BEHOLD THE APPRENTICE COMEDIAN

Monday, Dec. 10, 2007 | 7:08 a.m.

What: L.A. Comedy Club

Where: Palace Station

When: 7 and 9 p.m. daily

Tickets: $28.45 (includes buffet or two drinks); 367-2411

The crowd at the L.A. Comedy Club inside Palace Station was small, but tough.

The two dozen audience members weren't prone to belly laughter. It was more of a snickering, tee-hee crowd. If something really funny happened, a wave of smiles broke out.

Not the best way for aspiring comic Seth Grabel to hone his skills, which he does Thursdays as a host for the club, introducing whichever two veteran comics are starring that particular week.

The lineup recently included Tim O'Rourke as the headliner and Marc Yaffee as the undercard, you might say. They both were swinging, but far too few of their jokes were connecting.

Some of the most amusing moments of the evening came from a woman sitting at the back of the room who injected a few comments about her sex life. When she became too graphic, the audience groaned.

"That's more information than we needed to know," said O'Rourke, who had been using the comedic device of focusing on a member of the audience for humor when things got tough.

Things were tough, but not that tough. He abandoned the woman and went on to other topics.

O'Rourke looks as if he could be Louie Anderson's son - big and usually funny. You might recognize him from his role as the affable bartender on the "The Drew Carey Show." He also writes for Nickelodeon's "SpongeBob SquarePants."

He started out wanting to be a psychologist, he told the audience. Has a master's degree in the subject.

"I spent six years of my life figuring out there's not much call for a psychologist with an attitude," he said.

His observational humor is punctuated by vocal intonations and some sight gags, but it's the observations that were funny.

"When I turned 28 my eyebrows started to grow like Chia Pets," he said.

Yaffee was best when he mined the comedic gold of his background - part Mexican, part Irish, adopted at birth by a Jewish father and Hispanic mother.

"I didn't find out I was Navajo till I was 25. All those years of watching Westerns and I found out I was rooting for the wrong side."

"I'm a Mexican Irish Navajo, Mexi-jo. My ancestors exploited my own ancestors. I feel guilty and oppressed."

"I was raised by Jewish father, which makes me a bargain hunter-gatherer."

But his timing was a little off for much of the evening and the audience suffered through several weak jokes, such as "the KKK is the only organization stupid enough to have a dunce cap as part of its uniform."

Grabel's job is to introduce the stars and to keep things moving. It's not always an easy assignment, even for a veteran.

He has an unusual act, combining stand-up comedy, magic, dancing, acrobatics, gymnastics and pickpocketing in his energetic routine.

The 25-year-old native of Los Angeles doesn't have a lot of stage time as the host (one of several through the week), but he makes the most of it.

Grabel acquired his love of magic from his father, an amateur magician. His taste for dancing and acrobatics came from his mother, a former professional belly dancer.

"She taught me a lot of my dance moves," he said.

Two years ago Grabel graduated from UNLV with a degree in hotel management. But the lure of show business was too strong. Since graduation he has been working on his act, and for the past month has been trying it out at the L.A. Comedy Club.

"My goal is to do stage work - sort of like Lance Burton," Grabel said.

This is Grabel's first comedy club gig. Combining all of his skills has given him a unique act, but one that he needs to work on. He needs to take command of the stage when he's in the spotlight. He needs a stronger comedic presence, some smart comebacks, better segues, maybe some magic tricks that are truly amazing.

But all of that will come. He's got time and energy on his side.

And a woman in the back of the room with a sex life she doesn't mind talking about with the whole world.