COMEDY

Mitch Hedberg

Comedian, writer, 30

What he’s done: Hedberg delivers trenchant one-liners in a halting, slacker drawl, prompting comparisons to Steven Wright (Hedberg on meeting with agents and producers: “You and a group of strangers get together in a room and surround fruit�). After his second appearance at the Just for Laughs comedy festival in Montreal last summer, Hedberg earned another spot on the “Late Show With David Letterman,� a spread in Time magazine (with those three magic words: “the next Seinfeld�) and a development deal with 20th Century Fox Television, where he is creating a sitcom.

Outlook for ‘99: “Los Enchiladas,� a film Hedberg wrote, directed and in which he stars, screens at the Sundance Film Festival this month. It’s a comedy about a drifter who gets a job in a Mexican chain restaurant, and Hedberg would like to see it become his sitcom vehicle. Hedberg also has a solo comedy special on Comedy Central on Tuesday. In the meantime, he continues to headline clubs across the country.

Brandon Bowlin

Comedian, actor, 30

What he’s done: As a public administration major at USC, Bowlin walked on to the football team in 1985 and eventually played on special teams and at defensive back. He also began performing stand-up in Crenshaw-area nightspots such as Mavericks Flat, but resisted mainstream comedy clubs because what he saw there were “burned-out brothers who were the same type of caricatures, doing what they thought the industry wanted.� He studied acting for a year at the London Shakespeare Studio, and back in L.A. did on-air work at KJLH-FM (102.3). Bowlin was part of the team that won a Peabody Award for news coverage during the 1992 riots. He continued to work as a comedian, warming up studio audiences at such sitcoms as “Roc� and “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.� He has since done two one-man shows, “Out of Mind� and “Return of the Underground,� both of which display his nose for comic social commentary about racial schisms in America. Listing the things African Americans want back from the co-opting white power structure, Bowlin names soul music, the phrase “you go, girl� and O.J. Simpson. “. . . OK, wait a minute. Y’all can have him but we want the knife. Might be worth something someday.� Bowlin can be seen every Wednesday night at the Ha Ha Cafe in Studio City.

Outlook for ‘99: Bowlin just signed with the Endeavor Agency and is working with longtime show business manager-producer Bernie Brillstein of Brillstein-Grey. Another showcase of “Return of the Underground� is planned, this time at the HBO Workspace in Hollywood. “He’s just so disarmingly bright,� Brillstein says of Bowlin. “I’d like to do for him what Mike Nichols did for Whoopi [Goldberg].� Brillstein is referring to the 1984 Broadway show Nichols backed after seeing Goldberg onstage. In other words, don’t look for Bowlin on a WB sitcom any time soon.