It’s an Act--Paul Reiser Would Rather Do Stand-Up : Comedy: The ex-New Yorker has been working on film and TV projects but now returns to the stage Thursday at the Laff Stop in Newport Beach.

Since taping the final episode of his TV series “My Two Dads” last March, Paul Reiser has been able to spend more time doing what he loves the most: stand-up comedy.

“The week the show ended I went on a comedy tour,” says Reiser, who is now preparing for a Showtime comedy special that will air this spring. “So I’m finally doing what I’ve wanted to do for a long time, which is just do stand-up.”

That’s not to say that Reiser, who is doing two shows Thursday night at the Laff Stop in Newport Beach, has abandoned his acting career since “My Two Dads” ended after three seasons.

He’s currently developing a new TV series, and last summer he worked in a movie, “The Marrying Man,” written by Neil Simon and starring Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger.

Reiser calls the film, which is due in late March, “a sweet romantic comedy,” in which Baldwin plays a millionaire playboy who falls in love with the lounge singer (Basinger) at his bachelor party. Over the course of 15 years, they marry and divorce each other five times. The only constant in Baldwin’s life is a handful of show business cronies, his “friends through thick and thin.”

So what role does Reiser play?

“I play the tall blond woman that steals Alec from Kim . . . go figure.”

Actually, he plays one of Baldwin’s cronies--a comic, no less.

The ex-New Yorker has been combining acting with stand-up comedy since his film debut in “Diner” in 1982. But while he’s currently writing a screenplay for himself and is in negotiations for a couple of other movie roles, stand-up remains his first love.

While making “My Two Dads,” he said, “I was only able to do a weekend here or there but never a lot. It’s a weird thing. When you do stand-up, the muscles really atrophy in terms of ability and performance if you don’t do it a lot. The more you do it the better it gets, and I love it. In an ideal world, I thought I’d take a couple of months off and just do stand-up. But, invariably, something comes up.”

After spending recent months working on his screenplay, Reiser returned to local comedy club stages in January to hone his material for his Showtime special. Later this month, he’ll go on the road.

“It’s real fun to be focusing on it,” he said. “I forget how much I love doing it. The great thing is there are no writers, no producers. . . . It’s just you. . . .” And “it’s a nice release of energy you don’t get (working) on television. There are nights I really look forward to the fact I can get up (on stage) and fool around, play and joke.”

Reiser refrains from getting too specific when it comes to discussing his act. Asked to describe his stand-up comedy style, he observed: “At no point do I use machetes and live animals.”

When pressed, he said simply: “I tell jokes.” Then he paused: “I don’t even tell jokes. I say things. I get up in front of people, I say things, they laugh and they go home.”

Reiser wouldn’t reveal exactly what he’s “saying” on stage these days.

But he did say that Thursday night at the Laff Stop is free-cocktail-napkin night and anyone who mentions this article gets to keep his cocktail napkin.

“It’s a big draw,” he said.

Paul Reiser will perform at 8 and 10 p.m. Thursday at the Laff Stop, 2122 S.E. Bristol St., Newport Beach. Tickets: $12.50. Information: (714) 852-8762.