GELMAN’S REALM

Brett Gelman grew up in Highland Park and usually ordered a jumbo char dog, a classic hot dog, and cheese fries at Michael’s. But the comedian/actor/writer, who appeared as Pig Parker in the “Vow of Silence” episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm in 2011, savored something even more than his favorite fare at the iconic restaurant on 2nd Street. Gelman relished time—every delicious minute—in Highland Park High School’s theater department under the tutelage of Scott “Shall” Shallenbarger.

“It was an amazing department, really advanced, when I was there,” says the 47-year-old Gelman, who portrayed Martin in the BBC comedy Fleabag and is Murray Bauman in the Netflix series Stranger Things. “Scott Shallenbarger was a great teacher and inspiration; he brought out the artist in me—a socially paralyzed and awkward, strange kid— and the artist in so many other teenagers.

“Performing in the school’s Black Box Studio,” the 1995 HPHS graduate adds, “was my salvation, my chance to produce creative moments.”

Gelman’s latest work is a book; his first. It’s The Terrifying Realm of the Possible: Nearly True Stories (HarperCollins, 2024, 255 pages). To say the book of short stories is creative is to say a book has pages. Gelman crafts diary entries, love letters, poetry, and scenes from a play. It’s funny, edgy, delightfully quirky, and not rated G. Readers get to meet five characters, emphasis on character for each: Abraham Amsterdam (the child), Mendel Freudenberger (the teenager), Jackie Cohen (the adult), Iris Below (the senior), and Z (the dead).

Z gets hit by a bus, dies, and meets God and Satan.

“God stood tall, a perfect blend of all genders and races,” Z observes. “To put it simply, God looked like a beautifully magnificent Everything.”

Satan, to Z: “I’d love to take you on a tour of the facilities, but I’m just swamped. Besides, what good is a tour really going to do except upset you even more.”

“It’s definitely autobiographical, with a lot of it made up,” says Gelman, a graduate of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. “But everything in the book comes from a true place. I mess with form; it’s not all prose. Woody Allen’s book Without Feathers influenced me because it messed with form. So did some of David Sedaris’s early work.”

A sample of Gelman’s poetry in the book’s Freudenberger story: “I don’t know if I’m real/And if I’m real I don’t know for how long/Life should be a song/Instead it’s a mess/ And there’s no broom/No mop.”

On the voices of demons inside young Abraham’s head, Gelman writes, “They filled his inner ears like an orchestra of broken instruments and goats screaming.”

Gelman was encouraged by HarperCollins Executive Editor Stuart Roberts to tackle the challenges of writing a book shortly after Fleabag won six Primetime Emmy Awards following its second and final series in 2019.

“A book of short stories appealed to me because I’d written one, iBrain, and then performed it live,” Gelman says. “The book took me about three years to complete, with six months devoted to writing. A lot of procrastination. Every author needs a great editor, and I had one in Stuart. I’m so happy with the book and really proud of it. It was an act of Jewish pride. Working on it revitalized my self-actualization and the multifaceted artist in me.”

Now a triple threat (comedian/actor/ writer), Gelman hopes to soon add “director” to his stockpile. Weeks after Hamas’ attacks against Israel last October 7, Gelman discovered he’d been bestowed a title he did not seek.

“I took up the fight against global anti- Semitism,” Gelman says. “That gets my juices flowing. I guess that means I’m now considered an activist.”

There’s nothing in his book about the fight, but a local bookstore chose to cancel a Gelman book tour stop in March because of security concerns, per published reports. Scheduled appearances in Los Angeles—where Gelman lives—and San Francisco got scrubbed, too. North Shore residents Robyn Tavel and Marcia Blumenthal Fields heard about the local decision and arranged for Gelman to speak at Am Shalom (People of Peace) in Glencoe on April 2.

Nearly 400 people attended the event, including Gelman’s mother, Candace, and his fiancée, singer/songwriter/actor Ari Dayan. Brett and Ari plan to get married in Tuscany in June.

“This is my biggest book tour turnout to date,” Gelman told the audience at the reform synagogue’s Elise and Lee Sacks Family Social Hall.

“We’re living through a crazy nightmare,” he added later. “Yes, I’m angry about the cancellations and upset that protesters have been calling bookstores with a threat like, ‘Don’t let that person speak or we’ll do something.’ Too many protesters are pro-ignorance.”

Gelman also shared memories of his bar mitzvah in Northbrook, what he liked to watch as a youngster to assuage his chronic condition of nervousness, what his favorite sound in the world is, and the man he’d like to portray in a movie someday, among other topics.

His bar mitzvah: “Junior High day, the best day of my life. I was thinking, ‘It can’t get any better than this.’ I was proud of my parents and my parents’ friends that day.”

What he watched to escape: “Comedies. They helped me relax. I enjoyed Dan Aykroyd and John Candy, as well as Mel Brooks and the Marx Brothers. The Marx Brothers’ movie A Night at the Opera made me want to do what I’m doing now.”

His favorite sound: “Laughter. It’s the best sound. All my family members are comic geniuses who inspired me. I grew up in a family addicted to laughter.”

The ultimate role: “To portray Yitzhak Rabin. His story needs to be told.”

But Brett Gelman loves being Brett Gelman nowadays. His fiancée isn’t just the love of his life; “Ari,” he says, “is the greatest person I’ve ever known. She’s a completely brilliant artist who deeply inspires me all the time.” And the man who played Alistair Grumps in the 2022 film Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile and spoke during the March for Israel at the National Mall in November makes people laugh and think.

“Most of the people I hung out with in high school would be surprised at what I’m doing now,” Gelman says. “If they’re not, they’re lying.”