Lenny DeFina: Man With A Show

"If you've got an act,

I've got a show,

Give me a call,

And you're ready to go!

On the Lenny . . .

The Lenny DeFina Show!"

- Theme song from "The

Lenny DeFina Variety Show"

Lenny DeFina was a young comic and singer living with the comedian Don Rickles in California, trying to break into show business, when he received word that the manager who was guiding his career had died of a heart attack.

Mr. Rickles pulled his young charge aside and offered him some free advice. "He told me to go home, get a regular job, get married, and lead a normal life," Mr. DeFina said. "He told me trying to be an entertainer was a tough business."

Worked As Chef

Although Mr. DeFina had already secured a role on "Two Top Bananas," a television comedy starring Mr. Rickles and Don Adams that aired on the Home Box Office network for two seasons, and had performed in hotels in Las Vegas with the likes of the Lennon Sisters, he took his mentor's advice.

The Brooklyn-born Mr. DeFina moved back east to Montauk, where his family had summered for years. He owned Rocking Wells restaurant in East Hampton for a time and worked as a chef at others before becoming manager of Uihlein's Marina in Montauk, a job he still holds.

But the show business bug would not go away. "I've always wanted to be a star," he said. "Even as a child, I was the class clown, the head of my church choir, an altar boy. I liked being in the limelight. No, I didn't like it, I loved it."

While watching a steady stream of tell-all talk shows that now dominate the air waves, Mr. DeFina was inspired. "I said to myself I could do a better show," he said.

Johnny's His Hero

So starting in March, using a cramped set at LTV Studios in East Hampton, Mr. DeFina has tried to revive the lost art of live television. The result is "The Lenny DeFina Variety Show," an unintentionally campy program that airs on Channel 27, East Hampton's public access station, and includes a guest list of jugglers, actors, and people who want to show off their pets' tricks. Mr. DeFina finds his guests by advertising "from Manhattan to Montauk" and has over 40 people waiting in the wings to appear.

"There are no television shows that take you away from reality," he said before taping his program last Thursday. "I want to give people a chance to kick back, smile, and enjoy other people's talent."

The performer said he wants to be like Ed Sullivan, or better yet, Johnny Carson, "my hero." Mr. DeFina even performs a monologue filled with birthday wishes, Henny Youngman jokes, and small talk from his desk in front of a gold tinsel curtain. "The corniness? That's just me," he said while acknowledging that he was probably born in the wrong era.

"I was definitely a goof-ball kid," he said. "My friends were listening to The Stones and The Beatles, and I was listening to Dean Martin." In fact, it is easy to picture him hanging around with Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., and Mr. Martin like another member of the Rat Pack.

Fan Of Liberace

As a teenager, he "loved Liberace" and used to visit nursing homes, where he would entertain the residents by singing and playing the accordion, one of five instruments he plays, along with piano, clarinet, saxophone, and harmonica. Later, while spending summers in Montauk, Mr. DeFina would take his band to the Montauk Yacht Club, where he would sing covers of Tom Jones's songs. "I'd wear about nine gold chains," he recalled.

The key element for his show, he said, is it "has to have music." And music there is. With a camerawoman calling, "Quiet on the set, please! Five, four, three, two, one . . .," Mr. DeFina took his cue and belted out a spirited rendition of "Just a Gigolo."

Dressed in a bronze double-breasted suit with a floral tie and crisp white shirt that accented his deep tan and his gold pinky ring, Mr. DeFina looked the part. He flashed his pearly whites and tossed his perfectly coiffed head, shamelessly hamming it up for the cameras that would beam his face into the homes of viewers he hopes are watching on Channel 27.

His band is led by Paul Gene, a keyboard player, who does his best to imitate Paul Schaefer, David Letterman's bandleader sidekick. The group also includes Paul Chapin on drums and John Pinto on saxophone.

Mr. DeFina also ends each show with the theme song he wrote and tries to schedule at least one other musical guest. Past performers have included the jazz bassist Percy Heath, the drummer Jim Chapin, and the cabaret singer Bonnie Lee Sanders.

For this show, Mr. DeFina enlisted one of his cameramen, Danny Catalano, who also moonlights as an Elvis impersonator when he is not working as a chef in Montauk. A guitarist and singer, Mr. Catalano settled for a cover of The Beatles' "Come Together."

The program, scheduled to air before Halloween, also had as guests Officer Christopher Virga of the East Hampton Town Police Department, who gave tips on Halloween safety, and "The Hampton Bag Lady," played by Stefanie Brussel, who tailored her weekly bargain-hunting segment to finding inexpensive costumes.

Before going on, Mr. Virga pointed to the dress uniform he was wearing. "This makes it awkward for me," he said. "We're good friends and we heckle each other all the time. But I can't fire back."

Easy On Friend

Mr. DeFina was easy on his friend, although he joked beforehand that he would introduce him as a captain to "mess him up with the Police Department." Don Torr, the owner of the Crow's Nest restaurant in Montauk, and another friend and guest, did not get off so easy. Demonstrating his ability to blow intricate bubbles - that's right bubbles - Mr. Torr was met with "You must spend a lot of time alone," from his host.

Mr. DeFina has been sending tapes of his show to network television and film companies, hoping someone will see the merit of it "and perfect it" for wider broadcast. For now, he is working on the possibility of moving the show to a larger studio at LTV. "It might give people something to do on a Friday night," he said. A Christmas special is also a possibility.

The show airs at 8:15 p.m. on Thursdays and again at 9 p.m. on Fridays "right after the Town Board meeting," Mr. DeFina said. It is also broadcast over Cablevision in Riverhead at 1:30 p.m. on Thursdays. The potential audience, according to Mr. DeFina, is 65,000 viewers.

Mr. DeFina said he never gets nervous before going on the air. But the night before is another matter. "I get so excited, I can't even sleep," he said.