He Sets the Bar for TV’s ‘Reality’ Stars and Fans

On most nights at the Belly Lounge in West Hollywood, chances are you’ll see a familiar face from last season.

The bar/restaurant, owned by Mike “Boogie” Malin--former contestant on “Big Brother 2”--draws a crowd of “reality stars.” Here, in addition to Malin, you might spot Ethan Zohn, winner of “Survivor: Africa” or Will Kirby, another “Big Brother 2” contestant. Gabriel Cade, one of the bartenders, appeared on “Survivor: Marquesas.”

The Santa Monica Boulevard bar has become an unofficial contestant incubator for unscripted series like “Survivor” and “Big Brother,” as well as the hangout where winners and the “voted out” get over the loathing of each other conceived in the heat of the TV moment.

(According to Malin, Gina Crews and Hunter Ellis, who competed on “Marquesas,” had dinner at the lounge with producer Mark Burnett. “They had a meal and worked out their problems.”)

And Malin and Kirby are entering the bar/restaurant business together, said Malin, seated at Belly on a recent afternoon.

Kirby, who won $500,000, will be investing in their joint venture, Malin said. “I’m going to hit every [contestant] up for money.”

The love fest between Belly and “reality” began when “Big Brother” casting agents spotted Malin working behind the bar and encouraged the self-described “wacky bar owner” to send them a videotape.

That eventually brought him to the final round of selections--eight days in a San Fernando Valley hotel, where CBS asked potential contestants to undergo psychological and physical tests.

Malin landed a spot in “Big Brother 2” and a peculiar kind of fame.

Tourists, he said, come to his bar to buy commemorative T-shirts (he wore a Belly shirt on the show), have a drink with him or ask him to autograph various body parts.

If you’re a tourist and you come to L.A., you visit Grauman’s Chinese, Rodeo Drive and Belly, Malin said with the confidence of a “Big Brother” player.

The attraction is access.

“Tom Cruise or Matthew Perry are inaccessible,” he said. “Reality people are more real. [Viewers] feel like they know you.”

Malin isn’t surprised that Belly launched its “reality” stars.

“You obviously have a much better chance working in a bar where casting agents come in than sitting in Iowa, submitting the tapes from your dental office,” said Malin, acknowledging the cruel nexus of fame and geography.

Besides, he said, “bars and restaurants tend to employ colorful personalities....

“People skills are required to be successful. And you definitely need [those] on ‘Big Brother’ and ‘Survivor.’”

Dwight Yoakam’s country music career has often meandered into the Hollywood spheres of acting, directing and producing. But he seemed content to leave the celebrity food merchandising to Paul Newman (spaghetti sauce, salad dressing, etc.) and Francis Ford Coppola (wine). Until this year, that is. In February, Yoakam launched a line of ready-to-eat, Southern-style biscuits smothered in various gravies and stews.

Not surprisingly, the project started as a joke. About five years ago, Buck Owens urged Yoakam to bring “something special” to the opening of the Crystal Palace, Owens’ restaurant and museum in Bakersfield. Yoakam was stumped for an idea. Then, during breakfast at a diner on Sunset Boulevard, the Kentucky native remembered his Granny Irlene’s “hillbilly” biscuit recipe. He whipped up a batch for Owens’ opening.

Soon, the biscuits were on Owens’ menu, and fans at concerts were clamoring to order them, especially once Yoakam started selling “Bakersfield Biscuits” T-shirts and baseball hats (one of which Vince Vaughn wore in the film “Made.”)

Yoakam even recorded “Biscuit Boy,” a song about a fictional character inspired by his new enterprise. “I was just having fun with the idea of it ... the Route 66, Americana element of it,” he said by phone Thursday.

Yoakam tried to meet demand but soon discovered that fresh biscuits had too short a shelf life to be cost-effective. So he took the next step. He scrapped Granny’s recipe and went frozen.

“As you know,” he explained, “once you move into the frozen world, you change the food metabolically and you have to have a food scientist.”

Dwight Yoakam’s Bakersfield Biscuits are available in select stores in California and the Dallas area, and the biscuits will be widely distributed later this year.

This, Yoakam promises, is just the beginning. His food scientist is working on a cornbread recipe. Gravy also sounds promising.

“I may do a sausage,” he said. “It’s all pretty hillbilly.”

Sightings

Robert Wagner dining Thursday night at Eurochow in Westwood ... comic Richard Lewis obsessing Friday morning over breakfast etiquette at the Four Seasons hotel near Beverly Hills.

City of Angles runs Tuesday through Friday. Email: angles @latimes.com