Friday, April 17, 1998 | 10:44 a.m.
Comedian Steven Wright, whose off-the-wall observations will grace the Sahara hotel-casino this weekend, might be a tad out of place out here in the desert.
"I am an ocean guy," Wright explains after describing his love for nature, especially New England. So when he comes to Las Vegas, does he enjoy the desert?
"Sometimes I go out for a drive just to get out of there (Las Vegas), out towards the Hoover Dam or up into some Indian relic things in the hills," he says. "I can't remember where I was, maybe I was hallucinating. When I go to Vegas, I like to walk out into the middle of the desert and put on a walkman and have the sound of waves on it, just trying to blow my own mind."
As for Las Vegas itself? "I think it's completely insane," says the comedian who defines the word "deadpan." "Look at it -- all those weird hotels and all that weird stuff. I mean it's good, I like going there. To me it looks like something that fell off a UFO that made too sharp of a turn."
But when it comes to Las Vegas audiences, Wright says they are no different than those in other cities, explaining that tourists also come to other cities in which he performs.
"The reason they come to see me is because they like what I do, so it doesn't matter if it is Seattle outside or Las Vegas. It's the same, I think."
Wright apologizes to his fans because he would certainly share some of his jokes, but he can't remember any. Instead, he recalls -- tongue-in-cheek, presumably -- how he began his comedic career in July 1979.
"A man took me from the street and he brought me to a club and he forced me to go on stage at gunpoint," Wright explains, giggling. "I liked it, so I kept doing it anyway. It was very nerve-racking. I didn't know whether I had stage fright or if I was nervous because there was a gun on me. I had about 2 minutes of material that I tried to stretch to 2 1/2 minutes."
Labled as deadpan and stoic, Wright says: "I just say funny things. They put on those labels."
With a constantly changing show without routines tailored for tourist hot spots such as Las Vegas, Wright considers himself unique among comedians. He gets his material from "this woman I live with, she talks in her sleep -- no, I just get it from looking around, noticing stuff. My style just kind of happened during a bike accident."
Wright will perform at 8:30 p.m. today, Saturday and Sunday in the Sahara's Congo showroom. Tickets are $29.95 and can be purchased at the Sahara box office. For reservations or more information, call 737-2515.
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