The star of 70s television series “Welcome Back Kotter” (which I remember vaguely from my childhood although I was a bit young to watch with interest), Gabe Kaplan, has a new book out called “Kotter’s Back: E-mails from a faded celebrity to a bewildered world.”

The book involves a series of extensive e-mail pranks Kaplan played on people, including the producers of “Celebrity Boxing” when they were trying to get him to participate. He also had a four year correspondence with the city manager of in Sioux City, Iowa, at one point trying to convince him to hold a parade for his 60th birthday.

A bizarre e-mail correspondence between City Manager Paul Eckert and comedian Gabe Kaplan, has resulted in the release of a new book and the star of “Welcome Back Kotter” making an appearance in the 2007 Big Parade in Sioux City on June 29.

Kaplan’s book, “Kotter’s Back: Emails From a Faded Celebrity to a Bewildered World,” features excerpts from correspondence that lasted more than four years with Eckert. The book includes Kaplan’s attempt to talk Eckert into hosting a parade in his honor to celebrate his 60th birthday. Kaplan’s reasoning for the request centers around the idea that Sioux City, out of all cities in the United States, gave the show “Welcome Back Kotter” its highest rating during the four years the program was televised. Kaplan’s participation in the Big Parade will tie together his request for a parade.

Eckert received his first e-mail from Kaplan in Novemeber 2002. He said he thought it was someone impersonating Kaplan. Eckert didn’t know at the time that Kaplan was sending e-mails to officials all over the country and planned to use the responses in a book.

“I was suspicious and intrigued,” Eckert said Thursday at the Convention Center. “I was never certain I was dealing with the right guy. Every time we tried to corral him, he’d slip away.”

[From The Sioux City Journal]

The book is said to be “irreverent,” “ridiculously comical,” and “surreal” according to the publisher. There are no reviews that I could find.

Kaplan’s IMDB biography shows that he hasn’t done much acting apart from a handful of television guest appearances in the 1980s, but according to Wikipedia he has been keeping busy. He’s an accomplished poker player, with total earnings of over a million USD. He is also a stand up comedian and serves as commentator for poker events.