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And when it comes to matters of faith, “I’m officially neutral.”

One, And I’m Done

My Five Wives traces its roots to Dangerfield’s conversations with Joan’s family. The Mormons — members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — once practiced polygamy. Brigham Young, a patriarch of the faith and the first governor of Utah, was said to have 27 wives, by some accounts, and more according to others.

“I used to have this joke,” Dangerfield says, “I don’t care how you bring ’em, just bring ’em young.”

He says he’s happy with the one woman he has, but was astounded to find that polygamy is still practiced in parts of the world. In the movie, he plays a business mogul who buys land in the fictional town of Redwood Falls, Utah, who is surprised to find that the land he’s purchased comes with three wives.

The movie is not about Mormonism, he says. Rather, it is a comic look at what a guy like him would do in a polygamous union.

“One of the advantages of having five wives is they can’t all have a headache at the same time,” Dangerfield cracks.

At the same time, how does a man well into retirement age keep five nubile women happy? “They think I’m Don Juan,” he says. “But after one, I’m done.”

The movie and new run in Vegas mark a comeback for Dangerfield. In March, he underwent double bypass surgery. “I’ve been cut up so much,” he says, “I feel like I’m back in my old neighborhood.”

But Dangerfield is no stranger to the art of the comeback. The Long Island, N.Y.-born Jacob Cohen began working as a teenager at Brooklyn’s Polish Falcon Club and writing jokes. He married Joyce Indig, and in his mid-20s, dropped out of show business to support his family.

As he has noted many times of his retirement, “Nobody noticed.”

He and Joyce divorced in 1961. Restless, Dangerfield returned to the stage. He struggled, fell at least $20,000 in debt by his own estimates and couldn’t get booked.