Cookie comedy comes to Chicopee
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By G. Michael Dobbs
Managing Editor
Gary Gulman has gotten over cookies.
The comic, who appeared on NBC's "Last Comic Standing two and Three," was known for a hilariously obsessive routine about which cookies were the best Oreos were high on the list but low grades were given to Hydrox but he's moved on now.
If he hadn't given up cookies, he would be 400 pounds by now, he joked.
Gulman will be appearing on March 17 at the Comedy Connection at the Hu Ke Lau in Chicopee. He spoke to Reminder Publications last week just before he was to audition for an acting job on a situation comedy.
Gulman is a Massachusetts native who gave up a career as an accountant with Coopers & Lybrand to pursue his dream of being a comedian.
He worked for two years as a substitute teacher and at Starbucks in order to have the time to drive to open mic nights and write material.
In 1999, he was selected to perform at the Montreal International Comedy festival and later that year landed appearances on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and "The Late Show with David Letterman."
Gulman hasn't looked back. He's starred in three sit-com pilots, had a one-man show on Comedy Central last fall and toured last summer with Dane Cook in HBO's "Touragsm."
Performing comedy has been a goal for much of his life, he explained.
"Mom was very good letting me know if a comedian was on "[The Tonight Show Starring Johnny] Carson," he said.
David Brenner was one of his first favorites as he was 'talking about things I could understand."
"He had such an insight into human nature," Gulman added.
Paul Reiser, Garry Shandling and Jerry Seinfeld are also comics Gulman admires.
Gulman recorded a CD in 2004 that was a rarity in the world of comedy a CD with just a couple of well-placed curses and no "adult" material.
Gulman said that he has always wanted to work "clean" and have an act that he could perform on television. He said his humor has changed somewhat over the past few years in that it's more topical and adult oriented. He is impressed in how George Carlin can weave current events into his act.
He has recently recorded a new CD and is currently editing it.
Although he likes performing live, Gulman wouldn't mind appearing on television or getting a series. He said he looks forward to television work because "they treat you like it's your birthday. They iron your clothes and ask you if you need anything."
He has been involved with three pilots and although none of them sold, he said, "I can't say I've had a bad experience."
He has enjoyed being paired with a television writer to develop the script for the pilot.
"It's a trade-off. Your ideas get watered down, " he said. "But the money is so good, I can't complain."
"The over-all experience has been great," he added.
The problem for comics is that reality television programs have taken up too much time on the networks.
"There's less real estate for sitcoms," he said.
His own experience on reality television was also a trade-off between greater exposure to the public and his private life.
He said the producers did help the comics to grow resentful of each other during the shooting of the series.
He admitted the experience "changed my life."
"I reached more people than through my Internet site."
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