ON SATURDAY NIGHT, ‘LIVE’ FROM NEWPORT BEACH . . .

Comedy at the Laff Stop is no longer just a nightclub experience. Routines from the Newport Beach comedy club now can be seen on “Live From the Laff Stop,” a new weekly television series showcasing some of the club’s comedians.

The 30-minute program, which debuted July 6 and airs Saturdays at midnight on KDOC (Channel 56), features performances by three different stand-up comedians each week. Interspersed among the comics’ routines are brief sketches (“wrap-arounds” in TV parlance) written and performed by host-comedian Dailey Pike and shot at various locations throughout Orange County. Also adding to the program’s zany, fast-paced spirit are two- or three-second snippets of comedy drawn from classics in KDOC’s film library.

“I don’t want the show to be predictable, except for having the three comedians on each week,” explained Brian Lockwood, 26, the program’s producer-director. “I want people to think, ‘Well, there are always comedians, but what’s this crazy Dailey Pike going to do next?’ ”

In previous episodes, Lockwood and Pike, 34, have been anything but predictable: One show opened with Pike, rod and reel in hand, discussing the joys of fishing. As the camera pulled away, it revealed that Pike’s fishing hole was a sewage pond. He closed that show walking away from the pond whistling the theme from “The Andy Griffith Show.” Then there was a segment of “Health Tips With Dr. Carl Cardiac,” in which Pike instructed viewers on calisthenics and breathing exercises--while smoking a cigarette.

The idea for a show featuring Laff Stop performers came from club co-owners Steve Schwartz and Michael Callie. They pitched it to KDOC’s Peri Corso, who as account executive at the Anaheim station oversees programming and commercial sales. After KDOC’s management approved the show, a partnership was formed with Schwartz and Callie “in case we eventually go into syndication,” said Corso, who serves as the show’s associate producer.

Whether the show is syndicated depends largely on the success of its current trial run. (The show is now scheduled to run through September, but it may be extended, Lockwood said.)

Lockwood said that when he was assigned to the project, the idea was to simply shoot and edit a standard Laff Stop performance: two comedians doing their acts, with a third comic as an emcee. Lockwood decided to scrap the original format.

“I felt that wouldn’t be enough, really, to put together a good comedy show,” Lockwood explained. “So what we said is, ‘Let’s pick a comedian, have him do some wrap-arounds to introduce the other comics’ routines, and see how that works.’ ”

It didn’t work very well with the comic who was originally chosen to do the wrap-arounds, Lockwood said. He “wasn’t dynamic enough for me, I didn’t feel he had the spontaneity we needed, and he required quite a lot of direction, which I didn’t want to have to give. I just let the situation ride. . . . But then I saw Dailey do his routine.”

Pike, who lives in North Hollywood, boasts considerable experience both in comedy clubs (such key Southland spots as The Comedy Store and The Comedy and Magic Club) and on television (including “Merv Griffin,” “Make Me Laugh” and various cable programs).

He performs his stand-up routine at rapid-fire tempo, spicing it with improvised patter and such throw-away lines as: “It’s my girlfriend Sybil--she’s just not herself,” or “ . . . Well, to make a long story short--the end!” (About Pike’s comedy style, KDOC’s Corso said: “He reminds me of Robin Williams: He’s so spontaneous and witty.”)

While it was little more than happenstance that Pike became the host of “Live From the Laff Stop,” his improvisational bent and writing ability complement the show. The program offers an alternative to the stand-up shows offered on TV, such as “An Evening From the Improv” and “The Other Cafe’s Comedy Showcase.”

Pike is pleased with the latitude he’s allowed in writing the show’s sketches and characters. Talking even faster than he does on stage, Pike said: “They (the people at KDOC) say, ‘We’re shooting Monday’ and I say, ‘OK, I’ll have three shows ready,’ and I just come up with the scripts. And I can literally do anything I want. We just filmed one called ‘Jambo’--a take-off on ‘Rambo’--who’s a guy that loves jam. The story involves a kid who can tell the world’s funniest joke to promote world peace, except he’s kidnaped. . . .”