COMEDY : Improv Takes Shot at Teen Market With Matinee by Regan

You asked for it. You got it.

For years, parents have been asking to bring their teen-age children to shows at the Irvine Improv. For years, nothing happened. But finally, the right comic and the right managers got together, and on Saturday, the club will offer an afternoon of comedy for teens. And it won’t be some watered-down, make-it-simple-for-teens show.

To qualify, you must be at least 13. And you don’t need to bring your parents. (Nor do adults need to bring a teen-ager to get in.)

Brian Regan, who is headlining at the club through Sunday, has done this kind of thing before, but mostly on the East Coast. The results have been good, he said.

“The afternoon concept started because I got kind of frustrated because high school kids are fans of mine and they couldn’t get into the clubs,” Regan explained in a recent telephone interview. “So about five months ago, I told my manager I wanted to do this afternoon thing to accommodate them.”

Whether the club offers a teen matinee again depends on how this performance is received, said Tina Imahara, promotions manager for the Irvine Improv.

“This is a onetime try,” she said, adding that the club would definitely do it more often, maybe even monthly, if ticket sales are good. “Kids are always asking to come in. And parents for years have been asking to bring their kids to the shows. We thought (Regan) would be the perfect comedian to try it with.”

This is the second time the Improv has tried doing a show for teen-agers. The first attempt fell victim to an underwhelming reception. The club received only six calls, so the event was canned.

To get the word out this time, the Improv has been promoting Regan for two months as well as sending mailers to most Orange County high schools.

For Regan, tailoring a show for teens isn’t too difficult. Because he has one of the cleanest acts on the circuit, the veteran of appearances on “The Tonight Show” and “The Today Show” simply turns to his regular material to pull together 45 minutes suitable for young ears.

He talks, for instance, about the unsettling feeling that rushed over him when he happened onto a Spanish-language radio newscast and could pick up just two English words: Los Angeles and H-bomb.

“I’m just going to do my show,” Regan said, adding that, so far, the teens have always been a good audience. “I don’t want it to look like I’m performing for kids, performing for children.

“I have a lot of stuff about growing up--playing Little League, games like pin the tail on the donkey, Etch A Sketch. A lot of my act is oriented to what it’s like growing up. I’ll try to leave out the part about just getting married. Of course, these days, maybe half of them are.”

Regan says he also sees hidden benefits to doing this type of show. It gives him a leg up on future fans, figuring he can hook them before another comic does. If he could, he said, he would carry the concept to the newborn ward.

“I’d like to stick my head behind the glass and tell them, ‘You come see me when you grow up and can afford a cover charge.’ ”