About Gabriel Kaplan
A stint in remedial education classes gave Gabe Kaplan fodder for his stand-up comedy act, which in turn provided the inspiration for the television series “Welcome Back, Kotter” (ABC, 1975-79). Wildly popular for most of its four-year tenure on the air, the sitcom made Kaplan a household name, but he distanced himself from Hollywood after its cancellation, preferring instead to devote his time to financial investment and playing poker. The latter proved to be an exceptionally successful second career for him that yielded not only winnings in excess of $1 million, but regular work as a commentator and host for televised poker tournaments.
Born Gabriel Kaplan in Brooklyn, NY on March 31, 1944, he found his earliest passion in baseball, and briefly considered a professional career until he was unable to find a spot on a major or minor league team. Disappointed, he found work as a bellman at a resort in New Jersey that featured regular performances by stand-up comics in its nightclub. Convinced that he could do as well as them, if not better, Kaplan honed an act and began playing the nightclub and coffeehouse circuits across the country.
Kaplan found that material based on his own childhood and school years struck a particular chord with audiences, so he began to hone these stories for his act. One routine that earned the biggest laughs was called “Holes and Mellow Rolls” – later the title of his 1974 comedy album – which focused on his eccentric classmates in remedial classes. These gags not only gave Kaplan a passport to wider exposure on talk shows like “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” (NBC, 1962-1992) but caught the attention of producers Alan Sacks and Eric Cohen, who tapped Kaplan to develop a television series based on his formative years.
The result was “Welcome Back, Kotter,” which cast Kaplan as Gabe Kotter, a former remedial student who returns to his old high school to teach a new crew of difficult students, known collectively as the Sweathogs. The show was driven by Kaplan’s interaction with his main Sweathogs, played by then-newcomers John Travolta, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, Robert Hegyes and Ron Palillio, who often made life difficult for Kotter’s wife (Marcia Strassman) and boss (John Sylvester White). Kaplan essentially played himself – or rather his stand-up self – a somewhat stiff but amiable guy who was quick with a quip or an insult (“Up your nose with a rubber hose” soon found its way into the national vernacular) and fond of telling outlandish stories about members of his family. The combination of Kaplan’s humor and the charm of the Sweathogs – with Travolta earning the most female admiration – soon made “Kotter” a Top 10 hit for ABC and a cash cow for its producers, thanks to relentless merchandising. The show also earned four Emmy nominations, including one for Outstanding Comedy Series in 1976.
The ratings for “Kotter” began to slip in its third season; Travolta’s growing popularity in features led to fewer appearances on the show, and replacement Sweathogs failed to make up for his absence. Kaplan himself later suggested that the Sweathogs’ obvious advanced age (Ron Palillo was 30 at the time of the final season) ate away at the show’s plausibility, so he suggested that Kotter and his crew move on to a local community college to continue their antics. The show’s producers, however, resorted to gimmicks like twin daughters for the Kotters and new characters (including a few female Sweathogs), but none of these moves halted the show’s decline. “Kotter” was officially cancelled in 1979.
Post-”Kotter,” Kaplan returned to his stand-up career while dabbling in feature films. He starred in three theatrical releases during his “Kotter” heyday – 1979’s “Fast Break, with Kaplan as a basketball coach; 1981’s “Nobody’s Perfekt,” with Kaplan, Robert Klein and Alex Karras as three neurotic friends who take on their local government over a pothole; and the romantic comedy “Tulips” (1981), which Kaplan co-penned – but none found a significant audience. The same fate befell his follow-up series, “Lewis & Clark” (NBC, 1981-82), which mined comic material from Kaplan’s interaction with Texas character actor Guich Kook as the Southern fried manager of a restaurant purchased by Kaplan’s New Yorker.
But if the failure of these projects bothered Kaplan, he certainly did not show it. In addition to his stand-up career, he kept himself busy by dabbling successfully in the financial markets, which earned him favorable press in investment magazines. He also began playing in professional poker tournaments and proved himself to be a savvy and talented player.
A longtime fan of Groucho Marx, Kaplan frequently imitated him on “Kotter” and attempted unsuccessfully to feature the comedy legend on the show. He later turned his fascination for Groucho into a one-man stage show, “Groucho: A Life in Review,” in 1982, which was also filmed for HBO that same year. Despite heavy conflict with Marx’s son Arthur over the direction of the show – Kaplan favored a straight biographical take on Marx’s life, while Arthur wanted a glossier, song-driven production – Kaplan frequently revived the production over the ensuing decades.
Kaplan’s last acting role on television came in a 1984 episode of “Murder, She Wrote” (CBS, 1984-1996). Though numerous offers for new series and hosting duties on game shows came his way, he resisted all of them, citing a disinterest in the pursuit of fame and a full – and fulfilling – schedule of financial investing, professional poker and stand-up work. Kaplan eventually added radio host to his busy roster in the early 1990s when he fronted a sports talk show for a Los Angeles AM radio station.
In the 1990s, Kaplan also found himself at the center of renewed interest when “Kotter” was added to the primetime lineup of “Nick at Nite.” The newfound audience resulted in several reunions of the original cast for a 2000 episode of “The E! True Hollywood Story” (E!, 1996- ) and later, as part of “ABC’s 50th Anniversary Celebration” in 2003. In true form, Kaplan preferred to focus on the pursuits that truly interested him, racking up some impressive wins in the World Series of Poker competitions in 2004, 2005 and 2007. His skill at the game and celebrity status made him a popular host and commentator for television poker competitions.
In 2007, Kaplan made his fourth movie appearance in the improvisational comedy “The Grand,” which was set in the world of high-stakes poker competitions. Well cast for his comic skills and poker credentials, he also gave a surprisingly dramatic performance as the wayward father to two reigning poker champs (Cheryl Hines and David Cross), whose own desire to win was motivated by his competitive nature. Kaplan also impressed with his first book, Kotter’s Back – E-mails from a Faded Celebrity to a Bewildered World (2007), which eschewed the usual biographical coverage in favor of chronicling several elaborate but benign pranks he carried out on unsuspecting victims via e-mail, who went along with the schemes due to his Hollywood pedigree. Among the more outlandish stunts covered in the books were Kaplan’s attempt to convince the powers that be in Sioux City, IA to hold a parade for him in honor of his 60th birthday, and a proposal to an adult film producer that included a photo of Kaplan dressed only in his underwear. In 2008, Kaplan gave his blessing to a proposed film version of “Kotter” with Ice Cube in the title role.
