4 Comedians Ready for Tip-Off of the Twisted : Humor: Jett Matthews, Jimmy McGee, Dick Hardwick and Shang will share the Coach House stage tonight in San Juan.

Comedian Jett Matthews has a fairly good sense of who he is.

“I’m pretty much a pessimistic optimist,” Matthews says. “I think there will probably be a nuclear war, but not before Super Bowl Sunday.”

And, hopefully, not before the comedy show tonight at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano, where Matthews will appear on a bill with comedians Jimmy McGee, Dick Hardwick and Shang. The four run the gamut of the comedy spectrum. There’s Hardwick, who worked nine years at Disneyland, including five as the comic in the Golden Horseshoe Revue. The Fullerton resident talks a lot about his childhood in Indiana.

“Things are simpler in the Midwest,” he says. “You either drink or you don’t drink. Which makes choosing your religion a lot easier too. . . . It’s easy to tell a rich person in Indiana: They’ve got two cars jacked up in the front yard.”

Hardwick, who does the audience warm-ups for “The Munsters Today” and Fox’s “What a Dummy,” plays several musical instruments in his act, including the drums, harmonica and jew’s-harp. He is also known to “rap” the Miranda rights while moonwalking across the stage.

As a comedian, Hardwick says, his goal is to have the audience walk away saying, “Gee, that was a lot of fun--just like a ride at Disneyland!”

Then there’s Jimmy McGee, who grew up in a small town in Mississippi where he would often hang out in the streets watching the winos.

That experience inspired one of his best routines. With the stage lights dimmed and the sound of a jazz piano playing in the background, he takes on the character of one of those bleary-eyed winos whose best friend is a bottle of cheap wine.

In the routine, McGee’s wino recognizes a young friend who has just gotten out of jail. “See, what I tell you about messin’ with that cocaine?” McGee says to his friend. “It’s not good for you. It’s addictive.”

Speaking to his wine bottle, McGee says, “I can quit drinking you any time I want to.”

As he walks away, he drops the bottle. Then he picks up the unbroken bottle and, in a scolding tone, says: “Don’t you try that again.”

McGee, who has opened for the Temptations, Debbie Harry and Ray Charles, uses his wino character to talk about everything from current events to relationships.

“It’s a sad kind of statement on alcoholism, yet it’s still funny,” McGee says. “I think it makes you think and laugh at the same time.”

Shang, who has appeared on Showtime and recently guested on “A Laugh, a Tear,” a special on black American humor, describes his comedy as “bizarre, mixed with part reality.”

And just how bizarre and real is that?

“I talk about cannibalism and racism,” he said. “See, that’s what I mean: You go from the bizarre to what’s going on.”

Cannibals, according to Shang, love Domino’s Pizza--”not for the pizza, but for the delivery guy.”

Instead of the pizza being delivered in 30 minutes or less, he says, “in their minds, it’s ‘victims in 30 minutes or less.’ ”

As for racism, Shang says he believes that it’s going to end soon: “The way the ozone layer is breaking down, I think everybody’s going to be black.”

Jett Matthews, who has been a comedian for six years, is a “Cal State Fullerton dropout.”

“I studied political science, which means I can stand on any street corner in America and tell you the demographics of the ’72 election--for food.”

In his act, Matthews says, “I talk a little politics and a little rock ‘n’ roll--a little bit of everything. It’s a little bitter and a little stark. It’s what I do.”

How bitter?

“Just a tad, just a smidgen,” he says. “I don’t think everything’s all dark. I just think it’s something to be looked at and talked about. When people come to see a comedy show, I don’t think they should forget everything. At the same time, I don’t preach. It’s just my opinions.”

Such as?

“A lot of people don’t think there should be troops in Saudi Arabia,” Matthews says.

“I think it’s a good idea, because the more U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia the less Camaros on our highways. . . .

“Do you think Orange County people will like that?”

Matthews said he thinks most comics are insecure and do comedy because they’re trying to get something from the audience that they didn’t get at home when they were growing up.

Not him:

“I do comedy because I can’t stop the voices in my head.”

J ett Matthews, Jimmy McGee, Dick Hardwick and Shang appear tonight at 9 at the Coach House, 33157 Camino Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano. Tickets: $8. Information: (714) 496-8930.