Is he here to save the day? Brad Garrett says no, but don’t be so sure

By John Katsilometes

Thursday, Feb. 17, 2011 | 11:25 p.m.

Brad Garrett says he’s not trying to save the day.

“Don’t get me wrong,” he says. “I’m not trying to save the day!”

But listen as he lays out his goals for the Brad Garrett Comedy Club at Tropicana, and he sounds a lot like a day saver.

“I don’t think there are enough guys giving it back. I had a lotta help in the early days,” Garrett said during the episode of “Kats With the Dish” that airs today on KUNV 91.5-FM (the show is linked in this column). “I was brought onto ‘The Tonight Show’ by (Bill) Cosby, I opened for (Frank) Sinatra and Sammy (Davis Jr.) when I was brand new, and people helped people, and it’s gone away. I don’t know why, it just doesn’t happen too much anymore.”

Eight months into his headlong effort to make himself the rare comic who also owns a Vegas comedy club, Garrett says he’s still battling rival clubs that he says restrict a comic’s freedom to perform in competing rooms. As Garrett describes the landscape, a comic is forbidden to play his room for three months after appearing at a rival club.

“You know, last year, when I was going to open a club, I did something I didn’t do in 20 years,” Garrett said during the interview conducted by my co-host, Tricia McCrone, and myself. “I started working clubs again, and the crowds were amazing, but I learned that the clubs treated comics like crap. … I’m not here to save the day, don’t get me wrong, but this is the greatest town in the world for entertainment. There was a time when (Don) Rickles would headline the Sands, and then at 2 in the morning, he would be in the lounge at the Sahara, and you were able to do that.”

No longer, Garrett reports with palpable angst.

“Now all these comedy clubs are saying, ‘Well, if you play our room, you can’t play another room for 90 days. And that’s been going on forever. I have never understood this,” Garrett said. “As a comic, I would always say, ‘Your audience is on a plane in two days. Why can’t you just let the comics who live in town, or the comics who come into town, get three-four weeks of work?’

“Let ’em come through all of the rooms, because the people who are seeing you at the Improv on Wednesday are not going to be the same crowd at my club on Saturday. But no one gets that.”

When asked if he’s made any inroads in his effort to change that culture, Garrett said, “No, but I’ve made a lot of out roads. I’ll tell you why, because I’m the only one who says, ‘You can play my room any time but the same night you play somewhere else. If you want to play the Improv, fine, come here Monday and start working here. And it’s getting them very pissed off. It makes no sense. We could share transportation, we could share accommodations, we could give these great comics a two- three-week gig on the Strip. And if they’re killing it, why not?”

Garrett says all properties with comedy clubs would benefit from such an approach.

“People at Harrah’s will go to the comedy club at Harrah’s. People at the Trop will go to the club at the Trop,” he said. “Why not share it? Because it’s a big ego thing in this town. Why tell a guy who lives in town if he works at your club, he can’t work at another club for 90 days? I’m trying to book it so it works for the comics. A lot of comics live in Vegas. Why send a comic on the road for 90 days when he can work four rooms here? I think we can all share the wealth of all this talent.”

It wasn’t all so serious, though. How can it be when it’s Brad Garrett? In one exchange, he claims that Mirage comic ventriloquist Terry Fator regularly dines with his puppets. “I just have to tell you.This is not a bit. He actually has dinner with those freakin' puppets. He sits them around a table and feeds them.”

During this rant, as he refers to one of the puppets as “the hooker,” he gestures and winks at McCrone, who effectively shoots back, “Wait! You said ‘the hooker,’ and pointed at me! ... You gave the hand, and you gave a little wink at me!”

Garrett feigns ignorance, saying, "Did I?" Of course he did.

“At the end of the day,” he reasons, “we’re all hookers.”

It’s all in good fun on this new show. Garrett is followed by Justin Spencer and Todd Griffin of Recycled Percussion, also at the Trop. Note that this week’s episode features Vince Neil and Alicia Jacobs (in their first dual interview, and his last broadcast interview before being booked into Clark County Detention Center to serve his 15-day DUI sentence). They are followed by the manic Gilbert Gottfried, currently headlining at “Icons of Comedy” at the L.V. Hilton’s Shimmer Cabaret.

Until then, more from Garrett:

On the Cirque du Soliel production “Zumanity,” which Garrett recently attended with his girlfriend, IsaBeall Quella: “It was different. I’ve never gotten an erection with a clown in the room.”

On his practice of picking on people in the front of the club: “I never know who’s going to be in the front. My biggest fear is that there are going to be five blond people sitting there, but then I’ve got my Nazi jokes. … But look, we’re all flawed. I mean, look at me: Seven-foot Jew, little wiener, and I’m on your show. What could be more humbling than that?”

On The Mob Experience at the Tropicana (The Sun is involved in a cross-promotional agreement with the attraction in which it shares photo and video content in exchange for brand placement): “It’s a great attraction. Many people don’t know this, but every hundredth guest is beaten to (stuff) with a shovel. At the Trop, we’re changing everything! Starting with your cranium! It’s a wonderful thing, a wonderful thing.”

On playing arenas versus nightclubs: “Look, there’s nothing like doing well in a big arena. But for the comedy I do, which is very audience-involved, there is nothing better than a club for me. I mean, I had to give up a Mirage commitment to do this club. People thought I was crazy to do it, and in retrospect, is was not the financial move to make. I mean, I have yet to make back close to what I’ve invested. I am eight months in the red. But if I can pay my bills and bring in the acts and get the reviews I’ve been getting, I’m good.

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