Losing Her Low Profile : Comic Cathy Ladman Adds Some Impressive Gigs to List of Credits

When Cathy Ladman last performed in Orange County 11 months ago, at the Laff Stop in Newport Beach, probably the most striking thing about her was the disparity between her high quality (she’s an animated, engaging monologuist with first-rate observational material) and her low profile (even many comedy aficionados were unfamiliar with her, as she had only a few, minor credits).

Having dramatically narrowed that gap, she returns to the Laff Stop for a 5-day stint this week, starting Wednesday, and in a stylistically perfect pairing, she will also open for Jay Leno on Sunday at Anaheim’s Celebrity Theatre.

Since September alone, Ladman has added two substantial entries to her resume:

-- She performed on this year’s “HBO Young Comedians Special,” a much-coveted credit, not only because of the exposure provided by repeated airings, but also because of the special’s track record: Over the years it has introduced such comics as Leno, Elayne Boosler, Robin Williams and Steven Wright.

-- She is featured--along with Diane Ford and Paula Poundstone--on “Women of the Night,” a new comedy album distributed by A&M; Records.

Other notable career advances since her last foray in Orange County have included multiple appearances on the TV talk shows “Wil Shriner” and “The Late Show”; working with joining Tom Hanks and some other comics on an “Oprah Winfrey” program devoted to stand-up comedy; two engagements at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, and a rave review last month from the Boston Globe, which concluded: “Seldom have I been so sorry to see a set end--I could have listened to Ladman for hours.”

You might figure that after 7 years in the funny business, Ladman would be pretty pleased and excited by these developments. Well, she is.

But, characteristically, she is much less interested in how far her career has traveled than in where it’s going next. And she doesn’t perceive her string of recent accomplishments as any kind of major breakthrough. “I don’t see it that way, no,” she said between bites of designer pizza at a ritzy West Hollywood restaurant. “Because if I look at myself from the beginning of my career, I’ve always been growing, every year. I’ve never stagnated really for a long period of time.”

Isn’t it different, though, when you are involved in such projects as an HBO special and a major-label album? Aren’t these more tangible?

“Yes, but tangible on a different level,” replied Ladman, 33. “I mean, when I was a young performer and I broke through to the major showcase clubs in New York--as opposed to the lesser ones--that was tangible to me then. When I started working at the Comedy Store regularly, that was tangible. When I was signed by (top comedy talent agency) Spotlight, that was tangible. So, it’s all relative to where you are.”

In any case, Ladman believes that she has reached a huge fork in her career path and is unsure which direction to take. One of her more imminent “big decisions”: selecting a manager (remarkably, she has come this far without one).

She wants to scale back her road work significantly because (a) she thinks the ideal next move would be a role in a TV series, so she needs to stay in town to attend auditions and meetings; (b) “I want to write more too. I want to stay home and write.”; and (c) like many veteran comics, she hates the road.

That is all well and good, except that road work can be quite lucrative, whereas stand-up gigs in Hollywood and 50 cents will get you a cup of coffee.

Which introduces a whole new set of decisions to make--and priorities to juggle--regarding ways to afford staying off the road. “For instance, ‘The Gong Show’ wants to use me as a celebrity judge,” she said. “I don’t know. It’s very easy money; I can stay in town, make that money in an afternoon. . . .

“But what makes it hard is I feel like, ‘Gee, I don’t want to be doing game shows; I don’t want that kind of career.’ I believe that I have a good career and that I’m going to have a fabulous career.

“I know I’m in the right business, I know I’m doing the right thing. But there are areas of the business which I’m ignorant about. I don’t know TV and film, I don’t know the way to do things. And that’s where I think a manager will be helpful to me.”

Meanwhile, she has already demonstrated in various situations that she is very comfortable on TV, and apparently she is one of those people that the camera loves.

She is definitely someone that comedy club audiences love. Avoiding both the self-deprecating whines and the shrill salvos that typify many female comics, Ladman is enormously likable on stage as she runs through a freewheeling hodgepodge of everyday observations. She doesn’t venture too far into left field or esoteric territory. But like Leno and Jerry Seinfeld, she can turn unexceptional topics into exceptional bits through fine writing.

She can do short, hit-and run lines on, say, being a native New Yorker (“I have a slight accent--I sound like traffic”) or her objection to the idea of open marriage (“I get upset when guys I don’t know see other women”). Among her more striking longer segments are one on substitute teaching (something she in fact did) and an especially well-written one about a misunderstanding at the Canadian border.

There’s a healthy dose of family material. Acknowledging, for instance, that she has a “typical Jewish mother,” Ladman recalls the time her mom was sent home from jury duty because “she insisted she was guilty.”

“I’m in this because I love making people laugh,” Ladman said. “I’d love to achieve fame and fortune. That would be nice. But that’s not why I decided to do this. I love being funny, I love talking, I love being the center of attention. That’s what really turns me on. Whatever else comes out of this is a fringe benefit.”

Cathy Ladman will perform Wednesday through Sunday at the Laff Stop, 2122 S.E. Bristol St., Newport Beach. Show times: 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday; 8, 10 and 11:45 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Tickets: $6-$8. Information: (714) 852-8762.

Ladman will also open for Jay Leno Sunday at the Celebrity Theatre, 201 E. Broadway, Anaheim. Show time: 7:30 p.m. Tickets: $22.50. Information: (714) 999-9536.