El balsero comico.

EL BALSERO CÓMICO Angel Salazar never stops moving. The veteran comic is between routines and pacing around the front bar at the Comic Strip Live, one of his favorite hangouts. He finally sits down, looks around and starts fidgeting with his water bottle. Soon he's flirting with a pair of well-heeled women in their late 30s and flashing a wide grin.

Angel is not a "lean against the wall" comic. He's all over the stage, dancing and bouncing and giving high-fives to the front row. He imitates Eminem, Boy George and Tina Turner, strips down to his skivvies and squirts water over the audience. By show's end, he is raining sweat and wearing lipstick.

"Every time I do something physical like jump around on stage, I get sick or get a cold," Angel says in between a loud staccato of coughs.

"You sound good, Angel!" someone yells out. He reaches for his water and takes a swig. I follow him to the bodega next door to buy some tea.

"This guy's a porn star," he tells the Korean clerk, pointing at me.

If Cheech or Chong went into a barbershop, they might come out looking like Angel Salazar. The five-foot-three Cuban-American resembles a teenage mall rat, outfitted in an Abercrombie winter hat, torn baggy jeans and a multi-pocket vest. But behind his dark glasses and heavy make-up is a baby face that's beginning to show its years. Angel was in his early 20s when he played Chi-Chi in Scarface ("Ta bien, Tony, ta bien.") Bit parts in The Wild Life and Carlito's Way followed; then Hollywood stopped calling.

Trained in method acting and weaned on a diet of Charlie Chaplin and John Wayne, Angel's dreams of becoming a star were never realized. No matter. He's become a headliner in the stand-up world.

Over Cuban coffee at Havana Chelsea, Angel reflects on his career and second life in America. It all began one chilly night in September, 1972, when Angel and his two best friends fled Guantanamo City, successfully navigating the five-mile, seven-hour swim past Cuban patrol boats to the U.S. military base on the other side of the bay where they secured refugee status.

"Cubans are crazy people but great navigators," he says. "It took Christopher Columbus six months to find America, and he had three ships and maps. Give a Cuban an inner-tube, put him near Australia and he'll find Miami in one hour."