No joke: Vegas audiences can be tough on comedians

Friday, Nov. 18, 2005 | 8:51 a.m.

Where: Sahara's Casbar Lounge

Rating (out of five stars): *** 1/2

The funniest part of a recent comedy show at the Sahara's Casbar lounge was the audience's response.

Rather the lack of response.

No matter what jokes the comedians told, they fell flat.

The less than half-full room was like a morgue, but for a spattering of laughter from time to time.

Comedy isn't an exact science. Sometimes the jokes work well; sometimes a different audience will have a completely different reaction.

The audience at Monday's performance of Kathleen Dunbar's "Divas of Comedy" seemed determined not to have a good time.

From my perspective, I enjoyed watching Dunbar and fellow comedian Carla Rae sweat -- not out of some perverse pleasure, but only because I had the opportunity to watch a couple of pros working under the severest of circumstances.

They didn't quit. They gave it their best shot.

They may have been squirming as they fired blanks all night, but they didn't back down.

It was like a battleground, and the comedians were determined to win -- although in this case the victory may have just been getting through the entire performance.

The battle was brutal.

They lobbed joke after joke and received only a snicker here and there, or an occasional guffaw.

"All of a sudden it's a big Helen Keller family reunion in here," possibly out of frustration, Rae quipped after one of her jokes was met with dead silence.

Only one party, a man and two women from Southern California, seemed to appreciate the humor.

Having seen the comedians perform before, I know they are excellent at their craft. Their material, probably R rated, is funny. They can be hilarious. I have been sitting in audiences who were in tears as they performed.

But not this crowd.

A pall had fallen over the room.

"I think being a hooker would be a cool job to have in the sense that you wake up, you're in bed and you're already at work," Rae said.

An elderly couple hobbled out of the room.

Rae performed first, and probably couldn't turn the show over fast enough to Dunbar.

Dunbar may merely have been sarcastic when she stepped out onstage and said, "I'm glad you guys are having fun."

Her arsenal of jokes did not fare any better than Rae's.

"I was in Reno last week," she said. "The week before that I was in Laughlin, where the fun never starts."

Monday night, Dunbar must have felt a sense of de ja vu.

Jerry Fink can be reached at 259-4058 or at jerry@lasvegassun.com.