Laff staff

YOU interview a career comedian, you take your chances. Nearly always, you'll get chunks of real, unironically delivered information here and there among the replies, but remember: The best ones didn't get where they are by giving straight answers to straight questions. They got there by taking a pre-existing talent for rooting out the funny wherever it hides and applying that talent in knee-jerk fashion whenever possible.

Hence, the words of Ellen DeGeneres, who recently rapped with several media outlets, including CityLife, about "Ellen's Even Bigger Really Big Show," a variety program to be taped at this year's 4th annual Las Vegas Comedy Festival at Caesars Palace. When simply asked how this show would be different from last year's Ellen's Really Big Show (aired on TBS Network), DeGeneres was typically sideways -- typically Ellen -- in responding.

"Last year it was really, really big; this year even bigger. And you know what that means. I don't know. I think it's going to be the same kind of excitement ... the same kind of acts that you have never seen before."

Thank you, Yogi Berra. Hers is the same kind of wryness you'll likely hear from any number of performers at the TBS-sponsored 2008 festival -- HBO did it in previous years -- that also promises appearances from a still-back-to-basics Jerry Seinfeld, cult-favorite Canadian troupe Kids in the Hall, Dane Cook, stoner-comedy vets Cheech and Chong, Comedy Central's new Gong Show host Dave Attell, Andrew Dice Clay (really) and at least 20 other professionals who want nothing more than to be laughed at by a room full of people.

Angular as they are in their outlooks, it's often hard to get a serious, tonally unambiguous response from any of these comics. All the same, 11-time Emmy-winning TV, film and talk show maven DeGeneres is disarmingly polite and more-or-less direct with most answers, addressing questions about the new show ("...just kind of commenting on absurdities of human behavior ... lots of comments about Vegas, obviously") as well as a few dated but sorry-can't-resist inquiries related to her sexual orientation and that precedent-setting "coming out" episode of her sitcom Ellen years ago ("It's a big risk for people to have a big career and come out ... but it's not really helping anybody to live a life that isn't true to themselves").

She goes on to mention the support she's received since then from longtime fans and other well-wishers to whom her big risk meant a lot in 1997 and the sense of solidarity it spawned all around. But when it comes to getting support before the funny stuff goes public, though, she says she depends on no one but herself.

"I never try out new material," DeGeneres tells CityLife. "I write it and I just have a gut feeling and just keep tweaking and tweaking and tweaking until I think I have the wording right ... and I just say it ... I don't ask anybody."

All well and good for the solo artist, but not for everyone at this festival; total autonomy isn't generally an option for the comic known almost exclusively for his work within a bigger ensemble. Kids in the Hall member Kevin McDonald -- the one with curly dark hair and a trademark high-pitched voice -- says working with fellow troupers Dave Foley, Mark McKinney, Bruce McCulloch and Scott Thompson in 2008 is pretty much the same as it was when they started 20 years ago.

"Dave and I have always worked together," he says. "Mark and Bruce work together and Scott usually works with Scott. When we got together to write new stuff for the show in Vegas, we hadn't written anything together in about 10 years. To our horror, it seemed like we could still do it, like we used to in the old days. The dynamic is still the same ... [except] now we're writing less about girlfriends, graduating college, first jobs ... and more about having children and midlife crisis."

Asked what kind of older, wiser material to expect this time around, McDonald offers a glimpse into one new, very Kids-sounding sketch that'll appear in their Fri., Nov. 21 gig at Caesars.

"It's called 'Hateful Baby,' and its about a couple hating their baby. Not that everyone hates their baby, but it's taken from the experience of having a baby. From Bruce saying, 'Hey, what if I hated my baby?' It came from a real place. Even though he loves his children."

As straight an answer as you'll get from one who prefers the crooked perspective -- but try not laughing when you hear McDonald say it all out loud.

The 2008 Comedy Festival takes place Thu.-Sat. Nov. 20-22 at Caesars Palace, with showcases happening throughout the day. See www.thecomedyfestival.com for schedule and ticket prices. Info: 866-1400

Shelter from the norm

On the community theater front, Las Vegas Little Theatre runs its second mainstage production of the season, Terrence McNally's The Ritz, through this weekend. Turns out, it's a lot of good, farcical fun, exploring all that can go wrong when a straight Cleveland businessman takes refuge from his murderous brother-in-law in a Manhattan gay bathhouse. What's not to like? LVLT President and Director Walter Niejadlik has pulled together a well-meshed ensemble of actors (especially Olga Rios as mouthy Puerto Rican "drag queen" Googie Gomez) in a production that manages breath control even as it makes us guffaw erratically.

The Ritz plays Thu.-Sat., 8 p.m. and Sun., 2 p.m., through Nov. 23 at Las Vegas Little Theatre, 3920 Schiff Drive. Tickets: $22; $19 students and seniors. Info: 362-7996 or www.lvlt.org.