for the performing arts. Steve janky on the place in M Florida says I got a great show. It's called my mother's Italian. My father's Jewish home in therapy. Steve janky starts laughing. Yeah, we can put it in. Kenny goes like this. How much do you need a week? I said, I, I don't know. He was getting a hundred dollars. He says all, but he's gotta have 25,000 a week. And Dr. Starts coming down in my mouth. <Laugh> and I think I'm in a movie I can't hear. Well, all I can tell you, Larry is within an hour, we had 150, $175,000 worth of bookings on a concept. And then Kenny said, go write the show. Abby hired a director, we got set designers. We got consult. It took a long time to get a director because I'm a D D horribly, a D D always been that way.

Steve Solomon (12:44):

You know, I can sit and talk with somebody and then I'm on the piano. And then I go off the piano and then I'm soldering some pieces. That's me. And Andy Rogo, who is my director who is very gay and just like this, I can't take him anymore. And I'm finished with you. It's over. I hate you. Well, he is hated me through five different shows and 20 years. And I love him dearly. He's a great guy. And we wrote the show and it opened 2002 started touring and we went to Broadway 2007. I think it was. And it was good.

Larry (13:20):

When and where did your parents meet? How did they get together?

Steve Solomon (13:24):

Mom and dad? My father met my mother at a, in a restaurant in Italy after the the end of the second world war. My mother was the bouncer and my father would always say from the very first day I met your mama's son. She chased after me. I said, that's of course he didn't leave the tip. I know my father, what it was, that's what he meant. And it was great. I mean, people always say, did they fight? I said, yeah, occasionally my father would look at his burial plot as a vacation getaway, but <laugh> otherwise, that was pretty much it.

Larry (14:02):

Did, did you have much confusion on whether to go to church or go to temple?

Steve Solomon (14:08):

Oh, no, there was no, it, it, no, there was, it was never even discussed. It was never open religion. Wasn't a problem ever. Yeah. It's just they just debated and my father wanted one thing. My mother wanted didn't matter in the show. I say, my father made me go to Hebrew school and I went to church on Sundays to pick up my grandma and Angelina <laugh>, you know, and then we talk about Angelina, but that was it. That was never, never religious problems in the house.

Larry (14:37):

So are you really in therapy?

Steve Solomon (14:39):

Never. I never went to therapy in my life. In fact, I'm in, in the first show, cuz don't forget. There were five shows in the first show. I'm at the therapist's office and he's lit running late and Ms. Smith keeps interrupting everything I'm saying. And she makes me crazy. You know, Steve, the doctor's running really late. Do you want anything? No. You want anything? No. You want anything? No, I don't want anything. And we established that, you know, we can't find Dr. And his name is Dr. O Soley. That's a S S H O L E to me. That's.

Larry (15:16):

<Laugh> that's right. How, how do you do 20 or so different voices?

Steve Solomon (15:25):

It's not so much the voices. I have to assume the character. So when I'm talking like my grandma, my Jewish grandma hunch over, I talk like my grandma when I talk like my, my grandpa Angela's a little old Italian man. He took it like this, you know, he's a very, very, and I, I, the audience has to see the figure and hear the voice so that that's, what's really important to me. And when the two of 'em are arguing mama's over, here's got one face, daddy over here has got another face and they argue back and forth. So I'm always turning my body to create the illusion of another person on stage.

Larry (16:08):

Those of us who are Jewish grew up knowing about safe tra when it came to Chinese food. But what was it like when your grandmother and your Italian wife got together and you were talking about kosher and she was talking about kosher

Steve Solomon (16:26):

Food. My Italian mother, that's a, that's a bit in the show where Bubi comes over. My Jewish grandma comes over and tries to teach my mother to keep kosher. And my mother, my mother says, so let me get this straight. You can't eat meat and milk together. It's no kosha. She says that's right. It's not kosha. Okay. So we Esan that's so no good. The meatball. Esan the cheeseburger. You got it. What about chicken Parmesan? No chicken Parmesan is not kosha. What about fish? Parmesan? That's okay. That's kosha. Okay. So shrimp Phan is kosha Kok. No. According to Jewish law shrimps, not a fish. My mother goes crazy that, and then it closes with, so let's go back to chicken, chicken, and cheese. That's no kosha. She said, I told you before, what about eggs and cheese? Eggs and cheese is okay. So let me get this straight. If I got an egg in this hand and a piece of cheese in this hand, that's SEIA until the egg hatches. And then it's a Nosha. She said you're finally understand. I dunno, what the hell I'm talking about. That's the bit, that's a kosha bit. Michelle.

Larry (17:39):

I said at the beginning, that that show did over our almost 10,000 performances. Is it different every time? I can't imagine redoing the same show over and over on Broadway.

