Celebrating The New Year With a Laugh : Comedy: Local clubs ring in 1991 with shows featuring top acts.

For those wanting to treat the end of 1990 and the start of 1991 as a laughing matter, several clubs and comedians will be doing their best to accommodate.

Comedy Nite, the Improv and the Comedy Store all have top talent lined up.

Comedy Nite is bringing in Dan Horn, a ventriloquist-comedian whose dummies range from a sassy girl with frizzy hair to a 91-year-old dirty old man. Opening for Horn will be Kat Simmons and Benny Ricardo.

The club, 2216 El Camino Real, Suite 104, Oceanside, is putting on an 8 p.m. show and a 10:30 show. The early show will cost $25 a person and include horns, balloons, noisemakers and a split of champagne for two. The later show is $35, but includes a lobster dinner as well. For reservations, call 757-2177.

In Pacific Beach, the Improv, 832 Garnet Ave., will present Rondell Sheridan, who made his first Tonight Show appearance in May and is a frequent guest on Fox’s “Comic Strip Live” and on MTV’s “Half Hour Comedy Hour.” Greg Otto and Bo Smithson will open.

The first show will be at 7:30 and cost $45, which includes dinner, dessert, VIP passes (good for free admission for two to a future show), tax and tips. The second show will be at 10 and costs $50. This package includes a fruit-and-cheese board, party favors, plenty of champagne at midnight, souvenir gifts and the same deal with the VIP passes.

The club will also be open New Year’s Day and feature Tommy Sledge, the 1940s gumshoe comic. He will perform through Jan. 6. Also on the bill are Jerry Swallow and Tom Martin. Reservations can be made by calling 483-4522.

At the Comedy Store, 916 Pearl in La Jolla, Gary Mule Deer will headline the evening, with Allen Stephan and Rick and Ruby as the opening acts. There will be one show at 9:30. Admission is $50, which includes a split of champagne. Reservations call 454-9176.

At Croce’s, for a $5 cover charge (no passes accepted), fans can hear six professional comics from 8 to 9:30. For $40, dinner and music can be had. For comedy or package information, call Croce’s at 233-6945 or 233-4355.

And Comedy Isle, which normally presents comedians five nights a week, will be given over to KIFM’s sixth Lites Out Jazz New Year’s Eve at the Catamaran and Bahia hotels and on boats cruising between them on Mission Bay.