Brad Garrett in ‘control’ of his new comedy club

A celebrity can lend his name to a club or restaurant without day-to-day involvement, but Brad Garrett says that won’t happen with his new comedy club at the Tropicana.

“I’m too much of a control freak not to have a hands-on thing. I’m not good at passing the buck,” says the 6-foot-8 comedian best known for his run on “Everybody Loves Raymond.”

Brad Garrett’s Comedy Club opens June 28, in the space for years occupied by The Comedy Stop. Garrett will headline through July 4, then perform at least 12 more billed dates as headliner during the year.

“I’ve surrounded myself with an amazing team,” he says of the staff headed by comedy club veteran Tony Camacho. “It’s all about trust.”

Garrett says there will be a two-for-one locals night on Tuesdays, and he wants to start a comedy competition.

The tourist corridor is glutted with six other comedy club formats, and dozens more big names headline the larger rooms, as Garrett did at The Mirage before choosing this new direction.

“I think there hasn’t been a comedy club, especially recently, that is special enough,” Garrett says. “I felt my name was a brand. ... It’s more of an event.

“We’re doing advertising and marketing that no comedy club has really done yet,” he adds. “We’re pulling out the stops. We want it to be a destination.” ...

Greg London was a big fish in a small pond, specifically Harrah’s Reno, where he performed for two and a half years until November. The first two were strong but “obviously with the recession, last year it got really different,” says the singing impressionist.

Las Vegas is such a big pond — “The ocean? I don’t know what you are. You’re huge,” he says — it doesn’t even have a Harrah’s Entertainment venue for him.

“Greg London’s Icons” instead opens today in the Mardi Gras Showroom at the Riviera, the upstairs venue best known for its long run of “An Evening at La Cage.”

“I don’t know where we’re gong to end up one day. But I think this is really good for me to get to know Las Vegas, because I’m a guest here. I don’t know my way around,” London says. “I know there have been a lot of people who come in and spend tons of money right away and put their names on taxi cabs and then run out.”

London very nearly opened at Palace Station last month, before Station Casinos executives vetoed a sublease by producers John Stuart and Tom Biscardi, who had another short-lived title there.

Now London is happy he waited. “I think before I ended up here, I had to make sure I had a show that was different than all the other people who do what I do,” he says of a show that offers serious impressions of rock and pop legends and a theatrical structure.

“Icons” will share the room with “Dao: The Asian Celebration,” a relatively new show co-produced by Mark Levy, who leases the room. ...

It would be a shame to be stuck watching the Beach Boys indoors this time of year. The Venetian will host today’s concert with the Mike Love-fronted lineup in its outdoor pool area.

It’s the first such Venetian concert under the two-year tenure of Venetian entertainment director Chris Yancey (the band Live played on the Palazzo side of the connected deck last summer). A poolside setting for the venerable pop band is “who they are and what they represent. It’s just fun,” he says.

But it isn’t necessarily the first of many. “We wouldn’t rule out the fact that we would do a series one day, but it has to be right for us,” Yancey says. ...

Harrah’s Entertainment is sticking to proven commodities with a contract extension for singer Matt Goss and three more pending. Goss is the newest to the party with his 3-month-old weekend lounge revue at Caesars Palace, renewed for three more years.

Harrah’s is reviewing multiyear extensions for Harrah’s Las Vegas magician Mac King and Flamingo comedians Vinnie Favorito and George Wallace. ...

Who says there’s nothing to do on a Thursday afternoon? “The Dennis Bono Show” leaves its longtime home at Sam’s Town and moves to the South Point starting next Thursday.

Sam’s Town is replacing the radio show with “Variety Toast of the Town,” which will compete for the affections of locals at the same time (2 p.m.) on Thursdays.

“Variety” is free to slot club members and produced by Ed Matthews, who backs most of the Las Vegas-based acts working the Suncoast and Orleans. Clint Holmes and Domenick Allen from one such act, Vocal Soup, launch the show next week.

Contact reporter Mike Weatherford at mweatherford@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0288.