Jokers in the cards

Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2007 | 7:12 a.m.

What: The Comedy Festival

When: Wednesday through Saturday

Where: Caesars Palace

Information: 731-7110, VEGAS.com or thecomedyfestival.com for individual shows, prices, showtimes and locations

Where better to have a bacchanalian festival of comedy than Caesars Palace?

For four days beginning Wednesday, Caesars will host the annual orgy of humor for every taste, from high brow to low brow. Official title: "HBO and AEG Live, The Comedy Festival."

Dozens of comedians will take aim at topics including politics, social mores and the human condition.

There are plenty of big names. Chris Rock and Jerry Seinfeld have prime-time shows Friday and Saturday night at the Colosseum. Ellen DeGeneres is taping a variety show Thursday night featuring Mary J. Blige, Sheryl Crow, Barry Manilow, Lyle Lovett & His Large Band, and Wayne Newton. ("Ellen's Really Big Show" will air Sunday on TBS.) Howard Stern sidekick Artie Lange is doing a late show.

Bill Engvall hosts "Blue Collar Comedy: The Next Generation" with Reno Collier, Jamie Kahler, John Caparulo and Juston McKinney.

There also will be free comedy shows from 3 to 9 p.m. Thursday through Saturday in the Comedy Festival Village. And you can check out up-and-coming comedians at the Lucky 21 shows.

Below, three of the festival's comedians talk about their shows:

Steve Schirripa

Life after death has been good for Steve Schirripa.

He's been a man on the run since his "Sopranos" character was gunned down at the end of the popular HBO series.

"I like to work. I want to keep the momentum going," Schirripa says by phone from his home in New York. He has another in Las Vegas. "I like to do a lot of different things. I'd like to get back on a series. I have a development deal. All kinds of stuff is going on, but I've never not been busy."

On Wednesday he launches "The Comedy Festival" by hosting "The Vegas Va-Voom Variety Spectacular." The revue will feature talking rabbits, magicians, showgirls, snake ladies and music from Lon Bronson and Zowie Bowie.

"We put a great show together," he says. "It's going to be a lot of fun, really a lot of fun."

The festival is just part of his busy schedule, which includes - take a deep breath - occasional appearances as a correspondent for Jay Leno's "The Tonight Show" (32 to date), hosting Spike TV's "Casino Cinema" on Monday nights from the Hard Rock, writing a movie script based on his children's book "Nicky Deuce," creating an Italian cooking show for the fledgling MSG Network, recording the basset hound's voice in the animated film "Open Season 2" and thinking about whether to do the horror film "Feast 3."

And he's still a consultant at the Riviera, where he got his start booking comedians.

"I don't really relax," he says. "I work harder now than at any job I ever had."

Details: Steve Schirripa hosts "The Vegas Va-Voom Variety Spectacular," 9 p.m. Wednesday, Augustus Ballroom, $49.

Frank Caliendo

Frank Caliendo calls his act "All Over the Place."

He is.

Even before he popped up in the broadcasts of the baseball playoffs hyping his new comedy series, Caliendo was all over the tube.

He does weekly picks on "Fox NFL Sunday" with Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long and Jimmy Johnson and appeared in the Super Bowl XXXIX broadcast. He has performed on the "Late Show With David Letterman," "The Late Late Show" with Craig Ferguson, "Jimmy Kimmel Live," "Late Night" with Conan O'Brien, "The View," "Last Call" with Carson Daly and "The Best Damn Sports Show Period." He starred in "Comedy Central Presents Frank Caliendo."

His show, "Frank TV," debuts at 11 p.m. next Tuesday on TBS.

Caliendo describes it as a sketch comedy series. "Somewhere between 'Saturday Night Live,' 'SCTV' and 'The Muppet Show.' It's based, essentially, on my act."

Caliendo has performed in comedy clubs - and at the White House - doing eerie impressions of Presidents Bush and Clinton and entertainers such as John Madden, Robin Williams, Leno and Letterman. But his act goes beyond impressions - the characters take on a life of their own.

"I kind of write my act like a regular stand-up would," Caliendo says. "The characters make observations about things like why Adam Sandler can sing a song that doesn't make sense and people give him a lot of money."

Details: 9:30 p.m. Thursday, Palace Ballroom, $49.

Hot Tamales

Kiki Melendez says stand-up comedy is still a man's world.

"When you go to a comedy club usually there are 10 guys and one female," she says. "Women do not have the same opportunity as men."

That's why she and actress Eva Longoria, co-star of ABC's "Desperate Housewives," started the revue "Hot Tamales Live!" five years ago.

The cast includes Melendez, Longoria, Amy Anderson, Tiffany Haddish, Jessica Kirson, Kira Soltanovich, Sandra Vals and Gina Yashere.

"We started off Latin, but all these women called and wanted to be part of it," Melendez says. "I told Eva we should have all different races. White women are funny, Latin women are funny. So three shows into it we had Asian acts, Jewish, white, anybody. We want to make sure every race is represented.

"I realized later my message was one of uniting races through laughter. If something is good, it doesn't matter what race it is."

The show also includes several dancers.

"I added dancers because it is something the comedy circuit has never seen," she says. "It's like a revue. Everyone says it's a Vegas-style show. It's not just a stand-up show, one stand-up comic after another. I thought it would be cool to have other elements of entertainment."

Details: 11:59 p.m. Saturday, Palace Ballroom, $59.