Your 15 Minutes of Fame

At 15 Minutes--a haute camp “Star Search” hosted by overly ample drag princess Jackie Beat and her trim sidekick, Rusty Updegraff--anything can happen.

One contestant, Chris Marr, peels off his leopard-patterned pants, partially revealing underwear, while he croons Cole Porter’s “Love for Sale.” Members of the audience, fully exploiting the fuzziness of the boundary between performers and spectators, fling coins on stage. The evening’s judges rate the performance 8.5, 6.5 and 7.7.

The graceful, albeit mammoth, Caramba, decked out in frilly “West Side Story” drag, snatches a 9.8, 9.99 and 9.3, with a spot-on lip-sync of “I Feel Pretty.” Sharon Kane, a correctly chromosomed female, pulls down perfect 10s (entitling her to the $50 prize) with two song-and-dance numbers, the less outre of which had to do with spanking.

But for all the outrageousness of the contestants, this Tuesday night club in West Hollywood is still very much Jackie’s show. And she doesn’t let you forget it, either.

“‘I will not put up with an audience that will not scream, clap, cheer or bleed when I tell them to,” announces the brassy ultravixen. “Now, let’s put our hands togetherrrr. . . .”

The contest “was a way to have a different show every week, which is what it takes to get people here,” says Jackie, who brings this talent-night-on-the-wild-side to Luna Park in West Hollywood. (Luna Park is erstwhile Lhasa Club and Largo impresario Jean-Pierre Boccara’s hybrid of cabaret, theater, restaurant, music and performance space.)

Jackie also moves the show along by busting out with a few song-and-dance numbers herself and dropping ribald patter at every turn.

In the six weeks since it began, 15 Minutes has seldom seen an empty chair. “It’s been mainly word of mouth,” says Rusty, 15 Minutes’ answer to Ed McMahon, who also pitches in with a few music and comedy numbers. “We don’t even call people and say, ‘Oh, you’ve got to come down here.’ ”

Even those off-stage have input. Besides the base-line hooting and heckling that goes on (there is a high in-crowd percentage here), there are pencils and paper on all the tables. Audience members can write any piece of gossip, which Rusty and Jackie--incarnated for this bit as the yentas , Rhonda and Sheila, or Midwestern blabbermouths, Janet and Charlene--turn into an improvised bit. The gossip doesn’t have to be true, so, instructs Jackie, “try to be as mean as you can.”

The results range from the sublime to the venereal. But Jackie crows with pride over 15 Minutes’ raunchy reputation. “Some clubs claim to be the creme de la creme . We’re the dregs de la dregs,” she says. “It makes for a good mixture.”

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Where: 15 Minutes, Luna Park, 665 N. Robertson Blvd., West Hollywood; (310) 652-0611. Reservations strongly recommended.

When: Tuesdays. Doors open at 10 p.m. Show time: 10:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. Dancing till 2.

Admission: $5

Drinks: Beer, $4-$4.50; mixed drinks, $4-$6.