TELEVISIONGay Comedy Special: Lesbian comic Lea DeLaria,...

TELEVISION

Gay Comedy Special: Lesbian comic Lea DeLaria, who broke the TV talk-show barrier against openly gay comedic material with back-to-back appearances on “The Arsenio Hall Show,” will host “Out There,” a one-hour gay and lesbian comedy and variety special airing on cable’s Comedy Central Dec. 3. Lined up so far are folk singer Phranc, actor David Drake, performance artist Marga Gomez and comedians Bob Smith, Suzanne Westenhoefer, Steven Moore and Scott Capurro.

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A ‘Guest’ for Letterman?: “Wait until he gets home one night and finds me waiting for him,” “Joe Dogs” Iannuzzi, a former mobster and author of “The Mafia Cookbook,” said of David Letterman after Iannuzzi was bumped from a “Late Show” cooking demonstration. CBS producers had decided that Iannuzzi’s appearance before a live audience might be dangerous. Iannuzzi, who was quoted by the New York Daily News, later said he was alluding in jest to an obsessed fan who has invaded Letterman’s home on several occasions.

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‘Quality’ Winners: Two canceled series, “I’ll Fly Away” and “Brooklyn Bridge,” along with NBC’s “Seinfeld,” were voted double winners in the annual Quality Awards from the national watchdog group Viewers for Quality Television. “I’ll Fly Away” was named best drama and star Regina Taylor best drama actress, while “Brooklyn Bridge” was named best comedy and star Marion Ross best comedy actress. “Seinfeld” won in the best comedy actor (Jerry Seinfeld) and supporting actress (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) categories. Other winners included Scott Bakula, who was named best drama actor for the canceled “Quantum Leap.”

POP/ROCK

Babs’ New Year’s Date: Barbra Streisand has reportedly agreed to give two New Year’s concerts at the new MGM Grand casino in Las Vegas for as much as $20 million. Streisand’s agent, Marty Erlichman, was “unreachable” Tuesday, but the Wall Street Journal reported that she has tentatively agreed to perform there Dec. 31 and Jan. 1, less than two weeks after the $1-billion casino and theme park opens. Industry experts say that Streisand, who rarely performs nowadays, could set a record for a single entertainer, depending on the gate and on how many people tune into the Jan. 1 show via pay-per-view television.

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Michael & Madonna on Tour: In what is being billed as the biggest entertainment event ever to hit India, Michael Jackson will perform free at New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium Nov. 25. A spokesman said all profits from the show will go to the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, a charitable group set up in honor of India’s late prime minister, for projects to help children. . . . Meanwhile, Madonna, who has outraged some Christians by her use of religious symbols in her act, slipped into Israel’s occupied West Bank Monday for a brief pilgrimage to Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity, believed to be the birthplace of Jesus. Madonna, who was met in Bethlehem by an Israeli military escort, was to perform in Tel Aviv Tuesday.

MOVIES

Formidable Union: Two-time Academy Award winner Milos Forman (“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” “Amadeus”) will direct “Disclosure,” an upcoming film by “Jurassic Park” and “Rising Sun” author Michael Crichton. The Warner Bros. film, based on Crichton’s soon-to-be-published novel of the same name, deals with sexual harassment.

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It’s Not Burbank: Warner Bros.’ “Police Academy: Mission to Moscow” was scheduled to film at the Moscow airport Monday, but the violent Russian political upheaval got in the way, with 50 cast and crew members forced to take refuge in their hotel. “It’s rather interesting--certainly a little different from filming in Burbank,” producer Paul Maslansky said by telephone from his hotel room, where he said he could hear gunfire, helicopters and tanks. If the violence continues, filming may move to Budapest.

QUICK TAKES

Film star Robin Williams does his first TV acting stint since “Mork and Mindy” when he guest-stars in an episode of Barry Levinson’s “Homicide: Life on the Street” when the NBC series returns in mid-season. . . . Chevy Chase is suing Warner Bros., demanding about $4 million in compensation for movies he said were never made because of unacceptable scripts. The lawsuit alleges the studio didn’t send Chase as many acceptable scripts as his contract called for. . . . CBS has given the ax to a second fall series, “Angel Falls,” the low-rated Thursday night soap opera that starred Chelsea Field, James Brolin, Peggy Lipton and Kim Cattrall. The network had earlier canceled “The Trouble With Larry,” also for poor ratings.