COMEDY REVIEW : Laughs Stay Within Comfort Zone : Headliners: It’s rare for two comics to headline a show, but Rick Corso and Jerry Miner prove it can be funny.

It’s not a bad idea, though it is rare, something to do with clashing egos and costing too much. But having two headliners instead of just one worked well Tuesday night at the Improv in Pacific Beach.

Los Angeles-based friends Rick Corso, who won the 1989 San Diego Laff-Off contest, and Jerry Miner, who won the 1990 version, were paired for the evening. They put on 70 minutes of good entertainment, but neither of the comedy veterans reached any new heights, preferring instead to stay in a comfort zone--not hilarious but not embarrassing, either.

Corso went first and did 25 minutes, and Miner finished up with 45 minutes. They will alternate shifts for the rest of the booking, which runs through Sunday.

Corso, 31, is an engaging comedian who started off by talking about himself, which effectively pulled in the audience of 255 people. He wasted no time setting the tone of his humor, using his Italian heritage and his hefty nose as the hooks.

“All my pullover shirts have stretch marks. . . . But no one ever asks me to do cocaine with them.”

“Italian guys are big tippers. Italian guys will tip at a funeral. ‘Say, can you get me up front by the body somewhere? I wanna see if he’s wearing that suit I gave him.’ ”

Corso does a fair Sinatra impression, too. (Not to be mistaken for an imitation. Fake furs, he said, are imitations.) “I love Frank Sinatra. I’m from New Jersey. It’s a state law there.”

Corso got into comedy about eight years ago, on a dare, after graduating from Rutgers and working as a civil engineer for a year. These days, he spends about 35-40 weeks on the road, working clubs and Las Vegas while also doing some TV and commercials.

Throughout Corso’s 25-minute set, he kept up a good pace and level of humor, with little down time; he was able to find what the crowd wanted. His material was solid, too, covering airports, VCRs, call-waiting, religion (a friend recently coverted from Catholicism to Episcopalian. “What’s that? Catholic Lite?”) and McDonald’s shakes.

Miner also did a good job of generating laughs, but his set suffered from lapses in the middle before finishing strong. At one point he looked as if he needed a road map to find his way to the next joke.

Wearing a sports coat and tie, the 29-year-old comic covered most of the usual topics, including dating, being single, cars, sporting events (“We attend sporting events, not games”) and fitness (“If I ever have to run 26 miles, it’s because I’m leaving the scene of a felony.”) He also touched on some not-so-common topics.

“I have trouble building a fire. You could give me welding gear and set me loose in a wheat field and I couldn’t start a fire.”

Miner has been in comedy since 1984 and has appeared on “An Evening at the Improv,” written jokes for Jay Leno and headlined at clubs throughout the United States.

And, like Leno, he is at home giving his thoughts on less-than-startling subjects, including the lowly penny, which, he noted, are now given away free on most store counters.

“The government doesn’t even think it’s part of the money family.”

Jerry Miner and Rick Corso will continue at the Improv, 832 Garnet Ave., Pacific Beach, through Sunday. Opening act is Jim Hope. For reservations or show times, call 483-4520.