BRATTLEBORO — On Saturday, Nov. 14, Strolling of the Heifers presents “An Evening of Comedy With Rabbi Bob Alper: Honorary Comedic Advisor to Pope Francis.”
The show begins at 8 p.m. at the Robert H. Gibson River Garden in downtown Brattleboro. Seating is limited to 200, and all seats are $20.
Alper, a professional standup comic, recently beat out 4,000 fellow funny people in a joke-writing competition organized by the Pontifical Missions Society called “Joke With the Pope.”
As winner, Alper gets to call himself Honorary Comedic Advisor to the Pope and the right to direct a $10,000 donation from the Missions Society to one of three international charities. He selected House the Homeless in Ethiopia.
The winning joke:
“My wife and I have been married for over 46 years, and our lives are totally in sync. For example, at the same time I got a hearing aid, she stopped mumbling.”
Alper reportedly is the world's only practicing clergyman doing stand-up comedy... intentionally. Audiences adore him, from a standing-room-only crowd at the prestigious Montreal Comedy Festival to a standing ovation before 2,700 at New York's famed Chautauqua Institution. He's even appeared at Hollywood's Improv and The Comedy Store.
He says his unique background - he is an ordained rabbi who served congregations for 14 years and holds a doctorate from Princeton Theological Seminary - prepared him well for a 27-year comedy career with wonderfully unique material presented in a way that's intelligent, sophisticated, and 100 percent clean.
Alper performs all across North America and England, at corporate events, theaters, nonprofits, conventions, private parties, churches, and, naturally, synagogues. And he's done more than 200 shows with his Arab and Muslim comedy partners at a variety of venues, but primarily colleges and universities.
About one of these shows, The New York Times reported the comics “had the audience convulsing.”
In addition to being a full-time stand-up comic and conducting annual high holiday services for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, Alper is the author of three books: Life Doesn't Get Any Better Than This, an inspirational collection that the Detroit Free Press called “a volume of spiritual gems;” the award-winning, full-color cartoon book A Rabbi Confesses; and the recently published Thanks. I Needed That, more stories that touch readers with warmth, humor, and wisdom.
He has also produced two best-selling comedy CDs and a DVD.
Alper resides in rural Vermont with his wife, Sherri, a psychotherapist.