Show business is an extremely difficult thing to go into and not the easiest way to live. Believe it or not, even folks who have been very successful and made a lot of money often get down on themselves. There’s a constant struggle to stay relevant and prove yourself, to yourself and others. I’ve even heard colleagues of mine, after bumping into someone famous, feeling sorry for the person because they haven’t seen them on TV for a while. That doesn’t happen in most jobs. I’ve never heard anyone say to an architect, “So you still doing that building thing? You build anything lately? Ever think about quitting and getting into something where you have a steady paycheck every month?”
Such is the life though, and even with all of its instabilities there are some advantages when it comes to travel, time to yourself, etc. All of that, though, doesn’t change the fact that you can get pretty depressed if you just base your self worth on how well you are doing in the entertainment industry. I know people who take medication because they have told me they can’t separate their happiness from their careers.
As my career has developed, other than the enjoyment of bringing laughter to people, there’s one thing that makes it all worthwhile and keeps me grounded in values that are important. For the past decade, I have devoted myself to the success of Comedy for Koby, a biannual tour that brings top comedians to Israel to provide laughter to Israelis who are often living through difficult times.
Comedy for Koby also benefits the Koby Mandell Foundation, which provides therapeutic healing programs for women and children who have lost a loved one due to terror or other tragedy. I have seen the kids and this makes everything worthwhile, and drives me harder to make our shows always more successful. I hope you’ll join me, but first let me tell you a little about how I got where I am.
Before I was doing comedy full time, I was an elementary-school teaching assistant, and rarely if ever did I see any of the teachers question their happiness based on how much money they were making that particular month. They knew what they were going to make, and they were fine with it. The same is true in many jobs.
In show business, it takes years to learn and really accept that there will always be someone who is more successful than you, makes more money than you and, yes, you may never achieve his or her heights. But, and here’s the big but, and I like this big “but” and I cannot lie (I’m sorry, but I couldn’t resist because I’m still an immature 10-year-old), it doesn’t matter. I could give you some sappy “the race is only with yourself” line, and while that may be true, I think it doesn’t matter for another reason. It doesn’t matter because no matter how successful you get and no matter what award you receive, it will very quickly be yesterday’s news.
Now that may initially sound kind of depressing, but it’s really not. It puts into perspective what is really important as far as entertainment goes, and that’s where finding that “something else” outside of entertainment comes in. I’m lucky that I found it in being to blend what I do as a comic and incorporate it with Israel advocacy and fundraising to help kids who have been victims of terror and tragedy. The short-term gratification of this is only surpassed by the long-term benefits.
When I started going to Israel over 10 years ago, bringing other comedians with me to help brighten people’s mood while violence and suicide bombings were all too normal, I never imagined that this idea would turn into my new part-time job, becoming part of my identity, and that I’d be known as “the guy who brings comics to Israel.” It excites me to be introduced on national TV as having just coming back from “a very successful charity tour of Israel” because even if that is all that comes of it, it makes Israel come across normal and counteracts the negative image of Israel in the media.
If you would have asked me when I first started, I’m sure I would have said I would rather be known as the guy who’s on that sitcom, or the guy who’s in that movie, but now I’m honestly not so sure. The sitcom is going to come to end, and the movie will eventually stop playing in theaters, and may be a bomb anyway. Israel will be there forever (no matter how much that may upset certain groups of people) and it’s not getting canceled.
So, when I get down on myself about my career, it’s not another part I’ve booked, or another TV appearance that’s brought me out of the dumps. It’s that I have a bond to Israelis who can have it pretty tough sometimes, and it’s my responsibility to make sure they have a good time even if it’s just twice a year. It’s my responsibility, but it’s also my privilege. So, now, please join me.
If there’s a bereaved kid in a summer camp who lost a parent and who is able to be there because the money raised from Comedy for Koby pays for him or her to be there in the first place, I sleep well at night, regardless of parts I get or shows I book.
So, yeah, I may not ever win the Emmy, the Academy Award or any other accolade for that matter, but in a way, I think I’ve still found some success. And I found it where a Jew in Hollywood should, in Israel, at a camp for kids whom I may never meet.
Avi Liberman is a standup comedian, actor and writer who organizes the bi-annual Comedy for Koby tour in Israel.
Avi Liberman
