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Get ready for Garyisms

Mar 24, 2003  •  Post A Comment

Gary Busey in a comedy! If that doesn’t make you blink, then you must have missed most of his 104 movies, including Lethal Weapon and Universal Soldier 2. He joins the Osbournes and Anna Nicole Smith as the subject of a reality show, tentatively called I’m With Busey. It gets a 13-episode launch this summer on Comedy Central and co-stars Adam de la Pena, 25, a magician/comedian who got his break writing for The Man Show. After years of obsessing on his favorite actor, including playing a Gary Busey drinking game at UCLA, Mr. de la Pena sold his idea to the network and then to the actor himself. Mr. Busey, who is half American Indian, said he never thought of himself as funny until he watched the show. “I watched it and went, `Oh God. Just being me really is funny,” Mr. Busey said. “I have the ability to look innocently stupid. Innocence takes away the stupidity, and what is left is charm.” A reformed alcohol and drug abuser, a survivor of a near-fatal motorcycle accident and cancer, Mr. Busey takes on the role of guide and mentor to Mr. de la Pena, who explains: “He has this bizarre way of teaching and showing people things, and that’s where the comedy comes in. He turns the simplest things around, and it’s always interesting and bizarre.” Mr. de la Pena expects people to begin to catch on to what he calls “Garyisms.” For instance, Mr. Busey took him to play Paintball as a way to teach him about combat. “He told me, `Friends are just enemies in reverse.”’ At another point, Mr. Busey told him, “Never dip lower than you can dip.”