COMEDY : Engvall, Drawn to O.C., Is Also Big Draw

Bill Engvall must have seen something he likes in Orange County. He’s back.

A benefit at the Bren Events Center in October, a special engagement at the Irvine Improv in November, four shows at the Brea Improv in December, and now another special engagement in Brea this week and next. (A special engagement just means you’re going to have to pay a little more, and no passes will be accepted.)

Also in town are Rocky LaPorte at the Irvine Improv, Denny Johnston at Centerfield Sports Bar & Grill in Huntington Beach and Mark Britten at Standing Room Only in Fullerton.

“Engvall’s a good draw here,” said Brea’s Mike Manzo, the club’s media relations manager. “And he’s working on a new type of format to his act. He’s adding a backdrop and doing an hour and 10 instead of 50 minutes.”

The Texas-born, drawling comedian is perhaps best known for his bit on stupid people and stupid stuff, which includes an observation on the warning on dry-cleaning bags: “This is not a toy.”

“I just can’t count the number of kids sitting on Santa’s lap, saying, ‘No, Santa, I don’t want a bike or a train. Just a big old clear cleaning bag will do me fine.’ ”

But the 36-year-old comic’s act goes well beyond that. Giving voice to pets’ and animals’ thoughts is another Engvall forte, including his dog’s hang-dog response after being neutered: “Bill, how could you do this to me?”

The ACE winner for best male stand-up in 1991 is also a master of putting together a seamless show, going effortlessly from topic to topic.

“I classify myself this way,” he said. “If you’re on the highway, I’m that stripe in the middle of the road. It’s always there, and it don’t ever vary.”

He was a regular on the TV series “Delta” and a guest on “Designing Women” and has performed on “The Tonight Show” as well as just about every other comedy show on the small screen.

In his club shows, Engvall prefers the story-weaving approach to rapid-fire punch lines, and he punctuates his routine with laughter, as if he’s hearing the anecdote for the first time too.

“I enjoy every minute of being on stage,” he once told The Times. “There’s nothing better than the feeling when you’re in tune with an audience.”

LaPorte, who will be in Irvine, hasn’t quite reached Engvall’s level, but he can out-brag Engvall when it comes to number of times shot.

On this point, the Brooklyn-born LaPorte can make a good case for being a unique comic and get little argument. He has been shot three times, in three different incidents. (He has also been stabbed twice.) The third shot cut short a promising boxing career in Chicago, where he was driving 18-wheelers around town and across country while pulling over now and then to jot down funny thoughts on boxing, trucking and being from the Bronx.

After collecting enough of these, he tried an open-mike night, launching his new career.

Over the past few years, LaPorte, who says he would some day like to write an etiquette book, has refined those thoughts into stories, which he delivers like (surprise) a trucker with a Bronx accent--kind of like a Sylvester Stallone trying to make you laugh. He performs through Sunday.

At Huntington Beach’s Centerfield Sports Bar on Tuesday night, Johnston--a veteran of “The Tonight Show,” “Late Night With David Letterman” and “Arsenio”--is headlining a bill that also features Rob Breckenridge. Johnston’s other credits include opening for Michael Bolton and Julio Iglesias, appearing on several cable specials and starring in clubs throughout the country.

In Fullerton, Standing Room Only is featuring Britten, a comic known for his impersonations and musical forays. He has appeared on “An Evening at the Improv” and Comedy Central’s “Short Attention Span Theater” and headlined from Honolulu to Hollywood, Minneapolis to Miami. He’s there through Sunday.