The bigger, the better?

Can a 450-pound stand-up comic leverage his weight problem to become the funniest person in America? Fat chance. That’s not being disrespectful, that’s actually the title Ralphie May has picked out for his hoped-for TV series.

“It’s about a comic who wants to make it in the business, but he can’t break through because of his weight,” says May. “It’s going to be called ‘Fat Chance’ because that’s what I’ve been told: ‘Fat chance if you want to make it here, because you don’t look like L.A.’ ”

But when the finale of NBC’s summer reality series “Last Comic Standing: The Search for the Funniest Person in America” airs on Aug. 5, someone, somewhere in this town might have to eat their words, because May is one of five comics vying for the prize: a TV special on Comedy Central and an exclusive talent contract with NBC.

“I’m the biggest person ever to be on prime-time television. NBC doesn’t want me to win. What are they going to do with me? But the great thing about this show is that if you’re funny, it’s the people who are going to choose you.”

On stage, the 31-year-old stand-up is an equal opportunity comic, skewering those from just about every ethnic group, national origin and sexual orientation over the course of his set. His frustration builds from barely palpable to a fever pitch until he’s touched at least one raw nerve in each person in the audience. The war in Iraq? Covered. Gay pride parades? Got it. Latinos? Check. Blacks? Yup.

“Gay people get a free walk, especially in this town. You were born that way, and that’s great. But now I’ve got to go 15 miles out of my way so you can have a parade? And when did we lose the rainbow?

But the first order of business for May is to crack jokes at his own expense. “I’ve only got three minutes to this [set], and it took me two to get up here.... ‘Fear Factor?’ I could be an event: ‘We hid something in one of Ralphie’s creases, and you’ve got 35 seconds to find it.’ ”

May believes to connect with the audience he has to include some fat jokes, “because they won’t laugh until they get over it.”

It happens every time he does stand-up. “When they first see you, they go, ‘Geez, this is a big guy,’ then it all melts away, and they don’t see it as offensive any more, as this freakish thing, they just see a guy who’s making them laugh.”

But when he rails about the Hollywood bias against overweight people, it isn’t a fat joke -- it’s a prejudice joke. In his act, he talks about the time he auditioned for the role of a fat person, only to be told he was too overweight. “Too fat to play fat?” And he describes the time he did a showcase for the people at “Late Night With Conan O’Brien.” He was told that he was the best comic of the bunch but that because of his size he’d never get booked.

“Comedy is not about appearance; it’s about rockin’ a mike,” he says. “Are they laughing? That’s the only test.”

A test that May is passing at the moment. He makes a living out of comedy. It’s how he met his girlfriend (fellow stand-up Lahna Turner). They first crossed paths 4 1/2 years ago backstage at the Laugh Stop in Houston.

His ability to get laughs has earned him face time on “The Late Late Show”, “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” (Kimmel cracks that “May’s talent is matched only by his waistband”) “Spy TV,” a writing job on “Mohr Sports” and a part in the movie “For da Love of Money.”

Veteran stand-up Jeffrey Ross calls May “a hip-hop Ralph Cramden.” After performing alongside May, Ross hired him to write for the recent Carson Daly roast (“MTV Bash: Carson Daly”).

May’s stand-up life really began when he opened for comedy legend Sam Kinison at a University of Arkansas show.

In 1998, Laugh Factory founder Jamie Masada spotted May at the Latino Laughs Festival in San Antonio, Texas, and urged him to come to L.A.

“He was in-your-face, very aggressive, politically incorrect,” says Masada, who now manages May’s career.

May, who is white, does a lot of hip-hop material in his act that leaves him “catching heat from white comics for ‘acting black.’ ”

“I’m not acting like a black guy,” says May. “I’m acting like me. Why does that shock you when 80% of the people who buy hip-hop music are white? I’m not an anomaly, I’m an eventuality.” Clearly May’s biggest role to date is “Last Comic Standing,” where he shares a house in the Hollywood Hills in the reality show, hosted by Jay Mohr. Cameras follow the dynamics of the house and at the end of each episode, the house population is reduced by one through a head-to-head stand-up competition with audience members voting for the funniest. May won his head-to-head against Washington, D.C., comic Rob Cantrell with 85% of the audience vote.

The last hurdle to clear was a performance at the Paris Las Vegas Hotel on Tuesday night featuring the final five comics joined by their ousted comrades. That episode will air next Tuesday, after which viewers can vote by phone for their favorite comic with the results revealed on the show’s finale (aired live on the East Coast).

Whether or not he wins, May says the show has changed his life. He’s received death-threat and hate e-mails about his hip-hop material. At the same time his comedy club bookings have become more lucrative, and he’s managed to rebuild a relationship with the father who has been absent from most of his life.

“In my entire life I’ve spent maybe three weeks with my dad under the same roof,” he says. “Now he’s coming to Vegas to watch me perform for the final contest.”

And in the fall, May plans to undergo gastric bypass surgery. “I’m tired of being this big and not because society says it. I’m just tired because I’m carrying around a lot of extra baggage,” he says. “I want to do more things with my girlfriend. And I want to go bicycle riding. I haven’t ridden a bike in 15 years. I miss it.”

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Ralphie May

Basics: Born in Chattanooga, Tenn., grew up in Clarksville, Ark. After a car accident at 16, in which he broke 42 bones, he began gaining weight, peaking at 800 pounds. Dropped 350 pounds after a stomach- stapling operation.

Comedy trail: First stand-up gig at 17, then opened for Sam Kinison at a University of Arkansas show. Hit the Houston comedy circuit before coming to L.A.

Now playing: Laugh Factory, 8001 Sunset Blvd.

When: Friday and Saturday night, times vary

Info: (323) 656-1336

Also: “Last Comic Standing,” Tuesday nights at 9 on NBC