Las Vegas the place to be for comedy

Bob Saget wants to play Las Vegas more often. He cites now-familiar reasons.

He still enjoys being a comedian, but he's almost 52 and doesn't endure the travel like he used to. "I love my stand-up and I love doing it when I feel everything's aligned. I don't love being on the road," he says.

But Saget has a lot of company. Look at the headline comedians who visited in February: Dave Attell, Drew Carey, George Carlin, Bill Engvall, Artie Lange, George Lopez, Howie Mandel, Norm MacDonald, Ray Romano and Kevin James (co-billed), Jerry Seinfeld, Sarah Silverman and David Spade.

"Damn, that's a lot of people," says George Wallace, the resident comedian at the Flamingo Las Vegas, after I read the list to him. "Everybody wants to come over now. They see, 'Well if George Wallace can do it ... .' And I'm the one without the TV show."

Granted, February included the Super Bowl and bumped the edge of NASCAR weekend. But it wasn't a one-time blip when you break it down.

AEG Live is booking comedians such as Saget into the Hard Rock Hotel as a matter of course. The House of Blues at Mandalay Bay is booking more stand-up, too. And it has become routine to push a stand-up in front of the curtain to get extra mileage out of theaters hosting resident shows in The Mirage, Mandalay Bay and, now, Planet Hollywood.

"People know them. On a billboard they seem as big as any other show," says Bill Voelkner of the big-name competition for the comedy club he books at Palace Station and for Vinnie Favorito, whom he produces at O'Sheas.

Favorito is hanging tough because of repeat business, Voelkner says. But those who walk from the Flamingo Las Vegas to Harrah's Las Vegas also can choose from Wallace, Rita Rudner, The Second City sketch troupe and The Improv club.

"That's a lot of comedy in a very small area," Voelkner says. "I'm looking for something totally different." He figures that's why psychics, who also have lean production expenses, are finding a foothold on the Strip.

All this ups the ante for the comedians who decided to move here or stay for long stretches. That didn't stop Roseanne Barr from signing on for at least three months at the Sahara, joining the nightly fray with Wallace, Rudner, Bobby Slayton, Carrot Top, Louie Anderson and Favorito.

"I like it here a lot," Barr says. "It would just be so ideal (to rotate) between here and Hawaii (where she has a home), but I don't want to jinx it. I'm superstitious."

With good reason. "You tell all the comedians, 'Come on in,' " Wallace says. "But you'd better bring a good show."

Mike Weatherford's entertainment column appears Thursdays and Sundays. Contact him at 383-0288 or e-mail him at mweatherford@reviewjournal.com.