COMEDY REVIEW : Bobby Collins Should Stand Up Stand-Up and Turn to Acting

It’s particularly timely--if not particularly revelatory--to point out that most comedians aspire to parlay their stand-up work into film and television roles, for better and worse.

Timely , because we’re in the midst of “pilot season”--that yearly audition frenzy when Los Angeles-based comics stay home--and others relocate there briefly--to showcase like crazy at comedy clubs in hopes of being cast in a new series, or hired for some other acting job.

Particularly timely , because the headliners at the Laff Stop and Improvisation this week neatly delineate the pros and cons of comedians gradually pursuing roles over jokes.

Allan Havey (who’s at the Irvine Improv through Sunday and has been discussed extensively in these pages) is easily one of the premier observational monologuists around, and it’s probably just a matter of time before television and film work lure him off club stages--which will definitely be stand-up’s loss.

On the other hand, Bobby Collins--who’s headlining at the Newport Beach Laff Stop through Sunday--may not be especially missed by the stand-up world if he focuses his attention on acting. That’s what he should do.

Collins is an unexceptional comedian in many ways, yet he seems uniquely talented to flourish in the world of broad sitcoms, physical-comedy features, or any other thespian thang that calls for entertaining, well-executed slapshtick.

For starters, he’s enormously likable, has charisma to burn and, for someone presenting himself as a New Yawk comic, he projects surprising vulnerability.

Collins has a very expressive, rubbery face and a long, lithe body--and will do anything with either to serve the joke. Often, in fact, a temporarily out-of-control limb or contorted facial expression was the joke.

His hero reportedly is Red Skelton, which makes sense, given this kind of physicality, and given how stale and anachronistic much of his act is. Bobby Collins will never be accused of operating anywhere near the cutting edge of comedy.

But he tells some nice stories. And, cultivating that endearing vulnerability of his, Collins tends to cast himself as the hapless hero in many of these tales.

Early in Wednesday’s show, for instance, he constructed an anecdotal piece about an airplane flight during which he drooled while asleep, bit his tongue when bumped by a stewardess and struggled to walk to the lavatory after his foot had fallen asleep.

It played funnier than it reads, partly because of Collins’ vocal and physical skills, and partly because his lovable-loser persona and self-effacing charm helped create considerable rooting interest.

He was the fall guy in plenty of other stories during his slight, 40-minute set, whether it was a short, simple account of getting pulled over by a cop or an extended yarn about his labyrinthine pursuit of a beautiful woman.

A bonus in that ill-fated seduction segment: it was fresh and distinctive, whereas much of Collins’ stuff is utterly standard stand-up.

Indeed, he covered so much generic ground (the differences between New York and Los Angeles, airports/flying, the appearance and tribulations of overzealous body-builders, even a brief foray into the out-of-sync sound tracks of certain monster movies) that he may deserve some congratulations for not roaming all the way into the Ultra-Generic Land with a Jack Nicholson impression.

Still, he made some odd choices, little things that were not only unfunny, but undermined his Everyman charisma, such as some mildly homophobic allusions.

Someone get this guy his own sitcom; he’ll probably be great-- and too busy to do much stand-up.

The Laff Stop is at 2122 S.E. Bristol, Newport Beach. Show times: 8, 10, 11:45 p.m. Saturday, 8:30 p.m. Sunday. Tickets: $6 to $9. Information: (714) 852-8762.