THE PROP GUY : Bruce Baum Believes in Laughs by Any Means Necessary, Including Mechanical Monkeys

Bruce (Babyman) Baum, one of the best known and most inventive prop comics in the business, has heard the rap against comedians who use mere objects to generate laughs.

“I think a lot of people, if a prop is involved, consider it below (regular) stand-up. And I do both, so I’m talking on both sides here,” Baum says. “I think if you can pick an object up and get a laugh with it, there’s nothing wrong with that. To have the attitude that that’s below you deprives the cosmos of the opportunity to laugh at that thought.”

The bottom line, as Baum sees prop comedy, is that “it’s got to be smart”--there has to be a thought or parody behind it.

So what’s the comic with the trademark walrus mustache got in his bag of tricks these days?

How about his “series of celebrity appliance heads” featuring the Sinead O’Connor Power Sander and the Linda Blair Simonizer.

“Let’s see, what else?” says Baum in a phone interview from his office at “America’s Funniest People,” where he’s the resident comedy inventor, Mr. Bruce. “I’ve got a shoe called the Broiler. You stick meat into the patented tray and the Broiler uses the heat of your feet to cook the meat.”

And let’s don’t forget Detergent Gum, “so when you have one little sock to do, there’s no sense in doing the whole laundry. You stick (the gum) in your mouth until it lathers up, then you put your sock in. It not only cleans your sock but leaves your mouth minty fresh.

“As a matter of fact, four out of five dentists recommend detergent gum for their patients who chew detergent.”

Baum, who’s headlining at his namesake club, Bruce Baum’s Comedy Crib in Fullerton, tonight through Sunday, says he’ll be working out some new material for a spot he’s doing on “Comic Strip Live” scheduled to air Dec. 26.

“I used to use props almost exclusively,” Baum says. “Now, in the course of my act, I’d say it’s split 50-50. There is a lot more stand-up than there used to be.”

Of course, even the “regular” stand-up portion of his act has that distinct Baum touch:

“I don’t know what was wrong with my television last night,” Baum says, “but on the same station I was getting C-Span and the Home Shopping Network and I actually bought a congressman.”

And there’s his classic poetry bit, in which he dons hipster glasses and snaps his fingers beatnik style: “Frozen pond. Stupid frog. Splat.”

Comedy was a natural career choice for the San Fernando Valley native. “I wanted to get a job where I wouldn’t have to change my clothes when I went to work,” he says.

Counting his “puppy years,” Baum has been doing stand-up since 1973, when he started “dabbling” in comedy while majoring in political science at UC Davis. He continued doing comedy part-time after moving back to Los Angeles to earn a master’s degree in filmmaking at UCLA.

Props have been a part of his act since the beginning.

“I was trying to do the show I’d want to go to see at that time,” says Baum, who describes his wacky comedy style as being like “someone shoved a three-ring circus down my throat.”

One of his early bits involved a little mechani cal monkey. “We used to do a tune together, ‘Up the Lazy River,’ ” Baum recalls. “We practiced for hours. It depended on how good the batteries were.” The monkey clapped cymbals together and when Baum hit him on the head, he chirped. “That was for his solo,” says Baum.

One classic bit Baum still does in his act is scraping and banging “ordinary shopping bags” against the microphone to re-create some classic rock and roll: “I can make them sound like a nine-piece drum set,” he boasts.

Baum’s first big break came in 1978 when he became one of the regular comics on “Make Me Laugh,” the game show that pitted comics against contestants trying not to laugh. It was around that time that Baum, a regular at the Comedy Store, gave birth to his signature super-hero spoof, the diaper-wearing Babyman. (“Babyman can taste trouble in the air; he’s got very sensitive taste buds.”)

“I was just trying to think of something that would get a big laugh,” Baum recalls. The first night he did it on stage, “it got such a big laugh I ended up working it into a piece.”

Good news for Babyman fans: Baum says his movie “The Adventures of Babyman” is finally finished.

Years in the making--Baum filmed it on weekends--the movie features Bob Saget, Garry Shandling, Robert Wuhl and other comedy pals. Bobby Slayton plays the main villain, the evil Dr. More. (“He always wants more.”)

Here’s the plot, according to writer-director Baum: “Babyman is created during an accident in a genetic lab, but soon thereafter there is an anti-Babyman.”

Now that Superman is dead, Baum says, the timing for his movie couldn’t be better. “The torch will have to be passed.”

Baum says he has both a 78-minute theatrical cut and a 54-minute cable version. And although he no longer does Babyman in his act, he says he may revive the character “once the film gets some play.”

Of course, Baum says, “I’ve got to get down to diaper weight.”

Contrary to his wacky on-stage image, Baum lives a traditional suburban lifestyle in Thousand Oaks, where he coaches his son’s baseball and basketball teams and where his wife of 14 years coaches their daughter’s softball and basketball teams.

So where do all his offbeat comedy ideas come from?

“You just kind of try to keep thinking,” Baum says. “You sit down and let your mind wander. Sometimes--especially at a computer--you just start typing. Some days it just flows; some days it’s all just tainted water.

“I try to ingest--and I mean that in a positive way--as much as I can, (including) magazines to the point where people say, ‘What in heck are you reading that magazine for?’ Those are the magazines I want to read--’Farm and Ranch,’ ‘The Birds of Nevada.’ That’s the planting time. You plant that and harvest your ideas later. It’s kind of like you’re farming your mind.”