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George Wallace offers a few tips for beginning comics

Though he's not officially part of the Las Vegas Comedy Festival, George Wallace is here to serve as a success model for aspiring stand-up comedians.

He's headlining the Lance Burton Theatre at the Monte Carlo through Saturday, having worked his way up without the career shortcut of TV sitcom fame -- even if Jerry Seinfeld is one of his best friends.

"I might be in pretty good shape. Enough people know me when we're walking down the street to satisfy my little ego," he says. "Just enough people wave at me not to bother me, as opposed to when (Seinfeld) walks out of a door and paparazzi are everywhere."

The 26-year comedy veteran considers his training ground to have been the five years (1982-87) he spent as Tom Jones' opening act.

"My first big gig was at Caesars Palace," Wallace recalls. "My ultimate goal in show business was to work Las Vegas. I got there the first year I started and almost quit, because I'd reached my goal.

"I walked outside and the fountains were going, and I said, `I'm going to go back to advertising.' Then I walked back through the door and said, `Not.' "

Here are his other tips for stand-up hopefuls:.

• The commencement address: "Make sure you enjoy your life. When you love what you're doing, you don't have a job. When I wake up, I'm ready to go to work."

• Stick with it: "They say it takes seven years before you know who you are. Before you're comfortable onstage, before your attitude is, `I don't (care) whether they laugh at the jokes or not, I know this is funny and I'm gonna do it.' "

• Start out in the big city: "(In New York City), we used to go onstage almost every night. Sometimes seven times a night. Why is it a New York comedian seems to be ahead of everybody else? That's why. When you get offstage, you go to another club."

• Don't forget your worst night: "No matter how bad I bomb it will never be that bad, my friend. ... Whatever I'm doing, I know I'm doing a better job than I was doing that night."

• And remember: "You learn something every time you go onstage. You learn something every time you watch another comedian, whether that comedian is funny or not."

MIKE WEATHERFORD
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George Wallace