COMEDY REVIEW : Don Ware Should Find Himself and Leave Cosby Country Behind

Don Ware is a good comedian caught in a bad place.

For many years, Ware has been dogged by comparisons to Bill Cosby, with similarities cited in everything from his appearance and build to his phrasing and easygoing delivery on stage.

Of course, as a comic, you could do a lot worse than remind people of Cosby. But when the similarity is so strong that it hampers your career--such as making it more difficult to get a “Tonight Show” booking--it is time to back off on Bill and do more Don.

Which is what Ware, an Orange County resident, has concentrated on in the last couple of years. And he seems to have succeeded, judging by his show Wednesday at the Laff Stop in Newport Beach.

Other than the pullover sweater and doing more material on kids than he used to (not surprising, since he and his wife had their first child in late ‘86), Ware pretty much sidestepped Cosby Country.

So, why is he caught in a bad place?

For all his performing pluses, he is not a strikingly innovative comic or even particularly striking. He is someone who should leap from telling jokes to acting them out in a TV series. His slow-burn charisma, his knack for playing characters of various ages and sexes and his ability to punch up his playlets with assorted sound effects all cry out for a major role in a sitcom.

Of course, given those abilities and the man who has ruled the sitcom roost for the past few years, that Cosby-esque thang might rear its ugly head at casting offices much the same way it has in stand-up circles.

One way around this might be a Don Ware cable special, evenly divided between sketch material and his best stand-up bits--which often are the same thing.

For example, Ware’s piece on visiting the dentist has long been a fixture of his act and would be a natural. It includes his wish that dentists would adopt a more honest approach (“We’re going to have to rip that out, and it’s gonna hurt like hell”) and his subtle teasing of their other credibility gaps (preparing a patient for X-rays, the doc promises the “radiation will cause no harm. However, I will be in the next room.”)

A moment later Ware became the high-speed drill, getting a big laugh that turned into a bigger, sustained one when the sound changed to duplicating the drill boring into a tooth. That whole piece is a keeper.

So is the segment on a couple who leave on a long car trip and only travel a few miles before the woman needs to use the bathroom--even though he used the generic observation that women go to the restroom in groups as a segue into this scene. But he elevated the scenario a notch or two by playing both the sweet-voiced woman who is really uncomfortable and the deep-voiced man who is really annoyed.

A special could also include the kind of topical bits Ware performed Wednesday, partly because that further separates him from Big Bill, who generally prefers to be apolitical on stage (as Ware once did).

Too bad none of these were particularly probing. Indeed, much of the humor centered on surname satire, from the inevitable poke at Dukakis (“Doesn’t that sound like a staph infection?”) to a less timely swipe at Bork, whose name hits Ware as an affliction that might strike if you had eaten too much Chinese food.

There were, however, a few things he probably shouldn’t do on a special, including one of the most overused jokes about cocaine (“OK, I smelled it one time”) and his extended piece on flatulence.

Of the (too) many comics working that topic, he has some of the better bits. Still, that is not something you would proudly put on a resume--or a cable special. Just as you probably wouldn’t end the special the way Ware closed Wednesday’s show. He simply told a handful of joke-jokes, not unlike the kind you would hear at the neighborhood bar--though if you were sitting next to the guy telling these, you might move to another stool.

It was curiously anti-climatic--an odd choice, especially considering all the strong bits he didn’t perform (including ones on skiing, going to Disneyland and other amusement parks, the absurdity of Lassie’s purported communication skills, etc.).

Memo to Don: There are many ways to further distance yourself from Cosby and continue forging your own identity. But closing your show with lousy saloon jokes is a good way for you to remain stuck in a bad place.

Ware continues at the Laff Stop through Sunday, sharing the stage tonight and Saturday with Kip Addotta, then returning to headliner status on Sunday.

The Laff Stop is at 2122 S.E. Bristol St., Newport Beach. Show times: 8:30 and 10:30 p.m. Friday; 8, 10 and 11:45 p.m. Saturday; 8:30 p.m. Sunday. Tickets: $6 to $10. Information: (714) 852-8762.