The “Mike & Molly” media storm leaves star Billy Gardell unfazed.

The past year has been a busy one  for Billy Gardell,  and he admits he hardly noticed as his 41st birthday flew by. The plus-size comic has suddenly found fame as police officer Mike Biggs in the CBS sitcom, “Mike & Molly“.

A huge Jackie Gleason fan all his life, when he was 9 years old Gardell confided to his grandmother, “‘I’m going to be a comedian on TV,’” he recalls. “She said, ‘You can do it if you work hard.’”

“Mike & Molly” is a comedy about two people — Gardell and Gilmore Girls actress Melissa McCarthy— who meet at an Overeaters Anonymous meeting.

“It’s about two people trying to fall in love and trying to keep it together,” Gardell says. “No matter where that takes you, it’s always an interesting situation. In most sitcoms you have a couple meet and for four years you’re praying they’re going to get together. This explores two working class people who find each other in a place where they’re trying to better themselves, and they go for it right away. It’s a look at all the firsts — the first kiss, the first date, the first fight, the first Christmas.”  And, the first media storm about overweight actors in romantic situations.

A few months ago a blogger for Marie Claire magazine captured headlines when she wrote about being repulsed by romantic scenes featuring overweight people.

“I went on talk shows and addressed that,” Gardell says. “We have no hard feelings. Everyone’s entitled to their own opinion. The thing that I love is that the support we got for the show was tremendous.” Gardell does not seem overly sensitive about his size. “On Mike & Molly, there are no rules for us,” he says. “Sometimes you do good on your diet, sometimes you don’t. It’s just like real life. We’re trying, but sometimes the cake wins.”

Like another show that stirred up controversy, Gardell sees similarities between Mike & Molly and Roseanne. “There are definitely tinges, especially the early years of Roseanne,” he says. “And they’ve also added this wonderful Honeymooners vibe, in which I get to be moronic and in my own way say, ‘Baby, you’re the greatest.’ People root for that.”

To read more on Billy Gardell’s career start and family life, go to: usatoday.com