Steve Solomon (17:52):

It's Broadway is not a pleasure. I have to tell you it's it. You know, when we first opened, the first month was excited, I was on every TV show. I was on the good morning shows. I was on the goodnight shows. I was on the late night shows. And after that, you kind of don't have anything to do during the day. I mean, I was walking around New York city, making friends with the homeless, you know, Hey Charlie, nice to see ya. Glad you got that tooth whitened

Larry (18:18):

<Laugh>

Steve Solomon (18:19):

So it, it wasn't that great. In fact, most people know in on Broadway, you don't, you don't make the money. You make the money on the tour, you brand the show on Broadway, and then you go out and you do your tours. And do I change the show every night? The show's changed every single night, not dramatically, but if the audience is more Italian, I can get it early. And I, I, I, I lean towards Italian. If they're neutral between the two, I have different, different techniques that I use, but it's never the same people have come back and brought people up back a week later. And it's a different show. Well, in, in south Florida, you could come back the following day and it'll be a different show, you know, to them. They don't remember. So that's fine, you know, but you were very good that you're the best thing that we ever had. Thank you. I'm glad you

Larry (19:13):

As a dentist, I just love that line. Glad you had that tooth whitened. Oh

Steve Solomon (19:19):

Yeah. Right.

Larry (19:22):

You've so that's not the only show you're doing

Steve Solomon (19:30):

No, there are five shows. The second show. Well, the second show was my mother's Italian. Father's Jewish and I am still in therapy. And the scene there is it's a birthday party. My father's 90th birthday party, which takes place at his clubhouse. And the setup is the entire clubhouse. And, but it's a clubhouse party that was put together by 190 year olds. So it's the, the clubhouse is chaos. In fact, there's a giant banner in the back that says happy birthday, Louie. And it's B I R T D a Y <laugh> giant banner. And it's really cute. That's a good show. I like that show the, the second show, the third show was my mother's Italian. My father's Jewish and I'm home for the holidays. Now that was created because of what happened when I was performing in it was in Vegas, Atlantic city.

Steve Solomon (20:24):

I was doing six weeks at the Hilton and Atlantic city. And we finished. And the, the buyer, the director came down to meet with my manager, Abby and my agent from William Morris, Kenny. And she said, this has been great. And Kenny said, well, let's bring him back next year. She said, well, he's been here two years in a row. And then Kenny said, well, what about his holiday show? And I looked at him and I went, what holiday show? You know, he came home for the holidays. Oh, that holiday show. I had no idea what he was talking about. She says, okay, we can bring him in, in December. And I grabbed Kenny. I said, ah, have a holiday show. And he says, go on together. Now we were, this was June. Normally it takes a year to write a show, rehearse it and Mount it here.

Steve Solomon (21:12):

I had six months and I said, you happy mind? He said, no, you could do it. You could do it. So I had to create a holiday show in six months while I was touring all over the country. So it was a, it was tough, but it's a lot of fun. Then we came up with some, one called can's Laus and guilt. The therapy continues that takes place in my parents' attic in Brooklyn, and they're just moving. They they've moved out and I'm just upstairs checking out, what's left and I go through it and I go through the memories and I, I, I find my old wedding album. And then I find what is it? Oh, my bar mitzvah album. And I open it up and I go, they're dead. He's dead. They're all dead. Everybody's dead. And it's cute. That's a good show. My favorite show, which doesn't book well is called from Brooklyn to Broadway in only 50 years. And I love that show. It's, it's a combination of a lot of the skills that I learned in the other five shows, but it doesn't book well, cuz the title just doesn't have a punch to it. But it's, I, I get a big kick out of it. It's a lot of fun. It's essentially me against the millennials.

Larry (22:25):

<Laugh> there's a lot of us on your team. Yeah. what do you attribute to the longevity of your shows too?

Steve Solomon (22:35):

Identification, everybody walks in there and identifies with some character or somebody in the show. There's a sweet, soft spot in the show where grandma passes away and writing out of that spot was probably a year's worth of trial in Eric. Cuz when you have a funeral on the show, you can't get him laughing. Well, I get him laughing, you know? And the minute my uncle Pauly, the stupid uncle Pauly, you know, I said, I call him the mental mid he, he always has advice and he comes in and it's it's in the funeral and he says, Stevie, I want, I want you to know something, take my advice. I said, uncle Paul, I'm not taking no, listen to me, take my advice. And I look at the audience, I say, I'm supposed to take the advice of a man that thinks K Y jelly is Marly from Kentucky

Larry (23:26):

<Laugh>

Steve Solomon (23:28):

And that's how I got at that's how I get outta that scene. Otherwise it's it's it, every night is, is nerve wracking. I remember I, I had open, I was opening for George Carlin and I was so excited, 5,000 people and I was backstage standing there nervous as hell. And Carlin came over to me and he says, you're nervous kid. I said, yeah. He says, you feel sick? I said, yeah, he says, good. When you stop feeling like that quit. I said, you get that way. He says AF before every single show and that's the truth. I get nervous before every show. I just want to hear the audience. I wanna, I wanna get the flavor of the audience. And it's important for me.

