Harry Basil
Bio
Comedian Harry Basil “lives the movies.” He recreates and spoofs memorable moments from hit movies. He’s more than an impressionist as he physically and vocally takes on a wide variety of unforgettable actors and movie characters, pulling unsuspecting audience members up on stage to act as his costars. Harry moved out to Hollywood and created his comedy act at the world famous Comedy Store, where he was spotted and hand picked by Rodney Dangerfield for the 9th Annual HBO Young Comedian’s Special alongside Sam Kinison, Louie Anderson, Bob Saget and Rita Rudner. A close friendship developed between Harry and Rodney Dangerfield and Harry became Rodney’s exclusive opening act for over 17 years. Harry has also opened for such superstars as The Beach Boys, Liza Minelli, The Pointer Sisters, Gloria Estafan & Miami Sound Machine, Chuck Berry, Julio Iglesies, and fellow Jersey boy Frankie Vallie. He has closed the prestigious Montreal Just For Laughs Comedy Festival, twice to full house standing ovations at the St. Denise Theater. Harry’s love for the movies really paid off when he co-wrote and co-produced three of Rodney Dangerfield’s movies: Ladybugs for Paramount Pictures, Meet Wally Sparks for Trimark, and My Five Wives for Artisan.
In 2001, he made his feature directing debut with The 4th Tenor, a romantic opera comedy released by Warner Bros. He followed that in 2002 with Back by Midnight, a prison comedy starring a whole cast of colorful comedians. Warner Brothers and Franchise Pictures hired Harry to write and direct the family comedy Funky Monkey. Harry then directed Cloud 9, a sexy beach volleyball comedy written and produced by Al Ruddy. Harry is also executive producer and co-writer of Funny Money, a wild farce that had its world premiere at the 2007 Aspen Comedy Arts Festival. He was hired as a comedy writer for four episodes of Direct TV’s The Laugh Factory’s Supreme Court Of Comedy. He wrote comedy material for fellow comedians Jamie Kennedy, Paul Rodriguez, Paul Mooney, George Wallace, Louie Anderson, and Dom Ierra. Harry was the showrunner on 14 episodes of the kid’s sitcom The Jadagrace Show, as well as director and producer of the Andrew Dice Clay reality series Unbelievable. He also produced the comedy film 10 Rules for Sleeping Around. Acting is also another of Harry’s achievements. Since moving to Hollywood, Harry has appeared in several films and television shows. He landed a feature role in Francis Ford Coppola’s 1950’s period romantic comedy Peggy Sue Got Married and also appeared opposite Demi More in the sci-fi cult film The Seventh Sign. He wrote himself small parts in Ladybugs and Meet Wally Sparks. NBC chief Brandon Tartikoff caught Harry’s act at The Comedy Store and signed Harry on the spot to a network development deal. Out of that came several TV pilots, one a spin off from the hit series Family Ties.
