Humor on the Hot Seat : Although warm-up work may be steady, comics say they must struggle to entertain fidgety sitcom audiences while catering to egos of casts and crews.

Warm-up comics have a term for what they do. They call it being “on the rail.” The phrase evokes a fitting image.

In television studios throughout Burbank, warm-ups perch on the railing that separates live audiences from the sitcoms they have come to see. During tapings that can last three hours or longer, warm-ups joke, cajole, answer questions and do whatever else is necessary to keep the audience in good spirits.

The work is steady and the pay is good. For comics with families, studio jobs offer an alternative to the grueling travel of the club circuit. They also offer exposure to television producers, which could lead to an on-camera role.

But the work is tough, comics say, much tougher than club gigs. Cameras can break, causing interminable delays. A busload of young, rowdy Marines might arrive, not knowing they’re in for a romantic comedy show.

At the same time, warm-ups must cater to the needs--and often the egos--of the cast and crew. One comic calls it “the most lonesome job in show business.”

“It can go great and it can go sour,” said Pat Hazell, the “Seinfeld” warm-up. “Sometimes it’s like being on a cruise ship all alone with a bunch of people who don’t like you.”

For sitcoms, a live audience serves as more than an organic laugh track. Response from the bleachers helps actors hone their timing. If a joke bombs, writers may quickly polish it between tapings.

“We need that laughter so we can develop our pace,” said Marcy Vosburgh, executive producer of the WB Network’s “Unhappily Ever After.” “When the audience is subdued, that’s when we say, ‘Hey, what’s going on here?’ ”

Vosburgh and other producers count on the warm-up to prod the audience into a laughing mood. But there are no textbooks, no established guidelines for how to accomplish this feat.

“The first show you do is like cliff diving,” Hazell said. “If you survive, you’re a successful warm-up.”

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And those who survive develop distinct strategies.

Lewis Dix, a veteran of the trade, learned early on that no one can fill three hours with stand-up routine. As the warm-up for ABC’s “Hanging With Mr. Cooper” and NBC’s “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” he learned to study the script and its various scene changes in advance.

Long breaks give him time to lead the audience through singing contests and other games that aim to get the blood flowing. Medium breaks are perfect for jokes. He fills shorter breaks with trivia about the show.

“I also learned to wear sneakers,” Dix said. “You’re on your feet a long time.”

At “Unhappily Ever After,” the warm-up is a boisterous and openly gay man named ANT. Both a comic and a gossip columnist syndicated in dozens of publications, he describes himself as “Richard Simmons on helium.” His act includes physical gags and something he calls “amateur dyslexic ‘Star Search.’ ” If the show involves dating, he will prepare a dating game. And his humor is far from bashful.

“I try to push the envelope,” he said. “My audiences are from Ohio and Nebraska and Wisconsin. They don’t expect to hear me say the words pubic hair .”

Sure enough, there were several such references at a taping last Friday night. ANT also chastised a newlywed couple for being at a sitcom instead of back at their hotel room. And his assistant, a blonde called Chiclette, performed a contortionist act by putting both legs behind her head.

“You get free beer at frat parties with this one,” ANT quipped.

Said Vosburgh, the producer: “There’s a certain bawdiness to the humor of our show. ANT fits perfectly because he has a campy bawdiness to his humor.”

That approach would probably not work at “Seinfeld,” where the show’s jokes are subtler and the audiences tend to be older. Hazell employs a conversational style, going through his junk mail with the audience and answering questions. An elderly woman once asked if the episode being taped was a repeat.

“Most stupid question I’ve ever heard,” Hazell said. “But I used it. For the rest of the evening, I would ask her, ‘So what’s coming next?’ ”

No matter how prepared or experienced a warm-up may be, there are inevitable pitfalls. Sometimes a producer will fill the stands with studio cronies who spend the entire time schmoozing or whispering into their cellular phones. Sometimes the scenes must be repeated two and three times.

“When it starts to crest the three-hour point,” Hazell said, “the audience feels like they should get credit for traffic school.”

And sometimes trouble brews from down on the set.

“My first job was on ‘A Different World’ and I mispronounced Kadeem Hardison’s name,” Dix recalled. “That was my first lesson. You’re there to entertain the audience, but you’d better keep the stars happy too.”

Easier said than done. At the canceled NBC series “Bagdad Cafe,” Dix said Jean Stapleton forbade him from mentioning her well-known role on “All in the Family.” Another time, the producers failed to include a guest star in the introductions. Dix had to go back to the actor’s trailer and apologize.

“The warm-ups get blamed for everything,” he said.

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But the worst possible situation, comics say, is when the show bombs. The crowd grows restless. Producers start nagging.

“A lot of times I’m funnier than the show, especially with these pilots that never make it on the air,” ANT said. “The producers get a little nervous. They never tell you not to be funnier than the script, but it’s implied.”

ANT got his first warm-up slot by buttonholing a producer.

“I said, ‘Look, I can do this job. If you give me just one try, you’re going to fall in love with me. If not, fire me and you’ll never see me again.’

“That first night, I slaughtered. I killed.”

Now, the comic says, he earns $100,000 a year working three nights a week for various shows. Even veteran warm-ups tend to marvel at how well the job pays.

“The only thing harder than getting into warm-up,” Hazell said, “is getting out of it.”

In fact, most warm-ups expect that they would go crazy if they stayed in the business for more than 10 years. They see the job as a stepping stone to bigger and better things.

Dix parlayed his work at “Hanging With Mr. Cooper” into a recurring role on the show. Hazell worked for a while on “Love & War” and wrote four episodes for the discontinued CBS series. He also used his warm-up income to produce two plays that showcased his writing and acting talents.

One of those shows, “Bunk Bed Brothers,” earned rave reviews and landed him a deal to write and star in an NBC pilot.

And ANT has his future all mapped out.

“Do you want to know what my dream is?” he asked. “To have a sitcom wrapped around me. I want to play a sleazy columnist.”

Then, someone else can do the warm-up.