Friday, July 8, 2005 | 8:34 a.m.
Michael Finney is no different than many travelers who purloin the bitty bars of soap and small bottles of shampoo stocked in their hotel suite's bathroom.
What he does with the tiny toiletries, however, is unusual.
Upon returning to his home in Phoenix, the self-described "comedian/comic-magician" donates the pint-sized products to a school for homeless children, whose impoverished students often go without such necessities.
"That's where the need is," explained Finney, who headlines The Comedy Stop at The Trop through Sunday, during a call from Laughlin where he recently performed. Making the small donations is one of several ways he tries to "help the less fortunate -- kids, basically, who need a break."
In 1997 he founded the Michael Finney Foundation, which raises funds for Phoenix-area charities with its Dry Heat Classic golf tournament and comedy show.
"I did this so I could give a little back to the community" that he's called home since 1978, Finney explains. "I'm blessed. I really don't want for too much."
In years past comedians George Lopez and Wil Shriner along with illusionist Lance Burton have participated in the tournament and comedy show, assisting the foundation in raising more than $400,000 since its inception.
This year's ninth annual event is set to take place Aug. 7-9 at the Arrowhead Country Club and Legends Golf Course in Glendale, Ariz. The lineup is scheduled to include Las Vegas comedy-magician Fielding West, magician The Great Tomsoni and country musician Dillon Dixon, among others.
Finney, an avid golfer with a six-stroke handicap, also plays and performs at several other celebrity tournaments nationwide each year.
"In all these events," he explains, "it was all about movie stars and athletes for the most part, and maybe one or two comics."
With his tourney, "I just decided I would try to put together an event where I could bring in a lot of my comedian friends and play a little golf, have a good time, but then try to raise some money by putting on a comedy show."
"We are really working hard this year," he says of preparations for the upcoming Dry Heat Classic. "I don't have any major sponsorships ... or any of these big corporations behind me because I'm just a little comic and I'm not big enough for them to waste their time on -- that's the way I look at it. But my effort and desire (to help) is there."
"When you see a child who's in pain or suffering, and you can do something and you don't even know this kid, that's very unselfish," says the 50-year-old Finney, who also visits hospitals throughout the country to entertain ailing youngsters.
"I take my magic in and do tricks, and I make them smile for a few moments. The biggest reward is the parents.
"When I walk out of the room, and I've dried my own tears, the parents are thanking me for coming in there and making their kid laugh" when "he hasn't laughed in two or three weeks, or he hasn't smiled, and everybody's smiling. That's why I do this."
A Northern California native, Finney moved to Phoenix, where he learned to tend bar and found work at an upscale restaurant. There, another barkeep entertained patrons by performing magic tricks.
"I pestered him for a while, and finally he said, 'Yeah, I'll teach ya, but it's gonna cost ya,' so I had to pay him a little bit of money and he showed me how to do a trick," Finney recalls.
"I just started practicing and got so involved with it that it became my life -- learning how to do little magic tricks, which I thought at the time were little, but miracles is what they were."
By 1981, Finney had integrated stand-up comedy into his magic act and went to Los Angeles, where he auditioned and began performing at area comedy clubs. During his career, he's shared stages with the likes of Henny Youngman, Marty Allen, Norm Crosby, Keenan Ivory Wayans and Robin Williams.
Finney was a 1986 comedy finalist on television's "Star Search." He also began competing in international magic competitions, and the following year was bestowed a magic award by Siegfried and Roy.
For more than a decade he made the rounds at comedy clubs throughout the country and performed at numerous private functions, including the 2001 inaugural ball for President Bush.
For a time, he also owned Finney Bones, a club that he and a business partner opened in Phoenix during the mid-'80s. The place closed in 1993 when Finney's stand-up career "got really busy and I was on the road way too much" to keep a close eye on the operation, he says.
Finney -- who in recent months has opened shows for comedian Bill Engvall and rockers Lynyrd Skynyrd -- performs in Las Vegas several times each year. Later this month he'll fill in as host of "The Mac King Comedy Magic Show" at Harrah's while its star is away.
Earlier this year the Academy of Magical Arts & Sciences, an organization that promotes the advancement of magic, presented Finney with its Comedy Magician of the Year award, the magic world's "equivalent to the Oscars," he boasts.
"I love my magic. It's where I got started, and it's how I got to where I am now," he says. On the other hand, "I love doing stand-up comedy. I like just going out there and making people laugh and not even having to distract them with anything other than just my mouth and making them laugh with my mannerisms and my gestures."
Not surprisingly, Finney says he also likes to "inspire people to be a better person than what they are today. We're all capable of that."
Out for laughs
Colin Quinn and Al Madrigal headline the "Hollywood Comedy Tour" at 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. Saturday at The Palms. Tickets are $25.
Laugh Lines friend Rob Sherwood headlines "Laughs at The Beach" at 8 p.m. Saturday at The Beach nightclub. Comedian Honour Pillow, profiled here in May, is also on the bill.
Dennis Miller settles into MGM Grand's Hollywood Theatre for shows Thursday through July 18. Tickets are $79.
Tammy Pescatelli -- a "Last Comic Standing" alum who was featured in Laugh Lines last year -- is set to appear on the new series "Poker Royale: Celebrities vs. Poker Pros," debuting at 9 p.m. tonight on the Game Show Network (Cox digital cable channel 344).
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