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Howie and Harry pose for some promotional shots for their next film.
Harry Basil is one of the funniest individuals I have ever worked with, bar none. I’m talking more offstage than on it. Oh yeah — it doesn’t hurt either that he is just as big a film buff as I am.
He isn’t just a fan of filmmaking Harry has actually made quite a few of them. His big break came from the man who never received a lot of respect: Rodney Dangerfield.
The great comedian featured Harry in two of his HBO specials, and things literally took off from there. Harry co-wrote and co-produced three of Rodney Dangerfield’s movies. “Ladybugs” for Paramount Pictures, “Meet Wally Sparks” for Trimark and “My Five Wives,” co-starring Andrew Dice Clay and Molly Shannon of “Saturday Night Live,” for Artisan.
Harry worked closely with directors Sidney Furie and Peter Baldwin through every aspect of all three films. Talk about on-the-job training.
It’s no surprise, then, that much of Harry’s act revolves around his favorite movies. He goes into so many different scenes from well-known movies complete with that movie’s soundtrack. Some of his personal favorites are “Pulp Fiction,” “Titanic,” “Batman,” “Terminator,” “Ghostbusters,” “Superman,” “Star Wars,” “Rocky” and his take on Al Pacino in “Scarface.” Oh yeah — his act also features the language for that flick, so be warned! There are a lot, but those flicks stick out most.
Acting is also another of Harry’s achievements. He’s appeared in several films and television shows. He landed a feature role in Francis Ford Coppola’s 1950s period romantic comedy “Peggy Sue Got Married,” starring Kathleen Turner, as a member of a singing group alongside Jim Carrey and Nicolas Cage. He also appeared opposite Demi Moore in the sci-fi cult film “The Seventh Sign” and wrote himself small parts in Dangerfield’s “Ladybugs” and “Meet Wally Sparks.”
He’s written and starred in numerous TV pilots and has appeared on “Evening at the Improv,” “Caroline’s Comedy Hour,” Showtime and HBO. All this and comedy too you ask? Oh yeah. He’s opened for Gloria Estefan, Liza Minnelli, the Beach Boys, the Pointer Sisters, Chuck Berry and of course, Rodney Dangerfield.
In 2001 he made his feature directing debut with “The 4th Tenor,” a Warner Bros. romantic opera comedy starring Rodney Dangerfield and Robert Davi. He followed that in 2002 with “Back by Midnight” a prison comedy starring Randy Quaid, Kirstie Alley, Harland Williams, Dangerfield and a whole cast of colorful comedians. Harry went on to direct “Soul’s Midnight” a modern-day gothic vampire tale starring Armand Assante and produced by Oscar winning producer Gray Frederickson (“Godfather 2,” “Apocalypse Now”).
It was Harry’s first foray into the horror genre, which he continued in March 2006 with the teen supernatural thriller, “Fingerprints” by Brother’s Cleveland/Graymark Pictures.
The film stars Leah Pipes, (Disney’s “Pixel Perfect”) Kristen Cavallari (“Laguna Beach”) Josh Henderson (”Over There”) Andrew Lawrence, Lou Diamond Phillips and Sally Kirkland.
I suggest you come out and see him before he gets wrapped up into another project!
He isn’t just a fan of filmmaking Harry has actually made quite a few of them. His big break came from the man who never received a lot of respect: Rodney Dangerfield.
The great comedian featured Harry in two of his HBO specials, and things literally took off from there. Harry co-wrote and co-produced three of Rodney Dangerfield’s movies. “Ladybugs” for Paramount Pictures, “Meet Wally Sparks” for Trimark and “My Five Wives,” co-starring Andrew Dice Clay and Molly Shannon of “Saturday Night Live,” for Artisan.
Harry worked closely with directors Sidney Furie and Peter Baldwin through every aspect of all three films. Talk about on-the-job training.
