‘Motorcycle Man’ Revs Up, Comes Up a Winner : Comedy: ‘Chicago Steve’ Barkley’s funny noises earned him first prize on ‘America’s Funniest People.’ He will open at the Laff Stop on Wednesday.

Just for fun a few months ago, comedian “Chicago Steve” Barkley drove from his home in Pebble Beach to Stanford University where, he heard, a crew for ABC’s “America’s Funniest People” had set up outside the student union, looking for anyone who wanted to do something funny for the camera.

Barkley--an Illinois native whose style brings to mind his boyhood idol, Jonathan Winters--ended up doing funny motorcycle noises, a bit he used to do in his act back when he was starting out in the mid-’70s. And then, he says, he completely forgot about the whole thing--until two weeks ago when he got a call from “America’s Funniest People” inviting him down to the finals in Los Angeles.

The upshot: The show’s studio audience voted Barkley’s videotaped motorcycle noises the funniest bit of the bunch, thus earning him the $10,000 first prize. “This was a big career move for me,” Barkley said with a laugh last week. “I beat out a 4-year-old kid who roped a toy horse.”

Barkley, who opens at the Laff Stop in Newport Beach Wednesday, said he had also been up against two comics from Chico who did an impression of David Letterman and Letterman’s musical sidekick Paul Shaffer, and a New York comic who did a bit with puppets.

“They referred to my character on the show as ‘Motorcycle Man,’ ” Barkley said. “They said, ‘There’s Neanderthal Man, Cro-Magnon Man and now there’s Motorcycle Man!’ ”

The bit--tentatively scheduled for broadcast on Feb. 17, and to be dusted off by Barkley at the Laff Stop this week--begins with his asking, “Did you ever notice how motorcycles sound just like their brand names? For instance, there’s Yamaha: YAAAAAAAA-MAAAAAAAA-HA-HA HA HA HA!” Then, taking on an Oriental-sounding high-pitched squeal, he said: “Then there’s Suzuki: Soooooo-zuuuuuuu-keeeeee!

“Sometimes you’ll miss the Hondas. They’re the quietest motorcycles made. Sometimes they’ll sneak right by you, they’re so quiet: Hunnnnnnnnnnnnnn-dah!”

Barkley said he came up with the bit shortly after he began showing up at a Monterey bar on amateur nights. At the time, he was working mornings as a garbage man in Pacific Grove.

Did he ever imagine that the bit would earn him $10,000? “Not in a million years,” he answered.

“Chicago Steve” Barkley performs Wednesday through Sunday at the Laff Stop, 2122 S.E. Bristol, Newport Beach. Tickets: $7 to $10. Information: (714) 852-8762.