Comic Seinfeld Plans One Night Stand-Up

Comedian Jerry Seinfeld--voted the Best Male Comedy Club Stand-Up in this year’s American Comedy Awards--returns to Orange County for a one-night engagement Wednesday at the Laff Stop in Newport Beach.

One of the best and most prolific writers in stand-up, Seinfeld is one of the few comics who regularly appears on both “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” and “Late Night With David Letterman.” In fact, he was on “Letterman” as recently as Friday.

His ability to turn out new jokes enables him to make frequent visits to these programs without repeating material on either show. Similarly, when performing in clubs and other venues, he can perform a strong hourlong set, then come back the next night--or next show--with an equally strong hour of completely different stuff.

Seinfeld began performing stand-up in 1976 and is now considered by many comedy observers to be the consummate club comic. He is certainly the highest paid--for his increasingly rare weeklong stands he has commanded staggering five-figure paychecks.

He now appears to be poised in the position Jay Leno held before Leno clicked big time and is starting to follow a similar path: Seinfeld’s profile has become sufficiently high--and drawing power sufficiently potent--that in many parts of the country he is bypassing clubs altogether to headline large theaters and concert halls. He is even slated to perform at this year’s Florida-Georgia football game in Jacksonville, Fla., where the audience is expected to be about 70,000.

His Orange County appearance Wednesday will be in the considerably cozier confines of the 299-seat Laff Stop.