It’s no surprise, then, that much of Harry’s act revolves around his favorite movies. He goes into so many different scenes from well-known movies complete with that movie’s soundtrack. Some of his personal favorites are “Pulp Fiction,” “Titanic,” “Batman,” “Terminator,” “Ghostbusters,” “Superman,” “Star Wars,” “Rocky” and his take on Al Pacino in “Scarface.” Oh yeah — his act also features the language for that flick, so be warned! There are a lot, but those flicks stick out most.
Acting is also another of Harry’s achievements. He’s appeared in several films and television shows. He landed a feature role in Francis Ford Coppola’s 1950s period romantic comedy “Peggy Sue Got Married,” starring Kathleen Turner, as a member of a singing group alongside Jim Carrey and Nicolas Cage. He also appeared opposite Demi Moore in the sci-fi cult film “The Seventh Sign” and wrote himself small parts in Dangerfield’s “Ladybugs” and “Meet Wally Sparks.”
He’s written and starred in numerous TV pilots and has appeared on “Evening at the Improv,” “Caroline’s Comedy Hour,” Showtime and HBO. All this and comedy too you ask? Oh yeah. He’s opened for Gloria Estefan, Liza Minnelli, the Beach Boys, the Pointer Sisters, Chuck Berry and of course, Rodney Dangerfield.
In 2001 he made his feature directing debut with “The 4th Tenor,” a Warner Bros. romantic opera comedy starring Rodney Dangerfield and Robert Davi. He followed that in 2002 with “Back by Midnight” a prison comedy starring Randy Quaid, Kirstie Alley, Harland Williams, Dangerfield and a whole cast of colorful comedians. Harry went on to direct “Soul’s Midnight” a modern-day gothic vampire tale starring Armand Assante and produced by Oscar winning producer Gray Frederickson (“Godfather 2,” “Apocalypse Now”).
It was Harry’s first foray into the horror genre, which he continued in March 2006 with the teen supernatural thriller, “Fingerprints” by Brother’s Cleveland/Graymark Pictures.
The film stars Leah Pipes, (Disney’s “Pixel Perfect”) Kristen Cavallari (“Laguna Beach”) Josh Henderson (”Over There”) Andrew Lawrence, Lou Diamond Phillips and Sally Kirkland.
I suggest you come out and see him before he gets wrapped up into another project!
MIckey Joseph
Mickey Joseph was one of the very first comedians I ever worked with out on the road when we were both living in the Bay Area. Even when I didn’t have enough material to fill my time slot (hard to believe now, I know), Mickey covered for me, doing a little extra time as headliner. I was able to repay his kindness by getting him into The Improv family once I was stationed in Tahoe, so karma is a good thing — as usual. Mickey is one of those comics who is able to contort his face and use it as a prop throughout his act. Sometimes he gets more laughs from a single expression than whatever he has planned to come out of his mouth. He has several one-man shows under his belt, including my personal favorite about a comic on death row, accused of murdering a heckler during one of his shows.
He plays judge, jury, heckler and everybody else.
He’s also done very well in the ensuing years, most recently playing Joey Bishop in “The Rat Pack is Back” (still touring throughout the U.S.) in addition to performing his stand-up.
And if that weren’t enough, Mickey is also an accomplished painter. I feel fortunate to have one of his prints. They’re kind of scary-looking at first.
“The faces that don’t laugh are the ones that stay with me the longest,” he said.
Makes sense since he calls his paintings “The Audience.”
Mickey also recently was author of “What Would Don Corleone Do?” Most comics are huge fans of the “Godfather” movies, but Mickey was one of the first to use that love and incorporate it into a book. But for now I think you’ll enjoy seeing him in his element as a standup — where it all began for Mickey.
— Writer Howie Nave is the host and emcee of The Improv at Harveys and host of Howie's Morning Rush on 93.9 KRLT FM. The Improv Showtime is 9 p.m. There are two shows on Saturdays, at 8 and 10 p.m. Tickets are $25, Sunday and Tuesday through Friday, and $30 on Saturday. The Improv is dark on Mondays. Nave's new DVD: "Howie Nave: Like at Lake Tahoe" is available through his Web site at www.howienave.com
