free, and I made a lot of connections. I found out that celebrity was a sham. A lot of those people were a-------. I wanted to do it without becoming one."

In the New York City clubs, Fatel worked his way up to fulfill his dream of appearing on the "Late Show with David Letterman." He tells young comics: "There are two ways to make it in comedy — in New York City or on the road." He discounts the third alternative of moving to Los Angeles, saying that he prefers the "grit" of East Coast humor.

He has been back on Letterman many times, and has been on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," both as a standup and as a correspondent, where has done interviews at events, includingthe Super Bowl and the Grammy Awards.

This will be the first time Fatel has appeared in the Allentown area, which is something of a surprise to him since he has been doing standup for about 25 years. He has a cult following, and says that usually 75-80 percent of the people who come to see him are familiar with his work. "It's young kids to grandparents. I rarely play a crowd of newbies. They know who I am from Letterman or Leno."

He has played for newbies before, however, having performed in Australia, Germany, France, England, South Africa and Lebanon. As for his appearance in Beirut, he says, "It was an interesting feeling. I was surprised. It has a huge Christian population who all speak English." He admits that