| Spotlight Canoe Dot CA Pat St. Germain August 5, 2004 If you're forever wondering whatever happened to Dustin Diamond, you can see for yourself when he plays Rumor's comedy club this weekend. Just don't expect the former child star -- he was geek Samuel (Screech) Powers on NBC teen sitcom Saved By the Bell and spinoffs in the '80s and '90s -- to play up his nerdy TV image. "My attitude is, 'I gave you 10 years of that -- the DVDs are out, you can see Screech all you want,' " he says. Not that the 27-year-old entertainer is knocking the perks of Screech fame. It's helped fill seats for years at comedy gigs across North America, and since he's not in rehab or jail, he's been able to parlay Screech-hood into a role in Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star and TV shows like Hollywood Squares and Celebrity Boxing 2, in which he trounced Welcome Back Kotter's Ron Palillo. "I got to punch Horshack. How cool is that? It's definitely not a negative," he says. His comedy act is based on observational humour and he warns it's not squeaky clean, although it's not as raunchy as some reviewers suggest. "It's not as bad as Bob Saget," he says, referring to the former Full House star's racy act. "Bob Saget is one of the filthiest guys out there." Named Dustin Neil Diamond after the singer, Diamond started playing Screech in 1987, on a series called Good Morning Miss Bliss. That show became Saved By the Bell two years later. His co-stars included Elizabeth Berkley (Showgirls), Mark-Paul Gosselaar (NYPD Blue) and Tiffani-Amber Thiessen (Beverly Hills 90210). So far, dramatic acting fame has eluded him, but Diamond, who lives in Milwaukee, Wis., gets satisfaction from teaching chess to inner-city kids and, of course, his comedy routine. "When all is said and done I'm going to look back on my career ... and I'm going to be proud of it all." |
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