Your Colleagues

From the lab to the stage

Art Edelman performing at Helium Comedy Club.

Art Edelman performs at Helium Comedy Club in Buffalo. Photo: Amrom Chodos

By MICHAEL ANDREI

Published July 25, 2016 This content is archived.

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Performing as a stand-up comic was about the farthest thing from Art Edelman’s mind when he came to Buffalo in 1985 to join the UB faculty.

His training in neuroscience at Stanford and biochemistry at the University of Washington had given him the tools to pursue his dream of setting up his own research lab to study biochemical pathways responsible for growth and development in neural cells. Now an associate professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Edelman has recently expanded this interest, seeking to understand why a prostate or ovarian cell would “turn against itself” and become cancerous.

But his life as a scientist and educator took an unexpected turn a few years ago when he entered the fascinating and unruly world of stand-up comedy.

Stand-up comedy seems a long way from scientific research and medical education. What led you into it?

AE: I love science and interacting with colleagues and students, but at some point I felt like what I was doing was so totally analytical, rational, left-brain kind of stuff that I began to feel a need for a creative outlet of some kind.

How did you make the decision to try comedy?

AE: Process of elimination. I thought about what I was capable of doing. Painting? No way. Music? Even less likely. Dance? You can’t be serious. But comedy — I thought I was somewhere on the radar and comedy could provide instant gratification (with a stop for a reality check here).

If you thought you could do comedy, you must have been funny as a kid.

AE: Not especially, although I felt I had two things going for me. I enjoyed blurting out socially inappropriate remarks (obviously a good start) and I also had some very funny family members, like my uncle Al. This was a man who said he wanted his funeral to be on a weekend because “Then you get the really big crowds.” Not surprisingly, his funeral was more of a celebrity roast than a series of heartfelt eulogies. I probably subconsciously absorbed some of the rhythm of comedy from family members without realizing it.

When did you start performing?

AE: 2010. But before that, I had to prove to myself that I could write creatively. I wrote a set of short sketches. One was about a man who gives legal and investment advice to Dracula and Frankenstein (“Paranormal Paralegal”). Great writing it wasn’t, but at least I didn’t immediately think of burning it. The other thing I had to do was get over the fear factor and just take the plunge. When I did that, I found out why they call it stand-up.

What was your first experience like?

AE: Somewhere between bizarre and terrifying. I went with my wife and another couple to a comedy open mic at, of all places, a vegetarian/vegan restaurant. The entertainment during dinner was about two hours of a movie about curing diabetes through dietary means. Then all the diners left and the comics arrived for another two hours of generally filthy stand-up comedy.

My time on stage turned out to be good news/bad news. The bad news was that it was disaster. I probably had a premonition of this since I performed under the stage name of Al Levine (uncle Al). Later, my friend described my performance as basically “deer in the headlights.” My wife gently suggested that I may want to consider rehearsing my material before performing it.

The good news was that although a disaster, it wasn’t an unmitigated disaster. I felt I had a few small mitigations in there. And I was gratified to win the “Best First Time on Stage Comic Award,” which I honestly think gave me as much pleasure as if there had been another first time comic on stage that night.

When did you begin to feel you were making progress?

AE: After a few times at some other venues, and with only marginally better material, I came up with a fairly long bit I called “The Story of my Colonoscopy.” This worked well for a while until I began to wonder how long I could go on with a story about a sadistic gastroenterologist. By the way, my actual gastroenterologist is not sadistic at all. He just really enjoys his work.

How often and where do you perform?

AE: Usually three to five times a year at places like Nietzsche’s and Helium Comedy club in Buffalo, but also a few times in New York.  

Do you focus on particular subject matter?

AE: Anything I can connect to getting old, even if it’s a stretch. 

No science jokes?

AE: I’m not opposed to them. I just can’t think of any.

Do you have a strategy for developing material?

AE: Trial and error. And I have a rule. The audience always decides. It doesn’t matter if I think it’s funny; if the audience doesn’t laugh, it’s not funny.

What do you most enjoy about stand-up comedy?

AE: Writing a joke, performing it onstage and hearing the audience laugh is thrilling. For me, that’s what it’s about.