Larry (24:14):

How did the lockdown during COVID affect you

Steve Solomon (24:18):

Just shut, shut me down. Completely shut me down. So what we wound up doing was we were approached by a production company in Las Vegas called the golden network television company. And they asked if we would do episodes from parts of my shows or new parts of my shows. And essentially it was from my book which I had written a year before political correctness and other forms of insanity. And and it was the best seller. And so we did was we took excerpts from the books and actually behind me is one of the production facilities here we have. And I'm talking to you, it looks like Starship enterprise monitors and video video editing suites. So we do that. We did that for throughout COVID. We did it almost an episode every, every day or two. And it was it's a lot of fun video episodes.

Steve Solomon (25:15):

I get, I get a lot of emails and comments about the various episodes, cuz they're edgy. Cause I'm edgy. My whole family was edgy and they're a lot of fun. You can it's it's on the golden. You need a Roku device to get it. You have to have a Roku TV or Roku device and you just download the golden network television channel. And as soon as you click it on, there's my ugly face. The show is political correctness and other forms of insanity. And that kept us going for 16 months because we have nothing to do.

Larry (25:51):

The book is available. I would assume on Amazon,

Steve Solomon (25:54):

It's on Amazon, but I don't push the sale of the book. I'm not like that, but it's a, it's the show. That's a lot of fun, really, a lot of fun. It's crazy. Absolute insanity.

Larry (26:05):

So I'll push the sale of the book.

Steve Solomon (26:08):

Yeah. Go to amazon.com. Right.

Larry (26:13):

Where are you appearing next?

Steve Solomon (26:15):

I don't know. <Laugh> I got Peter in one of our actors. I think I, I alluded to this when I spoke to you. I'm just opening up my, my schedule right now. Smaller venues around the country usually can't afford to bring in big shows and not that my mine is a big show, but it's, it's got a set and everything like that. And what we do is I've trained two actors to do my show and they, I'm just looking at my schedule now. I trained took about six weeks reach after and they work through a through a touring producer, Phil, Phil, Roy who's really terrific. And he brings in my shows, various shows around the country with the other actors. And right now Peter is in Wilmington and I think I opened some place.

Steve Solomon (27:22):

I don't, I don't even know. I swear to go to it's like, it's like lunacy with me, you know, call me when, when it's over Wilmington. And then I go down to oh lake, Lakewood, Colorado, and then there's six weeks in Kirkland. Seattle. And then I, I think I have a month off and then it hits the fan in in November, beginning of November, I do a week in Waterbury, Connecticut. I do the palace theater someplace else. And then I opened in Vegas, the end of November and then middle of December through the end of December and pretty much running around Florida.

Larry (28:06):

So people that wanna see, you can check your schedule at your website,

Steve Solomon (28:10):

Steve solomon.net.

Larry (28:13):

Okay. Did we miss anything?

Steve Solomon (28:16):

No. Did you have breakfast?

Larry (28:20):

I'm living in Florida. Ask me a question that I can remember. <Laugh>

Steve Solomon (28:25):

Right. It's one of the things where I in the show I say to them I say my parents live in gated community gated community. This is where hundreds of beautiful homes of being protected by an 84 year old guy from Jamaica and what are gonna do. And they secure the entire community with a little bar that blocks entrance. I said, plus my mother got something. People don't believe it's called senior citizen patrols. This is real. The cops give them uniforms and cop cars. I got pulled over by one of these very senior cops. He gets out of the car, sets up his Walker. <Laugh> you'll know why I pulled you over. I, no officer why I forgot. <Laugh>

Steve Solomon (29:16):

It's a lot of fun, but you know, your, your, your viewers and listeners can check out all my, all my stick on Steve solomon.net. There are a lot of clips and I, I think I'm all over the internet, but again, I don't, I lost my ego 20 years ago. Larry. I swear. I, you know, if I know what I do, I know people have a lot of fun and I know in over 10,000 shows, we haven't had gotten one complaint yet. So that's the pretty much the way it is. And I am politically incorrect very much so. And I'm proud of it. <Laugh>

Larry (29:51):

I live in one of those gated communities. People ask me, which house is mine. I said, it's the beige house on the left.

Steve Solomon (29:57):

Right, right, right, right. And then they're walking up and down the street.

Larry (30:01):

Steve. Thanks for coming on specifically for seeing as you, you,

Steve Solomon (30:06):

We are welcome. Thank you. I'm glad. I'm glad I could oblige. I'm glad I was in one spot at the same time. Cuz now I'm on the road again. I'm delighted to be on the road again, but that's great.

Larry (30:16):

You brought us some very, very necessary laughter in these times.

Steve Solomon (30:22):

Yeah, I thank you. I I think I'm blessed with that ability and I'm, I'm honored and I don't wanna lose it. And my wife always says to me, so when he retiring, I said, when God tells me to retire, otherwise I'm just gonna have fun. Do what I can make people laugh. And and thank you. That's all I can tell you. Thank you so much for having me.

Speaker 1 (30:48):

If you found this podcast interesting, fun or helpful, tell your friends and family and click on the follow or subscribe button. We'll let you know when new episodes are available. You've been listening to specifically for seniors. We'll talk more next time. Stay connected.