He’ll do anything to amuse

MARIO CANTONE is a man obsessed. The objects of his fascination are endless: Judy Garland, great food, Joan Crawford, great wine, Liza Minnelli, great boxing (“The Contender” makes him cry every week, he said), Jane Fonda, great bad reality shows, anything Disney.

The 45-year-old actor and comedian most recognized for his recurring role as Anthony Marentino, Charlotte’s abrasive buddy on HBO’s “Sex and the City,” was in town from Manhattan recently to promote “Laugh Whore,” his Showtime special, airing Saturday.

Cantone so cunningly embodied Marentino -- the role was written for him by “Sex and the City” executive producer Michael Patrick King -- that it was a pleasant surprise to find him, well, pleasant. He is still sharp, loud and raunchy, but with an affability that is wholly disarming.

Upon being seated on the patio of the Four Seasons for lunch, he expressed his delight with A.O.C., a “divine” restaurant he had visited the previous night. That evolved into a diatribe against people who don’t express excitement over food.

“If you go out with somebody to a great restaurant and the food is incredible and the flavors are exploding in your mouth and you’re dying over it, and the date that you’ve taken -- and perhaps want to go to bed with -- is just going” (he becomes tight-lipped, with a tepid smile) ‘Hmm, this is good,’ and they have no passion about it, then they’re not good in bed.”

“Mario is exactly one-eighth as catty as his character on the show,” Willie Garson, who played Marentino’s nemesis Stanford Blatch on “Sex and the City,” said later on the phone. “Comedians can be really tough because they’re always ‘on,’ but Mario knows when to stop being a comedian and be a friend and have a normal conversation.”

This was borne out when talk turned to Cantone’s family. He spoke seriously, but without a hint of self-pity, about the fact that his mother never approved of his being gay. She died in 1981, and he’s wondered ever since if her attitude would have changed had she lived longer. Cantone then segued with a shrug. “Well, that was uplifting. I feel like Billy Crystal in the second act of his show.”

Cantone said he got the performing bug as soon as he could walk. “I knew the full Judy Garland Carnegie Hall double album set at age 2. And then my mother wondered why I was gay. I was like, ‘Are you nuts? You would make me get on the table to sing Judy Garland songs and you’re upset?’ ”

“Laugh Whore” -- his solo show, which ran for three months on Broadway last fall and was recently nominated for a Tony -- was directed by Joe Mantello, with musical numbers written by Cantone, Harold Lubin and Cantone’s partner of 14 years, Jerry Dixon. (“He’s brilliant. He’s my rock,” said Cantone. “And I wouldn’t live with me, believe me. I’m moody. He drives me nuts -- I want to kill him sometimes. Fourteen years, hello. But he’s a good man.”)

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A gaggle of gigs

The arrival of his managers at lunch gave him even more to love. “You whores!” he shouted, jumping up to hug Rick Dorfman and give a hickey to Jonathan Baruch, adding, “Take that home to your wife!”

Later, in Showtime president Robert Greenblatt’s office for a pitch meeting, Cantone started in on his obsession with “The Starlet,” the canceled WB reality show. He loved that the would-be actresses auditioned with scenes from WB programs. “I was like, ‘It’s Warner Bros. Do something from “Dark Victory”! Do something from “Mildred Pierce”!’ What’s wrong with them? ‘No, we’re only going to do stuff from “Everwood.” ’ Good night!”

On the way back from the meeting, Cantone looked for his billboard on Westwood Boulevard. “There it is!” he exclaimed. “I’ve never had a billboard in L.A. I like it.” If his show doesn’t get the green light, he plans to take the live “Laugh Whore” on the road in the fall. Meanwhile, he said, he likes his “semifamous” status and his “very comfortable, slow rise.”

He looked out the window at the passing Beverly Hills streets. “Are we near the Menendez house?” he asked the driver. “I watched every inch of that trial. I think trials on Court TV went downhill after that. That was the most complex one. It was just ... these houses are very close together out here, though, huh? I’m very surprised about that.” And he was off and running about Beverly Hills, passionately.