Dave Rosner has served several tours in Iraq — once as a Marine, and again as a stand-up comic.

Billed as the only Jewish Marine Comedian, the Albuquerque native is the guest speaker at a dinner Wednesday night celebrating Rosh Hashanah —the Jewish New Year— at the Hilton Santa Fe.

Speaking by phone from Los Angeles — where he had managed to get involved in a fender bender and run out of gas in the span of a few hours — Rosner said he plans to tell stories of "what it is like to be Jewish in the Marines and how to be observant."

"I'll tell jokes — combining those two cultures; being a Jew and being a Marine. And a lot of 'being a Jew from New Mexico' jokes. It will be a light evening of meaningful stories, humor, and stories of my time in the Gulf War."

Rosner said he developed his sense of humor as a child. "I love my family very much, but it was a chaotic family life and I found that humor was a wonderful tool to even the playing field," he said.

"And of course, as a child, it was another way to get accolades. I think I came into it as a way to cope with life, and I realized I like making people laugh."

He attended The University of New Mexico and then joined the Marine Corps. He served as a Marine officer in Desert Shield/Storm in 1990/1991 and in Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. He spent another 10 days in Iraq and Kuwait as a comedian entertaining the troops in March 2009. He now serves as a lieutenant colonel in the public-affairs unit.

His performance skills come in handy when the Marine Corps calls upon him to emcee and brief at Individual Ready Reserves events, where he speaks to Marines about the benefits of being in the Reserves and reminds them of all the support programs in place to help them.

He also performs comedy routines in his full military regalia for them. "I'm on orders to make people laugh," he said.

Rosner — who is just beginning work on a biographical book examining the contradictions in his life — has contributed political, military, and comedic commentary to a number of television and radio shows. He's acted in an Australian television drama (he lived there for a few years) and just appeared in Yair Shvartz's short film Bert's Plan.

He stays busy performing in front of Jewish organizations, comedy-club patrons and military personnel and their family members. While he alters his attitude, attire and material to suit the needs of each specific audience — "I'm an actor. You need to be able to adapt" — he also looks for ways to expand and improve his material.

"I'm always tweaking it to make it better," he said. "Ten years ago, I had maybe a minute of material on being a Jew from New Mexico. Now I have 5 minutes, a whole story, about that, and somewhere in that story I can find a transition to go on to something else."

During his talk Wednesday, he'll speak of the need to take pride in the Jewish religion and culture. Rosner said being in a combat situation "puts you in situations where you are tested more."

Citing the Jewish phrase Gam zu l'tovah, — which means "This is also for the good," Rosner said, "We don't know when we are in the heat of things that it's for the good. Because everything that happens comes from God, so it's all good.

"But tell that to someone who is in the middle of deep physical or emotional pain, or someone who survived the Holocaust, and you're going to get a big slap in the face. But I think everything is an opportunity to bring light to a dark situation."



If you go

What: Chabad Jewish Center of Santa Fe presents Dave Rosner.

When: 6:30 p.m. Wednesday

Where: Hilton Santa Fe, 100 Sandoval St. Rosh Hashanah services are free, followed by a community dinner — $36 for adults; $18 for children. Call 983-2000.