There are many definitions, quibbles, and theories about the Rat Pack, but according to Sandy Hackett, son of the late great comedian Buddy, it was mostly one brief shining moment. “It was all in a 30-day period in 1960 when they were together shooting Ocean’s 11,” he said. “And at night they would perform at The Sands.” And forget any disputes about who constituted the notorious Pack. “It was five guys: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., and Joey Bishop,” he said authoritatively. “Other people hung out with them, other guys and women, too. But that was the Rat Pack.”
Hackett knows this because he knew them all — particularly Joey Bishop. “He lived down the street from us, and I used to hang around with him,” said Hackett. Inspired by the proximity, Hackett created a tribute show to the original hip gangstas — and a Christmas spin-off, which comes to town December 8-9. But most of the reason Hackett’s Rat Pack show exists is because of his relationship with Bishop growing up. “When HBO was doing their movie about them, Joey called me up and said I would be the best one to play him. Now it was a movie, and the filmmakers had a different idea; I get that. But after that, I started putting together this show, and in it I play Bishop.”
Is it hard, I wondered, to play a comedian whose most salient feature was his featurelessness? Bishop was famously deadpan. “Did he just insult me?” Hackett asked his wife, Lisa Miller, also on the phone from their Woodland Hills home. Before she could reassure, Hackett laughed and said, “I have my own stand-up style, and it was different from Joey’s, so, yes, I’m acting.”