Entertaining crowds is a snap for Badfingers

By: JEFF PACK - Staff Writer | Wednesday, January 2, 2008 11:54 AM PST ∞

Finger snappers aren't made, they're born. When Bobby Badfingers was 4 years old, he couldn't have known that someday his thumb and index finger would take him to stages as far away as China.

But when the youngster was snapping away to the beat set for him by Flamenco dancers on the television and subsequently never stopped snapping, one would think he had an idea of what was in store for him.

It wasn't until 1986 when Badfingers, then Bob Von Merta, wandered into a bar in San Jose, that he was noticed for his talented fingers. However, convincing himself wasn't exactly ---- ahem ---- a snap.

"This band was playing and one of the band members saw me snapping my fingers along with the music," Badfingers said in a phone interview from a hotel room in Atlantic City, N.J. "He asked me to come up and snap with the band. I said, 'No way,' and snuck out. I took off, man."

Even though he had bailed out on his first opportunity to get onstage, the band member remembered Badfingers when he next visited the bar.

"When he saw me the next time, he asked me to come up again," he said. "After two or three shots of tequila, I did it. The place went crazy."

From there, Badfingers kept appearing with the band and about six months later, "The Late Show With David Letterman" came calling.

"Every time I went onstage people loved it," he said. "So, I thought I gotta create some things around this. I always loved to dance, so I put together this wild and wacky show."

That creation took him all over the country and when the opportunity to appear as a contestant on season two of "America's Got Talent," he jumped all over it. His singing and dancing and snapping pushed him into the semifinals of the hit show. Eventually he was eliminated, losing out to singing ventriloquist Terry Fator.

Even in losing, Badfingers still won.

"Since 'America's Got Talent,' I've been all over the world, from China to the U.K. to Belgium," he said. "You see, everybody in the world is a finger snapper, they've always tried to be a finger snapper. That's why they love my act. You have to understand, man, in a world without snap, absolutely nothing would be happening in a snap."

If you let him, the self-professed attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder-stricken Badfingers will drive you crazy by reciting every finger, snap or snapping pun in the book. So, getting back on the subject, Badfingers can be found performing on Friday night as the opening actor for Fator and his singing dummies. The two have been touring together for several months now.

"I'm touring with a guy who plays with dolls and I'm a finger snapper," he said. "Whoever thought? My act is sheer craziness, I'm a freakin' finger snapper, man, and that guy won a million bucks for making his dolls sing."

While he loves touring the country, Badfingers' main interest is in entertaining the kids. He's currently developing what he hopes will become a Saturday morning children's show, based on one of his characters, Snap Bandito.

"My main thing is doing the stuff with the kids," he said. "I've developed a bunch of cartoons, all around finger snapping. I want to teach kids how to snap, I've even got a cartoon character called Snappy Claus. The kids thing is in my heart."

Trust us when we tell you, if it has to do with finger snapping, Badfingers has thought of it. He plans on releasing a finger snapping tutorial, as well as a line of snap-themed T-shirts and other assorted items.

There must be a market, right? Well, unless you're ---- excuse us ---- "snaplexic."

"When people see my show, they go 'Hey man, that's something cool,' " he said. "If someone's having a bad day, I can change it around in a second. I can make people say, 'He's out of his freaking mind.' That's what makes it fun, that's why people love it. I think we're missing a lot of that fun stuff these days."

Terry Fator with Bobby Badfingers

When: 8 p.m. Jan. 4

Where: Pechanga Resort & Casino, 45000 Pechanga Parkway, Temecula

Tickets: $25-$55

Info: (951) 303-2507

Web: badfingers.com