COMEDY : FUNNY FINGERS : Paula Dunn Brings Comedy to Those Who Cannot Hear It

Stand-up comics usually aren’t too willing to share the stage. But they make an exception for Paula Dunn.

Every three months or so, the Santa Ana woman takes a piece of the spotlight at the Laff Stop in Newport Beach and interprets the show into sign language for the hearing impaired. Her next show is Sunday, Aug. 5.

It can be as much a performance for Dunn as it is for the comic. Whatever the comedian conveys with vocal inflection has to be delivered by Dunn with facial expressions and body language. Otherwise, she says, “it would be like just reading the information.

“You have to take on the characteristics of the people you’re signing for, as much as you can,” Dunn says. “I have a lot of fun with it. I don’t stay strictly in an interpreter role.”

Comedians have been more than generous in sharing the stage with Dunn. In fact, she says, “a lot of them play off me and use me, so that makes it hysterical for the deaf audience.”

The need to use interpreters to communicate with hearing people--most of whom don’t know sign language--can become frustrating for the hearing impaired, Dunn explains, so “when the interpreter gets to be the butt of some of the jokes, they love it.”

Dunn’s shows are organized by Laff Stop Manager Janis Taylor, along with the Southern California Recreation Assn. of the Deaf. The Aug. 5 bill at the Laff Stop features Jeff Shilling and Dave Wilson, and there’ll be a guest set by Kathy Buckley, a comic who is herself hearing impaired.

As always, the show will open to hearing audiences as well, and Laff Stop Manager Janis Taylor says they often enjoy it as much as the hearing-impaired crowd: “Everybody feels like they’ve gotten a bonus.”

What

A special comedy show for the hearing impaired, with Jeff Shilling, Dave Wilson, Kathy Buckley and Paula Dunn.

When

Sunday, Aug. 5, 8:30 p.m.

Where

The Laff Stop, 2122 S.E. Bristol St., Newport Beach.

Whereabouts

From the Corona del Mar Freeway, take the Irvine Boulevard/Campus Drive exit and go south one block to Bristol Street.

Wherewithal

$7.

Where to call

(714) 852-8762.