COMEDY : Bobby Collins Can Now Cross ‘Debut CD’ Off His To-Do List

To underscore a point, Bobby Collins tells about the time he and his 4-year-old daughter got caught behind a large woman in a grocery store aisle.

“I’m from New York. Anything over 350 pounds, we stare. Little people are in orbit around her. My daughter wants to pass her near the cereal, but we can’t get around. . . . Then, the woman’s beeper goes off. ‘Be careful, Daddy,’ my daughter says. ‘She’s backing up.’ ”

This episode, he swears, is true and sums up his approach to humor: reality-based storytelling in which he stars (or at least plays a bit role in most tales) and accents with ample mugging.

Tonight, in two shows at the Brea Improv, Collins will use this bit and some of his trademark routines when he records his debut CD. (The Brea venue was chosen for its size and sound system.)

Because comedy albums on the whole don’t sell well, Collins said, doing a CD had not occurred to him. Uproar Entertainment, however, impressed with the recent success of CDs by Jeff Foxworthy and Adam Sandler, surveyed the terrain and found that Collins enjoys high name recognition in major cities.

They approached the Santa Monica resident.

“I said, ‘Wow, that’s interesting.’ They had done a lot of research. Thank God my popularity has taken off tremendously with VH-1.”

Collins’ surprise quickly subsided, and he embraced the challenge.

“It’s one of the best things I’ve ever done,” he said from home last week before flying to West Palm Beach, Fla., to headline two days of sold-out shows. “I’ll write new material and do choices the audiences have screamed out for. It’s nice to know all the [material] that bought me houses along the way is appreciated.”

If all goes according to plan, the finished CD will be available Sept. 1 at select stores.

“The CD will only be in Blockbuster and Tower [Records], which is nice, because you don’t want it in a truck stop where it’s part of the lunch special,” Collins said. “It will be an album of me and my best stuff. Now I can move on.

“I would love to do a talk show late at night, interactive stuff . . . talk to someone in Texas in the middle of a festival.”

He also continues looking at sitcoms and has been opening for Julio Iglesias (they had a successful tour in ‘94), and a fashion spread in GQ is expected out in September. Plus, of course, the club dates, including headliner status in Las Vegas and Atlantic City.

“I did a sitcom for Disney, but it didn’t go. It wasn’t right,” said Collins, who was named after Bob Hope and got the comedy bug watching Red Skelton on TV in the early ‘60s. “But a sitcom is not the end of the rainbow. It’s the beginning. I love the stand-up. I’m a clown. I’m a storyteller. God gave me something I do well.”

As for his future as the highly visible host of VH-1’s “Stand-Up Spotlight,” taped at the Ice House in Pasadena, Collins is up in the air. He took over for old friend Rosie O’Donnell in January, 1994, and has finished taping shows through this year. (The new ones air every Saturday at 10 p.m.) The ratings have been rising, but Collins, who initially gained recognition through Certs commercials, is content to let negotiations run their course. He has plenty to keep him busy.

A key to Collins’ staying busy has been his attitude. He knows himself and keeps to his own set of rules.

“You’ve got to stay focused,” he said, referring to his longstanding pecking order of God, family and career. “You can’t get caught up in it all. You can’t take it out of sequence. I thank God every day.”

In the meantime, the married father of two is patiently charting his future one day at a time, only accepting offers that will advance his career.

“I’m not worried about putting food on the table. We’re doing well, but I have to be careful. Why would I get on the Titanic? It’s funny. The more you say ‘no’ in this town, the more they come at you with money.”

* Who: Bobby Collins, recording his debut CD.

* When: Today, at 8 and 10 p.m.

* Where: The Improv, 945 E. Birch St., Suite A, Brea.

* Whereabouts: Take the Lambert Road exit from the Orange (57) Freeway and go west. Turn left onto State College Boulevard and right onto Birch Street. The Improv is in the Brea Marketplace, across from the Brea Mall.

* Wherewithal: $10.

* Where to call: (714) 529-7878.

MORE COMEDY:

David Alan Grier, former mainstay of “In Living Color” (most notably as Antoine the film critic), continues to add to his credits. His new movie is “Tales From the ‘Hood” and he starts a three-day run at the Brea Improv on Friday. $20. (714) 529-7878.