I saw you on Broadway in the Ross Childs in fact. You don't look that old. It's a long time ago, you know? Do you realize how long ago it is? What year, do you remember what year it was? 70, 1970, 1971. That's almost 50 years ago. George Slatter, when I asked him, and you'll be on stage with him, George Slatter, who's being honored tonight. I asked him, what does he think of Jewish Americans' contribution to American Jewish culture? And he said, well, look at the theater. Well, look at the theater, yeah. Sure, I did the... how many shows I did? I did one with Julie Stein, with Harnock and Bach, with your name it. So you look at the theater, indeed. Do you feel that Jewish humor has become mainstream American humor now through a sign felled in all the years? I don't know what Jewish humor is anymore, you know? It was so mainstream that it's... It's not Jewish humor anymore. You know, it's just plain old humor. Yeah. Your program, Danny Arnold? Danny Arnold. What was his contribution to American culture in your view? I'm not a good writer. Okay, so then we'd like to put you on a theater too. Good television. That's all it was. It wasn't groundbreaking. There'd been gang comedies before. And look back to Bilko, you know, the plenty of these. It was just well done. The year that we did Barney, there was a gang comedy in a bar that didn't succeed. Until Cheers did it a few years later, just did it well. And I think that was the contribution. It was just well done television. I haven't seen that in a long time. How did your expertise, your education and virtuosity in clarinet playing influence your ability to be comfortable on the stage? I'll tell you how it influenced it. First of all, I was also the band singer. You were. Yeah, I was the guy who jumped up out of the saxophone section and sang the pop tune of the day. And it's biggest influence. It kept me alive for a long time. Well, the long time that it took me to finally make it on Broadway. Did you perform weddings? Oh, yeah, wedding. Oh, yeah. I may have performed at your wedding. Check your photo album. In New York City? New York City. Yeah. So comfortable on stage. How did you transition from musician to actor? That's a long story. And it has to do with a question that has wanted me my whole life. I was in the army. I was in an army band. I had never had anything to do with theater. I never went to the theater. And the piano player, who I played, you know, on weekends we played for the service club and the officers club. He used to get borrowed by special services. They didn't have a resident piano player. And one time he just turned to me and said, listen, now you want to sing a song in the show? I'll have him borrow you, too. And I said, okay, sure. And that started the whole thing, which leaves me with the conundrum. What if he didn't ask me? I don't know that I would have ever thought to have gone into the theater. But you aren't just an ordinary singer. You're an operating school, aren't you? No. No, I was a band singer, a crew member who learned how to sing loud to get into Broadway shows. No, I was not an opera. I studied eventually, voice, and you know, part of that was working on operatic areas, but only for training purposes. Never, never the opera, no. You've done a lot of work on behalf of Israel with the JNF? I am the national spokesman for Jewish National Fund. And I've been from 20 years now. So I have indeed, and that's only the last 20 years, spent my life doing benefits for Jewish causes all along. But with JNF, I've stuck with JNF to now know it's 20 years. So when you call about buying a tree, I answer the phone. Your voice is on the machine. That's right, I answer the phone. How do you think America under this new administration is doing towards Israel? Don't ask, don't. Well, they're not thrilled. I was just reading an article in paper. Even though they got a wonderful relationship, I understand Israel is not at all thrilled with the... Only about the medium range ballistic missiles, but in terms of moving the embassy recognition of Israel's threat and support? Oh, that's all Nyanja politics. I mean, all that accomplishes somebody. Somebody will get stabbed. I don't see that as a major move of any kind. It's only symbolic, and they haven't moved it. They're moving it May 14th. They're moving it May 14th. They are going... Oh, yeah, yeah. 250 Americans going over in support of that. I mean, will that influence your view? No, I don't think it was a good idea in the first place. I mean, what's the point? The rub somebody's nose in it? I didn't think that was a good idea to begin with. What do you know about Israel that most Americans ought to learn from? Hmm. Get on a plane and go over there and see. It's an amazing place to be. Inspirational. Just a great place to be. And to see. And see what can be done at a... Nothing in 70 years. You're proud of that. Oh, yeah. My father was not a very religious man, but he was a Zionist. And so I grew up with Zionism long before there was in Israel. So... Do you feel that the term Zionism has been redefined away from us? I don't... I have no opinion in the matter. It doesn't matter. There's an Israel that's going to stay there, and we'll do whatever we have to do to keep it there.