Q & A - Harry Basil’s in town, hide the Krazy Glue

By Allison Duck

Thursday, Aug. 13, 2009 | 7:06 p.m.

With a lengthy resume, one could say Harry Basil wears a lot of hats. Literally. The prop comic gives Carrot Top a run for his money with a frenetically paced set full of lots of quick costume changes for bits that center on film scenes. In between filming movies like his recent horror flicks, Basil said, “in this economy where they aren’t making as many movies, it’s great to be able to go out and do live performances.”

Before his Tuesday night gig at The Comedy Stop at The Sahara, Basil, a comedian, actor, director, screenwriter and occasional poker player, walked downtown to the Gambler’s General Store.

He’s been performing in Las Vegas since 1984 so he knows the real place to shop is the discount gambling store behind the well-known local landmark. He was in search of fabric to re-felt his poker table because, “A lot of comedians, actors and writers have a game once a month. Nobody’s good; they just come for the food I cook.”

At The Comedy Stop, Basil won’t be serving up a home-cooked meal but you might get something from the box of chocolates in his Forrest Gump scene.

How did you first start working with Rodney Dangerfield?

I was in his first HBO special, the "9th Annual Young Comedians Special." A few years later, Rodney wanted to do a show called Rodney Dangerfield and Friends, and he picked me even though he had never seen my whole act before. It was a 2,000-seat show and I got a standing ovation. After seeing that, Rodney asked if I would like to open for him.

What was the transition like from opening for his comedy shows to writing and directing films with him?

After I started opening for him, he asked me if I had ever written movies before. So we wrote a movie together called “The Fourth Tenor.” While we were trying to shop that around, somebody sent him "Ladybugs." Rodney called the producer and told him I had a bunch of ideas to make the script better for him and I pitched my ideas and they asked if Rodney and I would like to re-write the script. Two months later we were filming and that’s how I got into the movie business.

How did you feel about it being a film targeted at children?

I think it was right before PG 13. Nowadays, a PG movie is pretty clean and a PG 13 movie is pushing the envelope. It was tough because Rodney is known as a dirty comic and we were doing a comedy with 12-year-old girls. If you watch it again there’s a scene where he’s in a dressing room with a little girl and he’s putting a wig on her and saying “we can’t let your mother find out about this.” The old lady outside the dressing room is thinking he’s molesting a kid. You can’t do that today. So we were pushing the envelope a little.

Though you’ve always done very well for yourself, did you ever feel that you were in his shadow at all?

I was watching the movie Funny People and I couldn’t help but think about my relationship with Rodney. Besides being Rodney’s opening act, I was also his writing partner. We made five movies together, two of which I directed, so I wasn’t in his shadow when I was directing him. He respected my talent and was a true friend. After he died, his wife sent me a gift. The box was huge so I thought it was the flat screen TV I had helped him pick out but it his robe he always wore, beautifully framed with five handwritten pages from his book, parts of what he wrote about me. She told me Rodney said he was most comfortable in that robe and the second most comfortable being in my presence. It was so sweet.

How did you first get your start in comedy?

Back in 1984, we were on the cover of Showbiz Weekly, and it said, “Unknown band of zanies takes over The Dunes.” It was me, Jim Carey, Louie Anderson, Paul Rodriguez, Blake Clark and Andrew Dice Clay. We opened The Comedy Store at The Dunes and that was my first month or two in comedy. I just branched out and did more road gigs and kept working for The Comedy Store in Las Vegas and Atlantic City.

What led you into prop comedy, specifically?

I never said I was going to be a prop comic, I never even thought I was going to do stand up, I wanted to be an actor. A friend told me to go to The Comedy Store for open mic night because all the bigger guys came by to perform after. I saw Jim Carey and Andrew Dice Clay who were both using music in their acts. I could always do impressions and was inspired by them. The first bit I did was Raiders of the Lost Ark and it wasn’t long before I got a regular paying gig at The Comedy Store.

Since you have so much audience participation in your act, have your participants ever had really embarrassing moments?

I once accidentally glued a man’s finger to his head. I used to do this bit where I would ask if anyone had any Krazy Glue like that old commercial where the guy in the hard hat would get glued to a beam. I had my welder’s hat and I was about to do my Flashdance bit and jokingly I said, “Does anyone have any Krazy Glue?” To my surprise, someone threw some up on stage. I saw the pin was in the glue so I said, “Let’s see what happens if we apply some Krazy Glue!” There was a hole in the side and it dripped on his head and the guy said, “What the (expletive)?” and touched his head and his finger got glued to it. I thought I was going to get sued.