last word
Joel Gibbs
‘MAN OF A THOUSAND VOICES,’ DEBUTS SHOW ABOUT
JEWISH GRANDFATHER CHARACTER
Jarrad Saffren | Staff Writer
Photo by Kylie Richards Photography
A s a recent press release explained,
Bucks County-based voice actor
Joel Gibbs is starring as Sol
Krupnick in “Meet Sol Krupnick,” “an
on-stage, theatrical, one-man-show”
about a “Jewish kibitzer of undeter-
mined (old) age who shares fun stories
about his crazy family, tells classic jokes
and offers ‘unique’ observations about
the world around him.”
Or, in other words, the 70-year-old
Jewish grandfather is performing a
one-man show as himself.
“I am indeed Sol Krupnick,” he said.
Gibbs, a longtime congregant at Shir
Ami in Newtown who still attends
events at the synagogue, opened his
show with a recent performance at
KleinLife in Northeast Philadelphia.
About 200 friends and family members
came to show their support. But really,
they came to laugh. As Gibbs said of
the night, “I portrayed the character; I
told the stories and jokes; the audience
laughed a lot.”
“What else could you possibly want
in a show?” he added.
Gibbs also organized a three-camera
shoot of the performance to create and
distribute marketing materials about
it. That will set up the “next phase” and
“let the rest of the world know about
Sol.” The experienced voice actor, who
has appeared in TV and radio ads
for “every retail and service category,”
according to his press release, hopes to
take his one-man-show on the road to
local theaters like The Kimmel Center
and The Metropolitan Opera House.
He is posting videos to Krupnick’s
YouTube channel, “Sol Stories,” to pro-
mote the character.
Gibbs calls himself the “Man of
a Thousand Voices.” He does more
than 100 celebrity impressions and has
worked on more than 40,000 proj-
ects worldwide, according to his press
release. He partnered with Billy Crystal,
28 Julie Andrews and other celebrities on
the “Love the Arts in Philadelphia”
campaign to promote the city’s cultural
institutions. Krupnick, though, is the culmina-
tion of his life’s work, he says.
“Sol is the embodiment of my voices,
my acting, my love of storytelling, all
put together in one package,” Gibbs
explained. It also may be the most natural
assignment he’s ever taken on. Gibbs
has a 6-year-old grandson and a 3-year-
old granddaughter. He often calls his
grandkids on FaceTime and launches
DECEMBER 1, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
into a routine featuring the characters
from “Sesame Street.” He uses puppets,
dummies and silly voices or, as he puts
it, “all the nonsense.”
“We have a great time,” Gibbs said.
“They’ve got a 24/7 perennial performer
as their grandfather, and I think they
are digging it, too.”
Except this is not just grandfather
shtick. It’s the kind of routine Gibbs
performs for friends and family mem-
bers, too, just like he did at KleinLife.
The old kibitzer tells stories and jokes;
he does impressions; he shares “unique”
opinions about the world around him.
As a child, Gibbs enjoyed watch-
ing Jewish comedians on “The Ed
Sullivan Show.” At 5, he discovered
the work of the famous ventriloquist
Paul Winchell, who hosted a prime-
time show on NBC in the early 1950s.
In his press release about Sol Krupnick,
Gibbs described discovering Winchell
as a life-changing experience. Despite
his young age, he assigned “vocal char-
acterizations” to his “many dummies,
puppets and marionettes.”
Ever since then, he’s been entertain-
ing. He said that friends, colleagues and
audiences alike seem to enjoy his perfor-
mances. Gibbs has portrayed versions
of the Krupnick character for 50 years.
But now, at 70, and as an experienced
grandpa and kibitzer, he has decided to
make him the show’s focal point.
“And overall the small percentage
of the world that’s come to know him
seems to like him a lot,” Gibbs said.
The performer described the
KleinLife show as “a success on every
level I could have hoped for.” After it
ended, people texted, called and com-
mented on Facebook to tell Gibbs that
Krupnick was their favorite Jewish
grandfather. When Gibbs was up there portraying
Krupnick, he made people laugh and
smile. And he said that’s what per-
forming is all about. He called it “an
exceptional feeling” to get that type
of reaction from the audience. Not
because they were approving of him,
but because they were having a good
time. The goal, he said, is “to let people
spend an evening with Sol, with this
character, with this guy, and to just let
all our troubles go away.”
“I just enjoy at a very basic level
making people laugh and making peo-
ple happy. It’s joyous for me. It’s joy-
ous for the audience,” Gibbs explained.
“Funny is funny, and this is funny. This
is making me laugh. This is making me
feel good.” JE
jsaffren@midatlanticmedia.com
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