Q:

Ellipsis: does this と＝として, what is the relevant verb in this extract?

The following is attributed to フジテレビHP／経済新聞. I wonder if someone could explain the grammar around the と? (I think  it might be an "abbreviation" of として but it is very difficult to find an explanation of this.)

総合司会タモリ(森田一良、６８歳）は..地元で「変人」と面白がられていたのを、ジャズピアニスト山下洋輔らに見い出されて１９７６年に芸能界[に]デビュー[した]。
The MC Tamori (Kazuyoshi Morita, 68)'s act as an amusing eccentric was discovered in his home town by the Jazz pianist Yousuke Yamashita and his entourage. He broke into the entertainment world in 1976.

(Items in [] were added to expand this extract beyond its newspaper style. The translation is mine so please feel free to offer improvements.)
Revised translation based on feedback (further comment welcome):

MC Tamori (Kazuyoshi Morita, 68)'s act was discovered in his home town by the Jazz pianist Yousuke Yamashita and his entourage  where the locals who got a kick out his performances had named him "henjin" ("the eccentric"). He broke into the entertainment world in 1976.

A:

I am going to say that in this context, 「と」 ≠ 「として」.  I would call it the quotative 「と」.  
「『[変人]{へんじん}』と[面白]{おもしろ}がられていた」 ＝ 「『変人』と[呼]{よ}ばれ面白がられていた」
The verb form 「面白がられていた」 is in the "passive voice past progressive".  The subject of this is タモリ in the original Japanese, but it would be difficult to retain that in an English translation.  I myself would use "the locals" as the subject and opt for a verb phrase in the active voice like "to get a kick out of".
The phrase 「『[変人]{へんじん}』と[面白]{おもしろ}がられていた」 sounds informal and conversational and it is barely acceptable as written language; Hence, the confusion.

