Stand-up gig a dream come up true for ‘Mike & Molly’ star Billy Gardell

In 2008, Billy Gardell headlined the faded Riviera Comedy Club. He was honing material for a Comedy Central stand-up showcase but says that hardly put him on the cusp of stardom.

"Not these days. It helps a little bit, but not as much as you think."

So Gardell must have looked across the Strip and gazed longingly at the big names billed at The Mirage?

"A hundred times."

What basic cable stand-up won't do, a hit network sitcom will. "Mike & Molly" lets Gardell cross the street in a big way, to play the same theater as one-time CBS stars Kevin James and Ray Romano.

"This is something every comic dreams of, to be a headliner on the Strip in a great hotel. That's a big deal," the 41-year-old says of Saturday's big-room debut. "I got hit in the face with the lucky stick."

The comedian says he was so exhausted from the road that he was "ready to move back to Pittsburgh to get into radio when 'Mike & Molly' hit. I just wanted to get off the road because I was missing my kid," he says of his son, now 8. "Twenty years on the road and you've been everywhere four times."

Instead, he auditioned cold for the sitcom about a Chicago cop and a teacher (Melissa McCarthy) who meet at an Overeaters Anonymous group. It became the season's most-watched new sitcom.

Gardell says he is luckier still that "both my stand-up and 'Mike & Molly' come from a working-class sensibility. So the humor's the same," he says. "I talk about my family and how I grew up. ... Luckily, my humor was in sync, so I'm pretty happy about that."

The show generated debate all over the map, from professional TV critics debating whether chair-breaking fat jokes still belong on TV, to a much-discussed Marie Claire blog ("Should Fatties Get a Room? Even on TV?") that stirred retaliation from the show's creator, Mark Roberts, and the leads.

Gardell says the show's evolving treatment of obesity parallels the way he handles it onstage. "I let 'em know that I know I'm fat. For some reason I need to acknowledge that," he says of his live act. "You kind of have to go, 'Yeah I know I'm fat, now let's get to the other stuff that's funny.' "

Similarly, Roberts' vision for the sitcom "always was about two people who thought they were never going to fall in love getting to fall in love. That's why people root for this show.

"Yeah, we both have weight issues, but they addressed that early in the show, and then the show grew into this cute little love story. Which is what I think everybody's vested in."

Two signs point to the lucky stick's getting bigger and heavier come fall.

First, "Two and a Half Men" will be back. "We found our audience about midseason. But it's always good to have a good lead-in, and I think Ashton Kutcher is going to cover us this year, so I'm pretty excited about that."

Second, co-star McCarthy was the scene-stealer of the spring's sleeper movie comedy, "Bridesmaids."

"Our cast is pretty close. We all rented a limo and went to the premiere to support her," he says. "After we saw the movie, we were just blown away, because she stole the thing, hands down."

Does Gardell ever worry that success will go to his blue-collar head? "Bruce Springsteen still writes about all the sensibilities of a working class life," he says.

"I don't get ahead of myself, and I don't get too clever, and I don't preach. I just tell you what I'm seeing." He defines a blue-collar sensibility as, "Work hard, take care of your family, be good to your friends, and try to do the right thing when you can.

"So if I'm coming from those places, it doesn't really matter what job I have."

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