STEVEN BANKS: LIFE IN THE CENTER OF HIS WHIRLWIND

“Everyone, at some point in their lives, has stood in front of the mirror and pretended they were Al Jolson or Frank Sinatra or the Beatles or Michael Jackson,” noted Steven Banks. “You did it--I know you did. I did, and I’m still doing it.”

“Steven Banks’ Home Entertainment Center” (in its seventh month at the Chamber Theater in Studio City), is about “a person who knows how to procrastinate,” said the 31-year-old entertainer.

It starts out in the morning; he’s late for work. It’s time for diversionary tactics.

“So in the privacy of his home--his home entertainment center--he goes crazy,” Banks explained “He thinks he’s playing the piano at Cafe Carlyle, that he’s a rock star, a performance artist, a banjo player, Bob Dylan, Elvis. . . .

“The key to a one-man show is variety. You can’t have the audience know what’s coming next. So, boom , there’s the banjo; boom , there’s the bass; boom , a different costume; boom , cowboys and Indians. And we make sure everything’s very well hidden.

“So much of doing a show like this is keeping the surprise, changing gears: a fast song switching to a slow song, then back to the cookies (real ones he’s baking in a real oven), back to the door, back to the (neighbor’s attack) dog, then there’s another phone call.”

The whirlwind of energy, wit and unself-conscious silliness has attracted audiences of all ages to the small theater, although Banks acknowledged: “My other shows (“Sid and Ernie,” “Split Personalities”) have been more widely appealing. This is not (geared) for a specific audience. I hate to say it depends on how hip they are--but it does . To a point. My high school teacher has come three times; it can’t just be courtesy. And he knew the references to the music.”

It isn’t always the case. Although Banks stressed that the show “is not one big in-joke,” he recalled with a wince a local drama critic who reviewed “Home Entertainment.” Referring to Banks’ jab at the 1969 rumor of Beatle Paul McCartney’s death, the critic wrote: “At one point, Banks says something about ‘Paul McCartney died, but he wasn’t dead.’ His satire falls completely flat. Only Steven Banks knows what he’s talking about.”

(Said the actor, with a smile: “I wrote him a nice letter and said, ‘For our generation, the rumor that Paul McCartney was dead was a big thing.’ ”)

And, in fact, the mortality of various rock heroes does play heavily in Banks’ musical patter.

“That fascination with death is part of the whole rock ‘n’ roll thing: ‘Live fast, die young and leave a good-looking corpse.’ ” His response is the black humor “Dead Rock-Star Song,” which remembers Marvin Gaye (who “got killed with a .44, so if you beat up your dad, do a good job and run out the door”); Elvis Presley (“who died at 42, and if you take drugs and eat junk, you’ll die too”), and Steven Banks (who “died at 109. He was the greatest rock ‘n’ roller of all time. Too bad nobody knew.”).

The joke is only partly self-mocking. Banks’ visions of grandeur took hold at an early age, when he’d disappear into the closet in his Glendale home with a vacuum cleaner, “and make like it was a space capsule. But music was always a great part of my life. I’m almost as much a musical comedy fan as I am a fan of rock ‘n’ roll.”

In high school, he acted in musicals (competing in the Southern California Drama Festival) and played in a rock band, teaching himself on a variety of instruments: drums, acoustic and electric guitar, piano, harmonica, banjo and recorder--most of which are utilized in “Home Entertainment.”

Although the show plays in a fast-paced, off-the-cuff style, it is completely scripted--which still allows Banks enough creative room to play. Often calling on props and costumes, he leaves himself open to impromptu inspiration.

“I like dressing up, putting on that stuff: When you’re wearing a mask, you can go out and be wild. . . . The other night, I had some extra time--the timer hadn’t gone off for the cookies--so I started flipping pens at the window. And it worked really well.” Banks smiled.

“Next week, it’ll be in the show.”