COMEDY REVIEW : Wolfson Slides and Scores at the Laff Stop With Silly Scenarios

These are the times that try comics’ souls.

The bellowing drunk and the would-be wit lurk, ready to send the most carefully constructed set teetering into anarchy. One particularly belligerent fellow struck Monday night at the Laff Stop, doing his best to undermine the modest efforts of headliner Carl Wolfson.

Cajoling, begging and pointed sarcasm all failed to deter the main offender, so Wolfson (at the club for just one night) plugged gamely along. While the middle stretch of his set was robbed of much of its momentum, the comic managed to salvage a strong ending with his set of crowd-pleasing slides, which graft famous faces onto absurd scenarios.

There’s George Bush, sending an opponent toward the turnbuckles in Wrestlemania VI. Ronald Reagan is trying out his new career as a Dancing Raisin. And, in a personal favorite, the faces of Richard Nixon and Nancy Reagan are superimposed onto two amorous polar bears.

Silly? You bet. Purists might scoff at the reliance on props, and the newscast-style commentary is definitely reminiscent of “Weekend Update” on “Saturday Night Live.” But the bit managed some strong reactive laughs and ended the set on an up note.

The rest of Wolfson’s material traverses standard stand-up terrain, with a few nice laughs sprinkled among the more routine bits. Wolfson scored in telling about his new 76-year-old stepfather, who insists on telling his comedian stepson bad jokes over the phone, in a laconic Georgia drawl.

Wolfson also tried more topical jokes than most comics who stop off in the county. Much of it was refreshingly current; he even managed a couple of references to the Roseanne Barr “Star-Spangled Banner” debacle. To Wolfson’s mind, the incident brings new meaning to the cliche “It ain’t over till the fat lady sings.”

And there was a bit on the suicide machine that recently raised controversy. “That’s like a great gift idea, isn’t it?” Wolfson mused. “I’m gonna get one for my mother-in-law.”

But a foray into more political territory was quickly abandoned after jabs at Bush and Dan Quayle were met with silence and even outright derision. “Oh, I forgot,” Wolfson said, shrugging. “This is Orange County.”