COMEDY REVIEW : Crib Opens With Rattles and Pacifiers : Despite Sound Problems and Jabs From the Stage, Cozy Fullerton Club Makes Smooth Debut

If the proprietors of Bruce Baum’s Comedy Crib were hoping to catch some slack on opening night Wednesday, they didn’t get much--not from the comedians on stage, at least.

“Welcome to Dachau, everybody,” cracked middle act Terry Mulroy, as a loud and persistent hissing sound interrupted his set. When the intermittent noise returned during Bill Kirchenbauer’s routine, the evening’s headliner asked: “Does this building have gas?”

Kirchenbauer also offered his critique of the stage backdrop, with its bright and swirling colors. Staring at it for several seconds after he bounded on stage, he turned to the audience and said, “I guess this is what happens when a clown vomits.”

But seriously, folks, despite the mild jabs from the stage, the debut of Orange County’s newest comedy club was remarkably smooth. There was nothing like the small electrical fire that broke out on opening night at the nearby Brea Improv in 1990. Still, those darned hissing sounds had club employees scratching their heads and staring at the air conditioning ducts above. That minor wrinkle presumably will be ironed out.

Otherwise, the club proved a cozy and sympathetic space for comedy. The stage is set in a corner, putting each of the 290 seats relatively close to the performer. There are no pillars or other obstructions to sight-lines, and tables along the back wall of the triangular showroom are set on a raised tier.

That back wall separates the lounge from the showroom, giving patrons who arrive for the second show on weekends a place to wait (the bar is also open to the public, even for those who aren’t paying for admission to the showroom).

Also, the design keeps the din of drink blenders and other distracting bar and kitchen noises out of the showroom. That’s important because the acoustics are on the harsh side and extraneous sounds carry a bit too well in the relatively intimate room (the management will do well to keep heckling and crowd chatter to a minimum).

As for that stage backdrop--it is a little on the bright side, at least by the subdued standards of comedy venues. But it doesn’t prove too distracting and helps give the Comedy Crib a distinctive look.

So as a performing space, the club is, on balance, a success. Two big questions remain that can only be answered by time: Can a new club survive at a time when comedy venues nationwide are hurting because of the recession? And can the club attract top talent in a competitive booking environment?

The club will be trying to buck a national downward trend in comedy club attendance after the booming ‘80s. The drop--which has been reported as high as 60% for some chains--is widely attributed to both the economic recession and the proliferation of stand-up comedy on television.

Robert Hartman, general manager of Improv clubs in Brea and Irvine, estimated that his clubs are off 10% to 15% in attendance. “Like any business in Orange County, we’re feeling the recession,” he said. He added that he is expanding his bookings to include musical comedians and sketch comedy groups, in an attempt to compete with the saturation of stand-up comedy on television.

Hartman pronounced himself “incredibly amazed” that a new club would open in an Improv stronghold, given the state of the business. The Improv tends to build exclusive territorial relationships with its comics, which limits the pool of talent from which the Comedy Crib can draw (Hartman said such top-line comics as Ritch Shydner, Dennis Wolfberg, Judy Tenuta and Ellen DeGeneres would be unlikely to risk their regular relationship with the Improv chain to play the Comedy Crib).

In addition to Kirchenbauer, a star of the canceled ABC-TV series “Just the 10 of Us,” headliners scheduled so far include George Lopez, Rick Overton and John Mendoza--not a flashy lineup, but established club headliners all.

“I want to see to it that we have the best talent available,” said Baum, the club’s part-owner and namesake, and a popular comic who also serves as emcee this week. While he will not be heavily involved in the day-to-day operation of the club, Baum said he is helping to shape the overall booking strategy.

Baum insists that he is not looking to compete with the Improv; conversely, he believes that the presence of two comedy clubs will help “make comedy more of a choice for an evening’s entertainment in that area.”