WHAT ARE THEY UP TO NOW? : A familiar face from TV returns to where his heart was: stand-up

“One of the most dignified jobs I had was as a pogo demonstrator at Macy’s,” recalls actor-writer Dick Gautier. “I had to wear a red-and-white-striped jacket. I looked like a candy cane.”

Gautier--who starred as Hymie the Robot on “Get Smart,” as Robin Hood in Mel Brooks’ “When Things Were Rotten” and on “Love, American Style”--hasn’t given up comedy, or anything else for that matter.

The eclectic Gautier, who calls himself a “renaissance dilettante,” continues to act on stage and in television, write books and movie scripts, do voices for cartoons (“G.I. Joe,” “Batman”) as well as voice-over narration (Discovery Channel’s “Search for Adventure” series).

In addition to getting back to stand-up comedy, he’ll soon be off on a national lecture circuit to talk about “The Lighter Side of Art” and the five books on art he has penned.

“I was always a cartoonist,” he says, “always drawing funny things, even in grammar school.” His books include “The Art of Caricature,” “The Creative Cartoonist,” “The Career Cartoonist,” “Drawing and Cartooning 1001 Faces,” and the coffee-table book “Actors as Artists.” He and his co-writer on the latter book, Jim Mullen, are at work on “Musicians as Artists,” which will feature the work of Eric Burdon, Miles Davis, John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Ron Wood and John Mayall. He and his partner raised $100,000 for the Permanent Charities Committee for “Actors as Artists” and plan to donate $100,000 to Music Cares when the new book is completed.

Inspired by his girlfriend’s young children, he recently wrote and sold his first children’s book, “A Child’s Garden of Weirdness.”

Gautier got his start “from being a funny kid,” which he attributes to some isolation from his family. Fourteen years younger than his siblings, he was sent to military school where he was the proverbial class clown. At 16 and 17, he was doing stand-up in strip joints in San Diego.

Later, while in the Navy, he did Special Services shows and continued performing in supper clubs in New York.

Renowned dancer-choreographer Gower Champion persuaded the reluctant Gautier to audition for the role of Conrad in “Bye Bye Birdie.”

“At the time, I looked like the anti-Elvis,” he recalls. “I carried a briefcase, had a crew cut. I didn’t think it was for me until Gower said the magic word: satire. “ The role garnered Gautier a Tony nomination.

He went on to guest on more than 500 television shows.

“You can’t pin me down on a favorite part,” he insists. “It really depends on the moment and the challenges to the role.”

Even though he’s been away from stand-up for a long time, Gautier has no reservations--or nerves.

“Any case of nerves would be pretty mild,” he says calmly. “I don’t have any problem getting up there. I’ve done stand-up on so many television shows. I’ve always kept my hand in.”