COLUMN: Michael Paskevich

     Plans to present downtown Las Vegas with its first full-time comedy club have been scratched, at least for the time being.
      And while a search for a new producer is expected to soon revive the comedy concept at the Four Queens, the delay opens the door for a more encompassing question: "Is the Las Vegas market getting maxed out on comedy?"
      It depends on who you talk to, of course, but a slew of recent bookings that are bringing nationally known comedy headliners into Strip showrooms is beginning to put pressure on the club scene.
      "It seems like all of the clubs are still doing good numbers but it's getting very difficult to compete against the big rooms," said Winston O'Rourke, creative director at Catch A Rising Star inside the MGM Grand Hotel. "So many of the showrooms are starting to bring in comedy."
      Drew Carey, a one-time regular at the Comedy Stop at the Tropicana, has become a showroom-level comedian by virtue of the exposure he's received on his television sitcom. He'll fetch $50 a ticket when he opens a three-night run at Caesars Palace April 18.
      The MGM Grand has inked Carrot Top and Rodney Dangerfield for a series of showroom visits this year, Dana Carvey has joined Rita Rudner as a regular at the Sheraton Desert Inn, and the star rotation at Bally's includes George Carlin and Louie Anderson, the latter currently playing nightly through March 26.
      Bill Caron's National Artists Corp., based in Las Vegas, has added to the showroom laugh options by booking the likes of Jackie Mason, Steven Wright and Bobby Collins with top-notch ventriloquist Jeff Dunham returning with a new show March 31.
      "At this point there's too much comedy in town," said Steve Schirripa, entertainment director at the Riviera. "There's only so many comedy fans and the pie is being cut up way too much."
      Comedy clubs remain a far cheaper option than the showrooms with an average price of about $14 per person, and they remain the home of excellent if barely known talents on the brink of bigger things; witness the rise of Carey, Brett Butler and Pauly Shore.
      However, it appears that more people are choosing to spend more cash to see a recognizable name in the showrooms, and the big rooms benefit further by reduced production costs. There's never a need to hire a 17-piece orchestra to back a comic -- just make sure the microphone works.
      In addition to five nightly comedy clubs at the MGM, Riviera, Harrah's Las Vegas, the Maxim and Tropicana, the local scene is now home to extra nonshowroom mirth options. The Unknown Comic and others haunt the Holiday Inn Boardwalk, touring comics play The Beach nightclub on occasion and the Casino Royale across from The Mirage features local comics at 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
      Cork Proctor's Coast Comedy at the Gold Coast offers the likes of Fielding West and Carla Rea on Monday nights and the improvisational troupe Mutiny plays Boulder Station each Wednesday.
      Bob Kephart, who helps oversee the Comedy Stop at the Tropicana, planned to open the "Fun House Cabaret at the Four Queens" this month but recently backed out of the project. The hotel could end up staging the shows itself if a new outside producer isn't found.
      While there's no indication that an increasingly crowded market was a factor in Kephart's withdrawal, comedy club officials are surely taking note of the current comedy glut.
      "Only the strong will survive," claimed Schirripa, who stopped just short of saying one or more clubs could close if the trend continues. "I don't want to see anyone go, especially me, but somebody has to take a step in a different direction."
      He said more comic variety and themed shows offering lineups of gay and lesbian comics or X-rated practitioners have helped boost the bottom line at the Riviera, and he expects other clubs to follow suit as part of a creative survival program.
      "Things are changing," Schirripa said, "and I really think you have to step away from just having three guys with skinny ties telling airport jokes."
     
      Michael Paskevich's entertainment column appears Fridays and Sundays.