Joe Piscopo Gets a Workout on the Road : Comedy: The Saturday Night Live alumnus and muscleman brings his high-energy act to the Coach House--on his way, perhaps, to Saudi Arabia.

Comedian Joe Piscopo jokingly calls his lineup of Southern California show dates his “West Coast Middle-East Warm-Up Tour.”

The former “Saturday Night Live” cast member, who will perform Friday at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano, says the USO asked him to entertain American troops in Saudi Arabia in November, but then told him he would have to wait.

“They said, ‘It’s too volatile now,’ ” said Piscopo, adding that he didn’t want to do just a hand-shaking tour of front-line troops--”to say hi and then split. I think the soldiers deserve more than that.”

Last week, however, the USO told Piscopo he could perform for GIs in the Persian Gulf the third week of February--providing there’s no war.

“I want to go to Saudi,” said Piscopo, who also appeared at the Strand in Redondo Beach last weekend. “I copped out of the Vietnam War and always felt guilty. I felt, ‘Gee, I gotta do something.’ ”

The 39-year-old comedian escaped the draft in the late ‘60s, first as a college student (he was a broadcast management major) and then with a high draft-lottery number. It was while attending college in Jacksonville, Fla., that Piscopo, who used to crack up the kids in his old New Jersey neighborhood with his impressions, decided to become a performer.

In 1980, he began his four-year stint on “Saturday Night Live.” He has since been featured in three movies and four comedy specials, his most recent, on HBO, in November.

But it was his Miller Lite beer commercials that may be Piscopo’s biggest post-”SNL” claim to fame. Who can forget Python Piscopo (the wrestler), Helga the East German swimmer, Jumpin’ Joe the schoolyard basketballer or indestructible Coach Rhino?

“The exposure was great,” acknowledged Piscopo. While he is no longer under contract to the beer company, he said he retains one fringe benefit: “They still send me beer.”

Lately, Piscopo has been spending a lot of time on the road, accompanied by his fiancee Kimberly Driscoll, a 22-year-old model who was his 11-year-old son Joey’s baby-sitter when she was 13.

“It’s the ultimate lifestyle,” Piscopo said of touring. “You go into these towns and they appreciate you so much. I don’t know, it makes me feel young and I like the pressure of performance. But most of all is being your own man, of having the freedom. On stage, it’s your show and you just have fun with it.”

Piscopo’s show at the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles in 1987 was described by a Times’ reviewer as “pure energy . . . an act that is loud and fast, well lit and showy.”

“He’s exactly right,” Piscopo said. “I’m too modest to call myself the Bruce Springsteen of comedy, but I use Springsteen as an inspiration--because this guy, he doesn’t stop. He just keeps going. And that’s the way I like to see my performance going. That’s what these people are reaching into their pockets for. I really believe in working for your money.”

Impersonations, naturally, will make up a big portion of his show at the Coach House.

“Of course, I gotta do Sinatra. Everybody digs Sinatra,” said Piscopo, who attended Frank Sinatra’s recent 75th birthday bash.

He’ll also do his David Letterman (“That’s, like, in demand”), his “white-boy rap” and “a little bit of James Brown.”

Then there’s his parody of rocker David Lee Roth called “What Hath God Roth,” in which he sings the song, “Honey, I Wish I Was You So I Could Make Love to Me.” He’ll also play the sax and do a “fun bit” on the drums, with a cameo appearance by his fiancee. (“I play this rock ‘n’ roll number and she comes out and ‘revives’ me when I’m about to drop.”)

“It’s a show you won’t see anywhere,” said Piscopo, laughing: “I’m the Wayne Newton of comedy, babe.”

Piscopo also plans to show some videotape, including a piece he created for an HBO comedy special in which he flips through the TV channels and plays all the characters on screen--everyone from Larry King to Sam Donaldson to Ivana Trump.

He’ll even show off his latest Muscle Fitness magazine cover shot. “It’s such a bad shot of me, it’s worth five minutes of comedy,” he said.

Piscopo, who may be the most muscle-bound comedian in the business, is serious about staying in shape.

He said he originally began lifting weights 4 1/2 years ago so he would look good doing his Springsteen and Sylvester Stallone impressions for an ABC comedy special. But he didn’t start working out seriously until three years ago when he was involved in a losing custody battle over his son.

“To get through that I really hit the weights hot and heavy,” he said. “It’s better than drugs; it’s better than whining all the time: Just get into the gym and blast it out. It really works.”

Piscopo, who claims to be a “homebody,” lives in Rockland County, N.Y. But he visits Hollywood every couple of months to develop projects and is thinking of moving west. He figures it would be good for his career. “You have to schmooze,” he said.

Although he reads a lot of film scripts sent to him, he said he turns most of them down. “The stuff I’ve been offered isn’t up to snuff,” he said. Meantime, “I’m just hanging in, having fun, waiting for the good stuff.”

Far more important anyway, he said, is his son and his personal life.

“You have to understand my life and the kind of person I am,” said Piscopo, who said he plans to marry Driscoll within a year. “My life is so good right now. I’m no big star. I’m not just starting out. I’m at the level I want to be.”

People recognize him and ask for his autograph, he said, but they don’t go crazy.

“I don’t have an ego that needs that,” he said. “But you also have to realize your potential. I think I have the talent (for films). There’s more inside of me. But if I don’t get there, I’ve lived more of a life than I thought I would.”

He laughed: “I guess my goals were never that high. Hey man, it’s more than I ever thought I’d be doing. I thought I’d be in prison somewhere. I got suspended eight times from high school.”

But instead, Piscopo says, “I’m cruising through life. Everything’s great.”

* Joe Piscopo performs at 8 p.m. Friday at the Coach House, 33157 Camino Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano. Tickets: $23.50 Information: (714) 496-8930.