Columnist John Katsilometes: The corps of the story at Jay Leno’s show at the Mirage

Monday, Jan. 9, 2006 | 7:26 a.m.

Fabulous Las Vegas runs Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday in the Las Vegas Sun. Reach John Katsilometes at kats@lasvegassun.com or at (702) 259-2327 or (702) 812-9812.

"Tonight Show" host and tireless stand-up practitioner Jay Leno seized the stage at the Danny Gans Theatre at the Mirage on Friday and Saturday nights. Leno's somewhat stale material (are we still riffing on the Menendez brothers and the O.J. Simpson trial?) was recited in his typically crisp, well-scripted delivery.

But during Saturday's show Leno was knocked off stride a bit by a man sitting in the front row.

One characteristic of Leno's live show is that he polls audience members about their employment -- "Whaddya do for a living?" -- or why they are visiting Las Vegas.

Example: On Saturday, Leno spotted four guys sitting together and asked why they were in town. When told the foursome were visiting for the Consumer Electronics Show, Leno joked, "That explains why you have no dates."

He then moved to a young-looking man seated near the front of the stage. "How about you? Whaddya do?" The guy called out, "I'm retired!"

"What?" Leno said. "You look like a young man to be retired. What, was there a mix-up with petty cash or something? Forced out, were you?" Big laugh. "What kind of work are you retired from?"

"The Marine Corps," was the answer. Leno bolted upright and said, "Whoa. I can't make fun of that. Please let me shake your hand." With that, Richard Batiste, who was visiting from California and came to the show in a wheelchair, was aided to the stage by a friend and shook Leno's hand as the audience roared.

And as Leno departed, he asked for another round of applause for Batiste, who later said he had a great time and added, "I've got no complaints."

NoteMart

More funny stuff: Look for a return of "Vince Vaughn's Wild West Comedy Show" to Mandalay Bay during Super Bowl weekend (Feb. 3-5). No final lineup of comics announced just yet ...

Puck drops tonight: Look for the new, upscale Wolfgang Puck restaurant on tonight's season debut of the hot (hot, we tell you!) NBC series "Las Vegas." Show creator Gary Scott Thompson told TV Guide that Puck's three decades of experience were an important consideration for the role; Puck's network TV career started with spots on "Good Morning America" in 1975 ...

Lumpkin to appear: Las Vegas Art Museum curator Libby Lumpkin will be the featured speaker at Temple Beth Sholom on Feb. 1. The title of her talk will be "The Difference Between Collecting and Shopping." (There's a difference?) Admission is $10; call 804-1333, ext. 100, for information ...

Sirius development: Here's an entirely unscientifically cultivated consensus opinion of local radio industry types on the arrival of Howard Stern on Sirus Satellite Radio (his show debuted this morning): Glad not to have him as competition in the free-radio market, but he has not been too funny for quite a while. Still makes me laugh, though ...

A holy triumvirate: Seen at Tao at the Venetian on Saturday night: Tommy Lee (who, I believe, has actually moved into the club), Derek Jeter and P. Diddy ...

Causing a stir: Announced last week is that the Museum of the American Cocktail will open on March 5 at Commander's Palace at Desert Passage mall at the Aladdin. The museum traces the history of the cocktail over the past 200 years. Organizers say a U-Haul trailer filled with cocktail shakers, Prohibition literature, vintage photos and tiki glasses is making its way to Las Vegas from New Orleans even as we speak and should arrive by Wednesday morning ...

What the???: A good one spotted on a silver VW Beetle tooling along I-15, southbound, on Friday night: WUT THA.