Bobby Slayton’s Tirade Is No Popularity Contest

Stand-up comic Bobby Slayton will never be confused with a warm and fuzzy performer. Fozzie Bear he isn’t. Rather, he is Godzilla opposite Bambi, the pit bull opposite the poodle.

His motto, in fact, is a fine clue to his persona: “Kill or Be Killed.”

The Bronx-born, Westchester-raised comedian takes aim at any topic--gays, women, relationships, ethnic and racial minorities, pornography, abortions . . . and he can be a bit harsh. For instance, he says that when his wife wanted him to discuss his sexual fantasies, Slayton replied: “Why? You’re not in any of them.”

He has been branded sexist and racist, but he insists it’s all in fun--that he’s just giving the customers what they’re paying for.

“I’m not up there to make friends,” he has said over the years. “I’m up there to make people laugh.”

His thoughts are delivered in a tirade. If you don’t like the last one, another will be along in a New York second. To Slayton, a good show is when someone leaves saying, “I laughed so hard milk was coming out my nose.”

The L.A. resident has appeared on “The Tonight Show,” “Arsenio Hall” and “Evening at the Improv,” as well as in a spot in “Wayne’s World 2.” He was also voted top male stand-up at the American Comedy Club Awards in 1989. Through April 17, fans can catch him at the Irvine Improv.

Slayton’s show is not unlike an Indy 500 of jokes from start to finish, but it seems as if he’s getting more than 500 jokes into his roughly one-hour set. At his last run at the Brea Improv in February, the delivery was so fast that Slayton often ran roughshod over his own material or talked over his own jokes, moving to new material before the audience had a chance to absorb the previous batch.

The 38-year-old Slayton, who is married and has a 5-year-old daughter, has been doing comedy since he was 22. And although his oft-raw act has been compared to Andrew Dice Clay and the late Sam Kinison, Slayton denies he’s from that mold. He insists he’s not that vicious and urges fans to listen more to what he says, as opposed to how he says it. He puts himself somewhere between Clay and Jerry Seinfeld.

Slayton credits Lenny Bruce with teaching him the bottom line is laughter, not delivery. Bruce showed that a comic can get away with anything as long as it’s funny.

But this bit from Slayton’s act exemplifies the sticky question surrounding much of his material: When does humor become an ethnic slur?

“How many Chinese in the world--a billion Chinese?” he asks. “You know what that means? That means if somebody says to you, ‘Hey, Mr. Wong. You’re a great guy, you’re one in a million,’ there’s still a thousand guys just like you.”

Slayton lets you decide.

Who: Bobby Slayton.

When: Nightly through Sunday, April 17, except Monday, April 11. Call for show times.

Where: The Irvine Improv, 4255 Campus Drive, Irvine.

Whereabouts: Take the San Diego (405) Freeway to the Jamboree Road exit and head south. Turn left onto Campus Drive. The Improv is in the Irvine Marketplace shopping center, across from the UC Irvine campus.

Wherewithal: $8 to $12, special engagement.

Where to call: (714) 854-5455.