Friday, March 25, 2005 | 8:31 a.m.
The watermelon-smashing Gallagher is a rogue comic with a creative mind that is always in overdrive, careening down life's highway.
"I want to make a sign 30 feet long that says, 'Gallagher's Vacant Lot Casino,'" Gallagher said. "I'll put some tables out in this vacant lot and see if people show up to gamble."
"I have some big ideas I have an idea for a new dice game baseball with dice.
"I have a new design for a hotel facility for family reunions a place for an intimate get-together, a private experience. I've been talking to Indian casinos. The White Mountain Apaches in Arizona are interested, but no one wants to be the first, so I'm going to talk to the guys at Tuscany about building it."
Tuscany is the hotel-casino at 255 E. Flamingo Road. Gallagher and producer Michael Rapport, a stand-up comedian from Fresno, Calif., are doing a time-share arrangement at the Tuscany's Stars Lounge Theatre subleasing it from 9 p.m. until about 10:15 p.m. daily and calling it the Gallagher Comedy Club.
When it isn't a comedy club, Stars Lounge features twin pianists Mark & Clark at 7 p.m. and hypnotist Terry Stokes at 11 p.m.
Following a Gallagher performance in which he smashes all manner of fruits, vegetables and other edibles with a sledgehammer can be difficult.
"Cleaning up in time for the next act to come on can be a logistical nightmare," Rapport said. "But I've been in this business so long I can look at a problem and solve it very quickly I hired a cleaning crew to come in and clean up as soon as Gallagher is finished."
Gallagher will perform at the venue a couple of weeks a month, depending on his tour schedule. Rapport will perform a week or more each month.
When Gallagher performs, he will have the 150-seat room to himself. Tickets will be $39.95. With dinner, the price is $49.95.
Other nights there will be a lineup of two or three comedians, including such names as Mickey Joseph, Tim Jones and Ronnie Kenny. Tickets those nights will cost $24.95.
"You probably won't recognize these comedians, but they are road dogs, road warriors," said Rapport, who was one of the top headliners in comedy clubs around the country for more than 25 years. "They are good, veteran comics who will make you laugh.
"My philosophy is, I don't bring in big names. It's not cost-effective in a room this small. But every time people come to my club, they know they will have a good time."
Rapport said the comedians who will be working at Gallagher's Comedy Club have not been able to get gigs in Vegas not because they don't have the talent, but because the clubs here tend to use the same performers repeatedly.
"It's a closed town," Rapport said. "The clubs tend to stick with what they know. It's tough to crack Vegas."
Rapport has owned seven clubs over the years, all the while performing stand-up. He still owns one, the Clovis Comedy Club in Fresno.
Rapport also ran a comedy club in Primm for four years, until his lease was up in 1997. Ever since, he has been interested in finding a location in Vegas. When he heard about the availability of a slot at the Tuscany he jumped at it. He put the room together in three weeks.
Rapport says he likes the fact that the hotel is off the Strip.
"There's no hassle," he said. "It's a nice property, fairly new. It's beautiful, not a pit. The showroom is gorgeous. The ambiance is nice."
Through a mutual friend, Gallagher heard about Rapport's plans and joined him in the venture.
"Gallagher is a flat-out genius," Rapport said. "I've known him for over 30 years. Both of us performed at the Comedy Store in L.A. about the same time. I was the headliner, he was a middle act.
"Things have changed."
Vegas connection
The 57-year-old Leo Anthony Gallagher (born July 14, 1947, at Fort Bragg, N.C.) has come a long way since he first came to Las Vegas in 1970 to work -- not as a comedian, but as a busboy.
His comedic career had not yet begun. He came to Vegas to observe and study comedians -- his favorite local ones were Cork Proctor and Peter Anthony.
Gallagher graduated in 1969 from the University of South Florida-Tampa with a degree in English literature. During college he worked as a chemist and then for a short while after college he sold chemicals.
But then his urge to entertain got the best of him and he came to Vegas.
"I wanted to be near the entertainers, so I got a job at the International Hotel as a busboy so I could watch Elvis," Gallagher said.
He also worked as a busboy at the Dunes, which was imploded in 1996 to make room for the Bellagio.
"I was the only busboy who ever appeared on a marquee in Vegas," he said.
Gallagher recalled being fired by the Dunes.
"There was this big party and they tipped me $20," he said. "This lady came in with a group for breakfast at three in the morning and I decided to pay for it. I told the waiter to tell her the busboy got the check.
"She thought that was funny and invited me to sit with them."
It was against company policy for busboys to sit with customers and Gallager says he was fired.
Gallagher left Vegas and worked briefly as road manager for singer/comedian Jim Stafford, who sometimes allowed him to perform late at night.
Eventually, Gallagher went out on his own and began appearing in comedy clubs. The first routine he wrote was "Sledge-O-Matic," the classic bit that has become his trademark.
In large arenas, fans in the first few rows cover themselves with plastic to avoid being splattered.
In the small room at the Tuscany, it's hard to escape his humor.
Ideas never cease to flow from Gallagher.
"I have a long history with Las Vegas," Gallagher said. "When I first started performing here Don Rickles had a talk show at the Sahara, 'Late Night with Don Rickles.'
"That's what I want do do -- have a late-night talk show after midnight. I don't want celebrities talking about their movie deals. I want the weird type of people who hang out late at night.
"I can make jokes and have a good time with the average person from the audience. What I may do is spin a wheel and if it comes up with your seat number, you're the next guest."
He's also going to donate some of the proceeds from Friday night performances to charities, with the charities changing each week.
Tonight he is chiding Mayor Oscar Goodman with a charitable drive for an "intervention" for Goodman, who was recently asked by a class of fourth graders what he would take with him on a desert island and said, "a bottle of gin."
"What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas," Gallagher says in a news release, "but we can't have it happen in Carson City."
Gallagher plans to smash a watermelon full of gin during the show.
Gallagher is a huge success because he works hard, not only to show his fans a good time but to get them to his performances in the first place.
"By promoting my shows I can keep my ticket prices low," he said. "And I can give them away if I want to -- I gave away two-for-one to the crowd (Tuesday).
"As an entertainer, I need an audience. If a promoter is going to get in my way of having a good time, I get rid of the promoter. If I don't sell out a performance I give tickets to nurses, firemen, people in high-stress jobs who need relaxation."
It isn't unusual for Gallagher to stand on a street corner and hand out cards, inviting passersby to come see him.
"I go out on a sidewalk and invite them to the show, then I go back and show them to their seats -- I'm going to make big chairs for fat people; big people are jolly, they need to be comfortable," Gallagher said. "Last night I gave a guy two chairs -- one for each cheek."
Respect for fans
"This is just like being a busboy. When your spoon dropped to the floor, I ran and got you a clean one. The customers are the king and queen -- we're just there for fine services. That's what I have."
Today the service he provides is entertainment.
"So many shows are formal and stiff," Gallagher said. "My crowd enjoys the fact that they can relax -- they're only interested in having a good laugh. The most successful shows in Vegas, besides those big, impersonal shows like 'O,' are the ones that reach out to the audiences.
"I pay attention to you to make you feel good about your visit to Las Vegas. I don't want to be a celebrity. I'm there to convince people in the audience that they are special -- I won't name names, but some celebrities have to build tunnels so they don't have to look at backstage people."
Gallagher says his respect for his fans has contributed to his longevity.
"I have a connection with them -- and now their kids, who have grown up and come to see me."
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