Brad Garrett knows the comedy, and is getting used to the juggling, too

By John Katsilometes

Tuesday, June 15, 2010 | 3:53 p.m.

Brad Garrett is in Vegas and he's doing business. He's been doing the funny in media interviews and cutting deals with ticket agencies and directing construction workers on where to place the big black VIP booths in his new comedy club.

He's even straightening the frames on the artwork hanging on the club's walls.

Yes, Garrett is a true Vegas juggler — only Penn Jillette does it better — and is hustling in every sense of the word as the formal opening of his Brad Garrett's Comedy Club approaches. Positioned on the mezzanine level of the Tropicana, where hard-hatted construction workers are as plentiful as actual tourists during the hotel's oft-reported $165-million renovation, the club was for years the Comedy Stop at the Trop.

Garrett is opting for an old-Vegas vibe, embracing the hotel's comic lineage. Shecky Greene performed at the Trop, generations ago. So did Rodney Dangerfield.

"I'm totally, totally, into old Vegas," he says. "I want to bring back that vibe."

Garrett and Rob Sherwood open the 275-seat club. Tickets are $39 and $59 (not including fees), and guests must be 18 years of age or older. Shows run Sundays through Thursdays at 8 p.m., with two shows set for Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m.

Garrett is four-walling the club, an admirable display of courage in the face of a spirited competition among Las Vegas comics. The template for Garrett's business plan has been mapped by a man he respects, George Wallace at Flamingo Las Vegas.

"This takes so much work," Garrett says. "The fact that I'm doing this shows how passionate I am about this project."

As part of the deal with the hotel, Garrett will not appear in any other stand-up venue for two years. Other announced performers are Kevin Nealon, Dom Irrera, Bob Zany Rondell Sheridan and Rocky LaPorte.

A few other quick hits from Garrett and his club:

• Garrett does a good Dangerfield impression, and an even better Telly Savalas impression from Telly's old Players Club Card commercials. "I love the excitement of Atlantic City and Las Vegas, and OK, I get VIP treatment..." Classic. He's also threatened to do a little Bert Convy, you know, because of the resemblance.

• Early in his career, Garrett was once chastised for telling a joke about Liberace. The person doing the chastising was Liza Minnelli, for whom Garrett was an opening act. "She kept saying, 'Don't make fun of Lee! Don't make fun of Lee!'" Garrett says. "I said, 'Who's Lee?' I had no idea who she was talking about."

• He hasn't had a drink since April 12, 1997, having been kicked out of a bachelor party in Hawaii. In the ensuing months of non-drinking, he says he was far more nervous about appearing onstage as a stand-up than acting until his friend and "Everybody Loves Raymond" co-star Ray Romano persuaded him to return to the stage. "He told me, 'Ya gotta get back into stand-up!'" Garrett-as-Romano recalls. "I was really nervous about standing up in front of an audience for a long time."

Garrett says he doesn't have many truly close friends among stand-ups, but when you mention a name to him — Bobby Slayton, for example — he says, "I would love too book him into this club."

• The walls of his club are decorated with a series of oil paintings by comic-artist Steve Altman. Those depicted include George Carlin, Steve Martin, Robin Williams and Richard Pryor. Garrett also hung photos of himself with Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. and Jerry Lewis, and the cast of "Everybody Loves Raymond."

• Garrett appeared on "The Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson in 1984, at age 23, and still speaks reverentially of the talk-show giant. "He was amazing, so supportive," Garrett says. Dangerfield, too, was a huge influence, but his comic hero is Don Rickles. Garrett saw Rickles a few weeks ago during Rickles' most-recent run at Orleans Showroom.

• Garrett is 6-feet-8 inches tall, or nearly two feet taller than Kirvin Doak Communications PR rep Michelle Kruczynski, who is helping with Garrett's publicity.

Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at twitter.com/JohnnyKats.