Basile returns to Valley

The stand-up comic comes back every year.

By GUY D’ASTOLFO

VINDICATOR ENTERTAINMENT WRITER

When comedian Basile Katsikis (known on stage by his first name only) was first starting out as a stand-up comedian nearly two decades ago, one of the first places to warm up to his unique, animated style of comedy was the Youngstown area.

“I started to do comedy in Cleveland, the old Cleveland Comedy Club,” said Katsikis, calling from Detroit. “And then one thing led to another, and I started getting gigs here and there. I wasn’t your typical comedian like Dennis Miller. And little by little, I came to Youngstown and the crowd was just — not to say this to make you happy — one of the better crowds and one of my favorite crowds to play.

“I can’t tell you where in the nation the best place is to play, but Youngstown is right up there as having one of the best crowds. The audiences have always been fantastic, and they’ve been great fans forever.”

Katsikis said his Friday show at the Ford Family Recital Hall in downtown Youngstown will feel like a homecoming. In fact, that’s why he comes back every year around the same time, to share the holidays with friends.

The funnyman arrived in the Buckeye State as a Long Island native who played football at Purdue University but was eventually cut. He landed in Cleveland and graduated from Cleveland State University with his heart set on going to law school. However, at that time he had a family member that was sick, so Katsikis took a year off.

That’s when he discovered stand-up comedy and because of his ability to perform character voices (James Brown, Bullwinkle, Elvis Presley), he became a highly sought-after radio announcer for morning shows across the country. This led to his becoming the voice of Universal Studio’s “Bullwinkle Moose,” while his stand-up career took off.

“Today, I have two shows,” Katsikis said. “One is the ‘Growing Up Greek in America’ show, which I perform worldwide. That’s where I do the show in Greek, and talk about growing up Greek in America. My other show is called ‘The Bare Necessities World Tour.’”

It’s the latter show that’s coming to Youngstown.

“What I’m doing is revamping my show from top to bottom,” Katsikis said. “So basically I’ll be talking about going to Venice.

“When the Italians say ‘We’re going to build on the water,’ they don’t mess around. They build on the water. And I was sitting there laughing and looking at this thinking, you know what job has to suck is the guy who has to go in the basement to get stuff. ‘Hey, it’s a little bit damp down here.’ And being a gang member in Venice isn’t easy either. They’re trying to do float-by shootings. It’s difficult.”

Considering he returns every year to Youngstown, Katsikis wants audiences to know they’ll be seeing a new show in 2007.

“It’s the same Basile with a different show,” he said with a laugh. “And they have to come catch it because this time we’re putting some fresh Basile into it.”