Las Vegas comic catches a break with ‘Reagan’ biopic

Las Vegas comic Butch Bradley can really work a room. This true at 11:30 p.m. at a comedy club on the Strip. And it is true, or would be, 70 years ago at a since-demolished hotel.

Bradley is featured in the new “Reagan” biopic, starring Dennis Quaid in the lead role of Ronald Reagan, out this weekend.

Bradley plays the leader of the Continentals vocal quartet, which backed Reagan at the New Frontier’s Ramona Room in 1954.

“I didn’t even realize that I am living a dream until the world premiere,” says Bradley, who has just taken on the 11:30 p.m. spots at Jimmy Kimmel’s Comedy Club on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. “But we went to the big red-carpet event at the (TCL) Chinese Theatre, dressed to the nines. It was so Hollywood.”

Bradley attended with his girlfriend, Karla Burch, posing for pics just across the street from the crappy apartment (his description) he lived in the early-2000s.

“Dennis is calling us over to have photos taken,” says Bradley, who is opening up for Howie Mandel at Westgate’s International Theater on Saturday night. “He is as nice a person as you would imagine. The whole thing was surreal. It still is.”

Bradley has dreamt of becoming the next Don Rickles in Vegas, or carrying the legacy of such legends as Rodney Dangerfield and Shecky Greene. He has zigzagged the city as a top club act, at the Comedy Cellar at the Rio, the currently closed Laugh Factory at the Trop, Brad Garrett’s Comedy Club at MGM Grand and L.A. Comedy Club at The Strat.

It was at the latter club where filmmaker Sean McNamara found Bradley performing for a crowd of 18 people. It was about five years ago, when the club was upstairs on the retail promenade (it has since moved to the casino level), and you really had to know where to go to find it.

“I’m literally in a mall at the top of this building, where the Green Room was where all the electrical boards were for the hotel,” Bradley says. “Then this big filmmaker is in the audience. I’m like, ‘Is my career over right now?”

McNamara was researching a biopic on Doyle Brunson when he turned up. McNamara’s idea for Bradley in “Reagan” was to apply some comedy skills to the story. “Sean said, I really want you and Dennis to improv the scenes,’” Bradley says.

They banked three scenes, with Bradley working with Penelope Anne Miller (Nancy Reagan) in the audience.”

The scenes were captured on a soundstage in Guthrie, Okla., a replica of the New Frontier room. Kevin Dillon (Jack L. Warner), Skip Schwink (Jimmy Carter) and Mena Savari (Jane Wyman) are also cast in the film.

Bradley is now fielding offers for a couple of film projects this year and into next year. He has a “major” voiceover coming up, which he can’t discuss. But he can talk about the uptick in his career.

“It’s crazy, really,” Bradley says. “When I was walking out of the theater, I just looked around. I had worked so hard, and some part of me just wanted to stop, just to take it all in.”

Viva Oasis?

The “Oasis 2025 Live Reunion Tour” of brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher is expected to bring “Taylor Swift levels of demand,” as Rolling Stone termed it. Tickets are on sale to the public Saturday. The official Oasisnet site tour announcement advises fans to “register in advance of the sale with the relevant ticket agencies.”

Ticketmaster is among the security agencies directing fans to protect themselves from scammers and cybercriminals preying on ticket-buyers as tickets for the 2025 dates in the U.K. and Ireland. Foremost, only buy “Oasis Live 25” tickets from official sources, which is Ticketmaster and the Gigs and Tours agencies.

The swell of support leads to speculation that Oasis might add U.S. dates, and a possible stop in Las Vegas, next year or beyond. An individual said such a development is “100 percent” on the table.

Cool Hang Alert

A double-dip from South Point. The rollicking ’80s tribute band (and really, a whole experience) The Spazmatics play the showroom at 10:30 p.m. Saturdays. Get in the depeche mood for Depeche Mode, as we say. The “Dirty at 12:30” comedy showcase plays Fridays, doors at midnight. It’s $10 to Spaz out; no cover for the funny. Go to southpointcasino.com for intel.

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His “PodKats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.