Primer on Improv : Coffeehouse troupe gives youths their first break at doing stand-up comedy.

What can you expect when you see a comedy show advertising “Stand-Up at Its Finest” with the last word crossed out and the word “Youngest” written in?

You may be pleasantly surprised if you go to the Kindness of Strangers coffeehouse to see “Not Ready for Bedtime Players.” You may discover that both the above words are true.

There, on recent Friday evenings, several kids too young to vote, each of them smart but mercifully not too smart-alecky, have been putting on a show that’s free and lasts about an hour.

The cast--which performs seven stand-up acts--ranges in age from 9 to 16. You may recognize a couple of the faces from TV shows.

But in this show, each actor does original topical material, making clear that each is not just another pretty face.

(Since the kids started appearing at the coffeehouse last month, TV network representatives have been showing up scouting for talent.)

Rahi Azizi, a ninth-grader at El Camino Real High, is a veteran of 26 episodes of the Nickelodeon series, “Space Cases.”

His live comedy routine draws on--what else?--his own high school experiences. For instance, despite his lack of obvious qualifications for the football team, he “auditioned” (his term) for the varsity squad.

“I had to give it a try,” he told The Times. You can find out what he learned from the experience if you catch his act.

Like the other youngsters, Azizi has an acerbic wit. Asked his life goal, he shot back, “to find a McDonald’s where the person at the counter gets my order right.”

When another member of the group, Lindsey Seibert, 11, was pressed as to why she and her fellow performers are determined to go into show business, she first became reflective, then avoided the question.

A veteran of “Friends” and an appearance on “The Rosie O’Donnell Show,” Lindsey finally said, with a touch of impatience, “We love attention.”

This weekly show is the brainchild of professional drama coach Chambers Stevens, who hails from Nashville where he was director of that city’s Shakespeare Festival.

An Emmy-nominated actor, sought by Hollywood agents to help prepare juvenile clients for auditions, Stevens wanted to create a live performance opportunity for his brightest students.

In addition to their regular Friday evening performance, the young people will appear June 13-14 at 12:30 p.m. as part of the Kids’ Stage program of the NoHo Arts Festival.

The current group consists of Azizi and Seibert, as well as Michael Moreno, 13; Mark Allen Staubach, 15; Travis Tedford, 9; Laila Dagher, 13; and Alexander Collins, 15.

BE THERE

“Not Ready for Bedtime Players,” Friday at 7:30 p.m. (show will be repeated at 8:30 p.m. in case of an overflow audience) at the Kindness of Strangers coffeehouse, 4378 Lankershim Blvd. (at Moorpark Street), Universal City, free; (213) 833-6450.