Serious Matter in Punch Lines and Unemployment Lines

“The recession’s come to Washington. Two senators just got laid off. We’re running the country with 98 senators instead of 100.”

Jamie Masada confesses that he stole the joke from Jay Leno, who still drops in to perform at Masada’s Laugh Factory from time to time, despite Leno’s “Tonight Show” success. Masada survived the recession of 1981-82 by maintaining such loyalties and alliances and he expects to survive the recession of 1991 the same way.

The 30-year-old Israeli immigrant just celebrated his 10th anniversary as owner and founder of the Laugh Factory on Sunset Boulevard by spending $250,000 on remodeling, hosting a black-tie dinner and filming the whole thing for a Fox TV special that drew a respectable 10 share when it aired two weeks ago. He is also signing a deal with Rupert Murdoch to begin publishing a monthly humor magazine next summer, and weekly tapings of the comics who play his club have become one of the most popular offerings on the fledgling Fox Network.

“History shows that when the economy is bad, people escape into fantasy,” he said. “Attendance at the club (which seats 250) shows that’s true. Tuesday is our slowest night, and its three-quarters full the last few months. We got three shows on Fridays and Saturdays and they’re always sold out.”

But none of that means Masada isn’t aware there’s a recession going on or that he is not without compassion for those who have lost jobs . . . especially in the entertainment business.

During the first recession of the ‘80s, when his club had only been open for a year, Masada booked talent, tended bar, waited tables and even got up on stage and read from an old joke book himself when a stand-up comic showed up too drunk to perform or, sometimes, not at all. He understands firsthand how it feels to be facing the possibility of a foreclosure notice.

But his faith that an audience would find his nightspot--especially when they could not afford a vacation in Puerto Vallarta or a ski weekend in Aspen--eventually paid off. Masada has tried to return favors to the comics and actors and hangers-on who have helped him through hard economic times by offering free meals to out-of-work show biz types during the holidays. Over this past Thanksgiving, he served 518 dinners at his club . . . more than any time in the five years he has been throwing the doors open to starving stand-ups.

While comedy sells well in a recession, nobody’s smiling when a friend loses his job, he said.

“I felt good I was helping at the same time I felt horrible because there’re so many,” he said.

A funny mix of feelings perhaps, but nothing to laugh about.