If Hamm & Bublé, purveyor of “pork dishes and fine Champagne,” were a real restaurant and not a “Saturday Night Live” spoof, Michael Bublé’s fans would pack the joint. Especially since the skit promised that he’d perform a ventriloquist act every night at 8.
In real life, they’ll have to settle for the singer’s Saturday night show at Madison Square Garden, part of his “Crazy Love” tour behind a No. 1 album of the same name. In some ways, it’s a homecoming for the Canadian; he got his first big break in the early aughts with a series of gigs at the Blue Note in Greenwich Village. Since then, his pop-jazz hybrid of Elvis Presley, Dean Martin and Harry Connick Jr. has gone on to sell more than 25 million albums.
We talked to the singer about his overly public split from actress Emily Blunt, whom he dated for three years, and why he likes to Google the phrase “I hate Michael Bublé.”
You started singing in clubs at 16. How wild was that?
I was incredibly immature and naive. I don’t think I got a true grasp of what was happening around me. I just thought people were really nice and happy. And the later it got, the more gregarious they got. Of course, later I realized they were doing whatever they were doing. And that really sweet lady who always came to the bar? She was a hooker.
Anything you regret from those early days?
The way I looked. God help me. There’s a picture of me wearing my father’s sports coat. It was waaay too big for me, and my hair was really long and in a terrible pompadour. Oh my god. At that time, it was all about taking as much from my idols as I could, so taking a little bit from a Connick or an Elvis Presley or a Michael Jackson — trying to find my own voice. I look at some pictures and cringe and go, “Oh my god, I’m trying way too hard.”
Last time you played the Garden, you filmed the show for a DVD, “Michael Bublé Meets Madison Square Garden,” and won a Grammy. No pressure!
Right? It’s one of the most prestigious places to play in the world. It was a big night. I feel like New Yorkers embrace me, and now I get to come back with a Grammy in hand and thank them for being part of that.
You won the Grammy, but you weren’t there to get it, were you?
I was in a car somewhere, coming from an airport, on the phone with my mother, who was watching TV. She screamed, “You just won!” And I went, “Yes!”
Do you ever Google yourself?
I try not to. There are times when you’re self-indulgent, like when you’ve done a TV show or something, and you want to see how it went — but it’s not very healthy. Sometimes for a laugh my buddies and I will write something like, “I hate Michael Bublé” and see what comes up. There’s a girl with a blog called Lainey Gossip — she’s Canada’s Perez Hilton — that I’ve become friends with, but she didn’t like me too much for a while. I remember after the breakup with Emily, she had written, “How do you lose 182 pounds of fat? You dump Michael Bublé.”
Ouch.
Even though it hurt my feelings, I had to laugh. It’s such a great line.
Now you’re engaged to Luisana Lopilato, a sexy Argentine actress. Does she like your singing?
I guess so. It’s funny, we don’t talk about that very much. I know it’s strange to say that, but she’s only seen one show, and it was in Argentina. She’s never seen me in an arena or anything like that.
I’m still laughing about the hilarious “Hamm and Bublé” sketch you did with Jon Hamm on “SNL.” Will you ever host?
I’d love to. The fact that they gave me a chance to do the skit made me really happy. When I read what Seth Meyers wrote, I think I probably hugged him 10 times. I was actually more comfortable doing that than I was singing. I just had dinner with Lorne Michaels. If they’d like me to, I would do it in a second.
Have you always been self-deprecating?
You have to when you’re in my position. You’re doing shows and singing romantic songs and girls are screaming and you’ve got to laugh at yourself.
Why?
Because it’s just . . . goofy.