Longtime area vaudeville-style musician and comic Larry Lee Lewis started up a new act following the 2004 Boston Comedy Fest. Combining two entertainment genres, he formed a rock band from local comedians, which has been gigging around town ever since. Wherever they go, a cast of comedians round out the bill.

But the band is only a schtickle of Lewis’ stage life. On Jan. 7 at 8 p.m., he’ll open for Steve Connolly (dubbed “the ‘definitive’ Elvis Impersonator”) at the Berklee Performance Center. In typical Lewis fashion, he’ll be backed by a seven-piece band and "The Vegas Dancers".

Connolly will be the Jan. 4 guest on Lewis’ radio show, “The LLL Sports Comedy Hour,” which airs each Wednesday from 6-7 p.m. on WWZN (“The Zone”) at 1510 AM. Lewis will also be playing piano at Chestnut Park in Brighton on Jan. 3 and will appear at Nick’s Comedy Stop on Jan. 12 and Jan. 13. Then it's on to the Melrose Blues Diner on Jan. 20, the American Legion Hall in Ashland on Jan. 21, J.J. Brannelly's Cafe in Roslindale on Jan. 28, the Dedham Theater on Feb. 9, and even more gigs.

Lewis, 57, took up the piano at the age 50, after many years of practicing real estate in the Chelsea and Revere area. (Self-taught, he never learned to read music, and still plays by ear.) He trained with comics Carolyn Pickman and Tom Kemp, and soon expanded into stand-up and storytelling. Lewis, who grew up watching Jackie Gleason and Ed Sullivan, describes himself as a “cross between Henny Youngman and Milton Berle.” One-liners, boogie-woogie piano, and dancing continue to punctuate his style, which he describes as "a throwback to the days of vaudeville concert halls and the Catskill hotel circuit.”

Vaudeville, he says, is like the remote control nowadays. “You wait ten minutes, there’s another act. It’s like live channel surfing. There’s something for everybody.” From 1999 to 2002, Lewis produced a showcase at Howard Johnson’s on Boylston Street, behind Fenway Park. He’s appeared at myriad venues including The Comedy Connection, Comedy Palace, Giggles and Nick's, as well as the Jordan Rich Show on WBZ, the Steve Sweeney Morning Show on WZLX, and the Loren and Wally Show on WROR. He dresses as a lobster (Larry Lee "Lobster") and serves as the mascot for the Boston Comedy Fest each year.

In 2002, Lewis rented Davis Square’s Nexus Theatre (currently Jimmy Tingle’s Off-Broadway) at 255 Elm St. for one week. He ended up managing the place, which he renamed the Elm Street Theater, formed "The Triple L Band” and hired acrobats, jugglers, balloon contortionists, comedians and musicians. The Larry Lee Lewis Vaudeville show was rolling, and was named the Best Addition to the Small Stage for 2002 by the Improper Bostonian Magazine.

The current band includes D. J. Lopez on bass and vocals, “Edgar” on drums and vocals, Jan Bear on vocals and Dave Polatin on rhythm guitar and vocals. Lewis collaborates with many other artists, who include lead guitarist Doug Weeks, bassist Mark Kelly, drummer Ed Warshauer, trombonist Steve Ruzich, comics Ross Garmil and Benari Poulten (who recreate Roaring 20’s vaudeville stars Reginald Gottlieb and Skip Oddsson), comics Nicole Luparelli and Johnny Pizzi, and 12-year-old singer Carissa Sudieri.

Lewis, born Larry Sneirson, grew up in Chelsea (“I was the only Jew ever to move from Newton to Chelsea,” he recalls). His parents divorced when he was nine, and he lived with his mother and two brothers. All were bar mitzvahed at Temple Emmanuel in Chelsea, where his mother was secretary. He went to Hebrew School there, but quit after the bar mitzvah. “I made two grand, I quit the business.” “My mother wanted me to be a doctor,” he says. “So, I went to kindergarten four days a week, and on Wednesday I played miniature golf.”

A Peabody resident, his own life is as colorful as his act. He’s been married four times and has three daughters and eight grandchildren. “I married one woman twice,” he says. “She was Two and Four. I missed a few alimony payments, and she repossessed me.” Lewis often dances alongside the piano.

How much Jewish schtick is in the act? “I do a good chunk. I like to do the Jewish jokes first, which clears me to do other ethnic jokes. I don’t do offensive ones anyway.” And if you don’t like a certain act in his show, he says, "just wait a minute!"

Tickets are $27.50, $37.50 and $47.50; for information please contact The Berklee Performance Center Box Office at 136 Mass Ave., Boston, at 617-747-2261, or Ticketmaster at 617-931-2000. For more information on Larry Lee Lewis, visit www.LarryLeeLewis.com.