Coney Island’s unofficial ‘mayor’ Dick Zigun looking to future after tumultuous year away

Coney Island impresario Dick Zigun offers a wry smile, acknowledging the winter of his discontent arrived with Shakespearean overtones.

The goateed Zigun, the unofficial mayor of the Brooklyn enclave and owner of a Yale School of Drama master’s degree, offers his take on the Bard and the boardwalk eight months after an abrupt booting from Coney Island USA — the non-profit arts organization that he helped launch four decades earlier.

“Since you mention Shakespeare and I’ve got a fancy degree, you’re almost forcing me to talk about ‘King Lear,’” he says over lobster rolls inside a Surf Ave. restaurant. “And an elderly king admits his doubts toward the end of his life on how to divide up his kingdom.

“But I’m trying to focus not on the past and what happened, but on a new beginning. And that’s what I prefer to talk about.”

Zigun, whose firing was the Coney Island equivalent of Disneyland dismissing Mickey Mouse, addressed his next incarnation as Labor Day loomed over the beach where he arrived during the early days of the Koch Administration.

His second act so far included a recent appearance in a video by heavy metal band Lamb of God as “The Electrifying Man,” with the clip collecting more than 800,000 views since its July 28 debut.

And Zigun, who will join the band at their local Sept. 9 concert, hopes to land a reality television show tied to his undeniable street cred.

“Broadway is Broadway, and Coney Island is Coney Island,” said writer/director Brandon Mikolaski, who’s pitching the potential Zigun show. “I met Dick and I thought, ‘There’s something here.’ He’s contagious, his spirit is totally infectious.”

Zigun’s preferred short list for reality partners: “Cardi B would be interesting. Bill Murray would be an interesting choice. But I have no idea.”

He’s also working as a consultant for Luna Park, advising the owners since January on entertainment for the opening of both new rides and three unfinished plazas at the attraction.

Zigun arrives for lunch on a steamy August afternoon in a top hat and sleeveless black T-shirt, tattoos snaking down both arms, with a pair of red and black plaid pants rounding out the ensemble.

The Coney Island of 2022 is a far different scene from the one where Zigun emerged in the ‘80s, with the native of Bridgeport, Conn. — the home of P.T. Barnum — receiving an education from the old-timers still running the faltering boardwalk empire.

“A lot of elderly people still operating their businesses from the golden years,” he recounts. “I literally sort of sat at the feet of the 80-year-old working class proprietors of Coney Island entertainment, and learned from them.”

Their Coney Island was America’s playground before World War II, where Sigmund Freud visited the Dreamland amusement park and Charles Lindbergh rode the Cyclone roller coaster.

The landscape was dramatically different when Zigun arrived in what became both his home and the backdrop for his artistic work, including the annual Mermaid Parade and the contortionists and fire-breathers of his “Sideshows by the Seaside.”

“I like to refer to that period as ‘Wild West Funkytown,’” he recalls with a chuckle of his early days. “There was a lot more architectural infrastructure, however decayed and in ruins.”

Zigun, despite battling with health issues at age 69, remains upbeat about the future. As lunch winds down, he provides a letter P-centric recitation of his Coney Island resume.

“Playwright, promoter, proprietor, publicist, philosopher, pontificator,” offers Zigun before reflecting on how his world has changed.

“After living a very public life and running a public venue for decades that’s let me live a bit of a social life, easily available to my friends and even people I don’t know — to not have that anymore, it’s a bit strange,” he acknowledged.

But he’s looking forward to the next chapter.

“My life continues to be fascinating,” says Zigun. “There have definitely been ups and downs. Certain parts were harder to get through than the others. But I never intended to retire at this age.”