Funnyman McGrath Switches Hats Again for a Groundlings Benefit

George McGrath has just landed his dream role. Escaping at last from comedy, the Groundlings alum will be playing the lead in a new musical version of “Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer.”

“I’ve been dying to play a psychotic villain,” enthuses McGrath.

We’re lying; there is no such musical. It’s actually a product of the same mind that conceived of “Mamie,” a rock opera about Mamie Eisenhower, and “Tour of Beauty,” a sort of “Charlie’s Angels” set in the Vietnam War--both for McGrath’s Nickelodeon series “On the Television,” which pokes fun at the tube.

“It’s not a laugh a minute, but if you could cut it all up, it would be, oh, 75 laughs in two hours,” McGrath says of “On the Television,” where he served as creator/head writer/co-producer/co-star. And although the show is now permanently in reruns, its spirit will live on in an ongoing Groundlings benefit, “Your Very Own TV show,” featuring McGrath.

“It’s a totally improvised event in two acts, where somebody in the audience gets to star in a TV show pilot in the second act,” says McGrath of the benefit, which premieres Thursday in Hollywood’s Groundlings Theatre.

McGrath, who has appeared in the film “Punchline,” was one of the original writers on “Pee-wee’s Playhouse” and co-wrote the film “Big Top Pee-wee” (“The first half hour is really good”). He has no trouble wearing all those hats. Just don’t ask him to, say, trade places with the audience in “Your Very Own TV Show.”

“I’m very good at getting people in the audience to volunteer, but when I’m in an audience, I’m so afraid when the lights go on anywhere near me,” he says.

Besides enticing volunteers to embarrass themselves, McGrath is currently writing another movie and pitching TV ideas. And for anyone out there interested in a development deal, the musical “Henry” is still up for grabs.