Expert Marx Man

Gabe Kaplan making his Marx

The quintessential wiseacre. The crown prince of smart-aleck comebacks. The sardonic pin to deflate any puffed-up, pretentious gasbag. The man who gave us Professor Quincy Adams Wagstaff, Dr. Hugo Z. Hackenbush, and Otis P. Driftwood. The man who taught us the value of "the secret woid." One of the rare entertainers whose decades-spanning career saw successes in vaudeville and on Broadway, in Hollywood and on television. His mama called him Julius, but to the world he was Groucho.

The sharpest, slyest, wittiest Marx brother is back and in residence at One World Theatre this week, in the form of funny man Gabe Kaplan. He stars in Groucho: A Life in Review, a theatrical look at not just the persona of the legendary comedian but the man behind the mustache. It's a "welcome back" to the role for Kaplan, who starred in a 1982 film version of the show for HBO. But in returning to the material after 20 years, the comedian has adapted the original script by Groucho's son Arthur to provide, in his words, a more "introspective look at the man and his humor, his life, how he dealt with people. It tries to give you an inkling of what he was like as a man and what most comedians are like."

Austin is the second stop for this new version of the show, which Kaplan will later take to Florida and hopes to tour more extensively after that. He'll channel Groucho here for a full week, setting down the trademark cigar only long enough to pick up a poker hand or three, playing Texas Hold 'Em as part of One World Theatre's fundraising Game Night on Saturday, Oct. 16. Kaplan spoke with the Chronicle by phone about his longtime affection for and affiliation with Groucho Marx.

Austin Chronicle: When did you first discover Groucho?

Gabe Kaplan: I first discovered Groucho watching the television show. My father was a big fan, so I grew up watching it, and I didn't really know anything about Groucho except that he was on You Bet Your Life. I didn't see a Marx Brothers movie probably until I was 11 or 12.

AC: Was there something about him that appealed to you at that time?

GK: I thought he was the quickest wit on television. I didn't know that there was a process that this went through for him to be so funny on the show. To me, everything he said was right on the spur of the moment. He was a really funny guy, so I'd try to emulate him around my house or with my friends, to do "Grouchoisms."

AC: When did you start to do an impression of him in your comedy act?

GK: [He was] always ... one of the people that was in my comedy repertoire, but I was always doing the TV guy more than the Marx Brothers. Then when I started to have more contact with him, to know him and know the kind of man he was, I really found the whole Groucho Marx persona, the person combined with the entertainer, to be very interesting and sort of a reflection on all comedians.

AC: What was it like the first time you met him?

GK: Actually, the first time I met him was in a restaurant. I had been on The Tonight Show a couple of times, and he was in this restaurant sitting with another gentleman and a nurse, I think. I introduced myself, and he said, "I know who you are. I saw you on the Carson show." He said to his friend, "This is Gene Kaplan. He's very funny." I said, "Thank you, Groucho, but I'm Gabe Kaplan." He says, "Well, I'm gonna call you Gene." I said, "I'm gonna call you Zeppo. Is that all right?" And he said, "That's very funny."

AC: What has kept him a great artist to you?

GK: Some comedians say funny things, and some comedians have a funny persona where they look and talk and act funny, and some comedians have a good comedy style. He had everything. He looked funny, he walked funny, he talked funny, and he said brilliant things. So he had everything that encompasses all the different areas of comedy. And for me, I became fascinated with all the great things attributed to him. As far as great humorous lines, he had so many. And I became interested in him because he was a flawed personality like a lot of comedians. He wasn't a bad man. He was just so defensive and so insecure. I'm sorry that I didn't spend more time with him, because I think he's the epitome of all comedy and all comedians, and there's something about his story that was the kind of story I wanted to tell.

AC: Do you feel any closer to the man now than when you did it in 1982?

GK: I think I understand him a little better than I did then. I don't think his flaws were as serious as I did then. He wasn't mean. Everything he did was a defensive reaction to what was going on around him. So I think I understand him a little more than I did then, and I hope that comes through, I hope [when] people walk out of [the show] that they understand him. We tend to think of people in the public eye as greater than they really are. Some of them are quite average except for their specialty, except for what they do. In his specialty, he was great, he was one of the greatest. But he had his problems as a person. He had his problems dealing with people in his family and his friends. He couldn't give the necessary warmth and love and attention that he should have been giving.

AC: Is there something Groucho has to say to the world today?

GK: Yeah. People taking themselves too seriously and hypocrisy. That was his number one thing, particularly in the movies. He would point out how ridiculous everything was and how standards were made by people and some of them could be ridiculous, and nobody was really any better than anybody else. I think that's relevant to today.

One World Theatre's Game Night is Saturday, Oct. 16, 6pm-midnight, at Barton Creek Country Club. For more information, call 330-9500 x15.