When Billy Gardell, Jon Lovitz and Andrew “Dice” Clay take the Talking Stick Resort stage on Saturday, June 27, the triple bill will serve as a family reunion. 

“It’s going to be a super fun night. We get to hang. We haven’t seen each other in a minute. It’s going to be an epic night,” said Gardell, who starred as Chicago police officer Mike Biggs in “Mike & Molly.”

“Lovitz is a Hall of Famer from ‘Saturday Night Live.’ ‘Dice’ is the original comedy legend. And I did OK for myself.”

“Dice” invited his longtime friend, Gardell, to the gig. The two met when Gardell was working at Bonkers Comedy Club in Orlando and Clay’s career was taking off. 

“He was already selling out clubs and becoming a phenom,” Gardell said.

“They let me hang around, and I got to drive them around, and he just took a liking to me.”

DEEPER DIVE: ‘America’s Top 50 New Boomtowns’ includes 7 Arizona cities

INDUSTRY INSIGHTS: Want more news like this? Get our free newsletter here

Lovitz entered Gardell’s life later, when they were on “Funny You Should Ask.” “I think we met by annoying each other, but in a funny way,” Gardell joked. “It blossomed into a friendship.”

Pegged as an affable comic actor, Gardell starred in CBS’ “Bob Hearts Abishola,” and “Mike & Molly” with Melissa McCarthy. He also had a recurring role on the CBS series “Young Sheldon.” In 2016, he won a daytime Emmy nomination for Best Game Show Host for “Monopoly Millionaires Club.”

The Pittsburgh native’s other TV credits include “Yes Dear” and “Judging Amy,” “My Name is Earl,” “The Practice,” “Monk” and “Gary the Rat.”

Now, Gardell is edging toward dramatic roles. He’s not necessarily abandoning comedy; he just wants to expand the range of stories he tells. 

His first taste of the dramatic role came with CMT’s “Sun Records,” in which he played Col. Tom Parker. 

“It was in doing that dramatic acting that I realized, ‘You know what, I really love this,’” he said. The series placed him inside the mythology of American music — Sam Phillips, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis.

That experience led him to “The Vortex,” an independent film streaming on Prime, where he plays a gambling‑addicted comic working at the MGM. The character is a far cry from the stereotypical warm sitcom dads. 

“I’m gravitating toward stuff that makes you grow and stretch as an actor,” he said. 

Gardell said that his 173-pound weight loss through bariatric surgery and Ozempic for type-2 diabetes allows him to get more auditions. He was on Ozempic before researchers found its weight-loss ability. 

“The weight loss that transformed his health also opened doors professionally — because of my weight loss, I’m actually getting to do these auditions, and he’s determined to make the most of that window,” Gardell said.

“It aged me a little bit. But nothing is free in this world.” 

Thanks to the weight loss, Gardell can surf, hike with his wife, ride horses, fit comfortably on airplanes, and buy clothes off the rack for the first time in his life. 

“Any form of health always generates self‑esteem and love in the house,” he said. “I’m thankful for it.”