RICH HALL IN 2-NIGHT STAND

Rich Hall--comedian, author and creator of “sniglets” (words not in the dictionary that Hall thinks should be)--will headline tonight at the Improvisation in Irvine. In a rather unconventional approach to a two-night stand, Hall will return to the club for a second performance next Monday.

On the other hand, no one’s ever accused Hall of having an overly conventional career. There isn’t exactly a slew of stand-up comics around who have won an Emmy (for his writing contributions to the morning show David Letterman hosted before “Late Night”) and written books that have landed on the New York Times best seller list (his three collections of sniglets).

He also has considerable on-camera experience in television. This includes stints on “Saturday Night Live,” and its clone, “Fridays,” and HBO’s TV news show satire “Not Necessarily the News.”

Hall created sniglets while working on the latter show. The first one was “premblememblemation”, Hall’s word for putting a letter in the mailbox, then double checking that it dropped all the way down. Partly to promote his books or other projects and performances, he has made several appearances on both “Late Night With David Letterman” and “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.”

In these spots, and in his club shows, Hall--who builds many of his bits around various objects he brings on stage--has helped give so-called prop comics a good name. Or at least a better one. In stand-up circles, prop comics are generally considered second-class citizens.

But Hall boasts such strong observational and verbal skills, and has such a nice flair for satire, that his props actually carry a point of view. That alone separates him from the great majority of prop practitioners.

Hall, along with comedienne Pam Madison, will perform both tonight and next Monday at 8:30 p.m. For more information, call the Improv at (714) 854-5455.