COMEDY REVIEW : Jeff Cesario Uses Familiar Beat to Drum Up Laughs

There are times during Jeff Cesario’s act when his former career as a jazz drummer comes to mind--some of his brittle observations have a staccato grace that’s a little like a solo when it all mixes just right.

Cesario found a solid tempo during much of his Tuesday show at the Improv in Irvine, where he performs until Sunday, and at times climbed above it. But, like a musician who goes over familiar territory and sometimes settles for less, he also downshifted into more uninspired fare.

At his best, the 36-year-old comic assumes the presence of a mild grouser, sort of a nervous Everyman taking a look at the weird and baffling facets of the commonplace. He’s annoyed by stuff, or bemused, or both.

When his commentary clicks, it’s because the audience reacts from awareness--like many other comics who cover this terrain, it’s shared experience and the jolt of acknowledgement that gets them tittering. On Tuesday, Cesario summoned an empathic rhythm in various areas, from our lack of common sense to society’s reliance on technology and instant gratification.

He works hard to get us involved. His reflections are punctuated by more than the usual body movement and comedian’s arsenal of faces and voices. Cesario has an actorly touch that helps bring the gags into focus, although toward the end of his set much of the antics were redundant and overused.

Wearing a Green Bay Packers T-shirt (he’s from Wisconsin), Cesario prowled around the stage and wondered why there’s so little logic in everything, even supermarkets. Wouldn’t it be better if they arranged the aisles to match our real needs? In Aisle 2, for instance, there could be “ice cream, candy and . . . sweat pants.” In aisle three, “dirty magazines, cheap wine and . . . condoms.”

Besides the lack of order sabotaging our lives, Cesario sees menance and confusion in technology. He marveled at computers and the 10-year-old kids who master them. He is especially impressed by the youngsters who hack into our national defense system, and compares them to himself. Computers? Forget it--at 10, Cesario was stumped by the Slinky. He mimicked that over-ambitious spring going down a stair and tried to figure it out: “Is it remote control or what?”

He mused about deer always getting hit by cars and speculated that they see fellow deer strapped to hunters’ cars and figure it’s fast transportation. And if there are deer-crossing signs, shouldn’t there be skunk-crossing signs as well? Cesario, as a skunk with a Brooklyn accent: “Hey, how many of us gotta die before we get one of those things? Who d’ya gotta know?”

Cesario also was a newspaper sportswriter for a time and much of his comedy reputation comes from sports-oriented bits. But some of them didn’t seem fresh (he’s been circulating his lines on hockey violence and the styles of announcers for a while now) and underscored an unevenness reflected in other parts of his set.

Many of the verbal doodles on being Italian were too typical, and the airplane material was limited (does just about every comic have to include flying in their act?). The political humor also was hit and miss.

One of the hits, though, was when he described the difference between Democrats and Republicans: “Democrats look at a (partially filled) glass of water and say it’s half-full. Republicans look at a glass of water and say, ‘Who drank the rest of my water? It’s MINE!”

That seemed to get an uneasy laugh from the Irvine crowd. Wonder why?

Jeff Cesario, Jeff Jena and Bob Kubota play today at 8:30 and 10:30 p.m., Saturday at 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. and Sunday at 8:30 p.m. at the Improv, 4255 Campus Drive, Irvine. Tickets: $7 and $10. Information: (714) 854-5455.