Native Pennsylvanian Kevin Glavin, possibly the funniest man in opera, is a local favorite, especially after slam-dunking Donizetti's Don Pasquale last year. Returning to the Opera Company this month in Rossini's Barber of Seville, the affable bass told City Paper about his life -- and his forthcoming reality show.

City Paper: You come from that other Pennsylvania city, where the Steelers play?

Kevin Glavin: You mean the only city, Pittsburgh? [Laughs.] I actually love Philadelphia and consider it my second home.

CP: What got you into opera?

KG: My father, a union president in Pittsburgh, started an organization that promotes barbershop singing in North Hills in Pittsburgh -- I got a lot of my musical ability from him. But no one in my family was interested in opera -- including me! When I graduated high school my idols were the Rat Pack: Frank Sinatra and those guys. I started studying voice at 18 with Claudia Pinza, daughter of [world-famous bass] Ezio Pinza, so I could get it solid and go out to Vegas. I always had this thing about standing on stage with a cigar and a drink in my hand, you know? [Laughs.] But in my early 20s Signora Pinza said: [Italian accent] "You have to sing opera."

CP: You're one of the funniest comedians on the opera stage today. Any comic role models?

KG: I don't really have any operatic idols, but as far as comedians, Jackie Gleason, John Candy, John Belushi, Chris Farley… I like that style of comedy and it fits me.

CP:What would you tell a friend who doesn't know anything about opera about why he should come to Barber of Seville?

KG: First of all with Barber, even though you may never have been to an opera, you will recognize a lot of the music from Bugs Bunny. It's very familiar music. But also, if people want to come and just laugh and have a good time, this is for them. I think it's the best first opera for anybody to see, because it's pure entertainment.

CP:What do you enjoy about doing Rossini's Bartolo?

KG: It's my favorite role in the buffo [comic] repertory, because I find with Bartolo, it's very easy because everything I do in my comedy is in the music. It's like Rossini wrote this opera for me; I can be myself with it.

CP:Do you have any serious roles you have your eye on -- any of the high priests, devils and bad guys some other basses do?

KG: I have thought of [Tosca's villain] Scarpia, but really, my whole personality is into comedy. That's who I am. I enjoy making audiences laugh. I think there's plenty of hard stuff in life; when an audience comes to see me I like to hear them laughing and having a good time.

CP:How do you balance opera with the rest of life? How do you relax?

KG: [Laughs.] Do you really want to know? I own a bar in Pittsburgh, a private club, and I like to smoke a cigar, go out to dinner, have some nice wine and go to movies. I golf. I shoot pool. I never wanted to do musical theater because they do eight shows a week. In opera, you do a show, you have a few days off. I like to have my life. I like to entertain, but I like to entertain outside the opera, too.

CP:Are your kids old enough to attend operas you're in?

KG: Yes, my kids are 20 and 14, and they think it's cool that I'm an opera singer. I'm actually doing a reality show called Living Loud where they're going to follow me all over the world to my jobs, and have cameras in my house, to show what it's like to be an opera singer. But it's also about having a family, owning a bar and smoking cigars. I'm not what people expect of an opera singer. But opera singers are just as normal -- and just as abnormal -- as everybody else.

Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville), Sat, Nov. 5, 8 p.m., Wed., Nov. 9, 7:30 p.m., through Nov. 20, $5-$176, Opera Company of Philadelphia at the Academy of Music, Broad and Locust sts., 215-893-1999, www.operaphilly.com.