Playing the hits (with extra cheese)

Oozing charisma in a tiger-striped tuxedo and armed with a repertoire longer than the Las Vegas Strip, Richard Cheese might be the most ironic tribute act on the planet.

Cheese, a.k.a. singer/comedian Mark Davis of Studio City, and his band Lounge Against the Machine rearrange Top 40 radio hits into swanked-up covers reminiscent of Bill Murray’s Nick Winters persona on “Saturday Night Live.”

No self-important power ballad or hard-rap anthem is safe from Cheese and his band mates, who lounge it up onstage as Bobby Ricotta, Buddy Gouda and Gordon Brie. The White Stripes’ grunty refrain in “Fell in Love With a Girl” gets a velvety shooby-dooby-doo-doo-ah treatment. The pitiful, profanity-laced lyrics of Puddle of Mudd’s “She Hates Me” sound almost peppy. And the synth-pop feel of Britney Spears’ “Crazy” becomes -- well, like, crazy, man.

As Richard himself might say, the kids have been good to the Cheese. He often sells out popular local venues like Spaceland. His third album, “I’d Like a Virgin,” comes out swingin’ on April 20 and features covers so fresh that the originals are still on the radio. (Kelis’ “Milkshake,” anyone?) A U.S. tour, including an April 29 gig at the Hard Rock Universal City, is in the works.

“You look at a song like Sir Mix-A-Lot’s ‘Baby Got Back,’ and this is really a love song,” says Cheese, extra-sharp tongue planted firmly in cheek. “These are great lyrics, so I sing it in the same way as ‘I Got a Gal in Kalamazoo.’

“ ‘Baby Got Back’ goes in the canon with all the Rodgers and Hammerstein songs. If anyone tells you otherwise they are full of it.”

With this singer, it’s tough to tell where the comedy ends and the serious musical appreciation begins. Beyond doubt, Cheese’s voice is pure velvet -- or at least Velveeta -- hearkening a bit to Harry Connick Jr., or maybe just a doughier Clay Aiken. And the meticulous musical arrangements, no matter how modern or grating the inspiration, never miss a chance to add that extra piano flourish or slice of vocal acrobatics so typical of old-school Vegas.

But at the same time, the musician prefers not to discuss the science behind his sound or talk at all about Mark Davis. Instead the jokester fields questions as the quippy Cheese, throwing down one-liner after one-liner about, as he puts it, “gigging and swinging.”

“I am not good at doing the coexisting thing,” Davis conceded. “I can tell you where it all came from, but it distracts from what the character says, which is much more entertaining. You don’t want to look behind the curtain to see that the man is just this little guy.”

So an interview with Cheese goes something like this:

On relationships: “I wouldn’t call myself single. I wouldn’t call myself taken. I am involved with every single woman who comes to our shows and every single girl who listens to our CDs. I am very connected to these women, especially the busty ones.

“I do realize that, when you put on the tuxedo and you sing into the microphone you have an unfair advantage over the ladies. They can’t help but fall under my spell. I try to be gentle and respectful, and I usually pay for the drinks.”

On his wardrobe: “I really enjoy a good tuxedo. I have three in the act and am getting a fourth, a silver number, very reflective. I recently learned I can power small appliances with it. The tuxedo is my uniform. I am obligated by lounge law to wear it. If you see a lounge singer, and he is not wearing a tux, leave.”

On his song choices: “We try to explore the original styles that the songs were meant to be performed in. Green Day performs in a rock style, but I am sure some of those songs were written to be performed in a Hawaiian tiki arrangement. ‘Yellow’ by Coldplay. That was sung as a ballad, but it’s really an upbeat dance number.”

And on spreads the cheese.

You get a very visible reaction from the kids, says Randy Fibiger, a House of Blues junior talent buyer who apparently has the Richard Cheese lingo down pat. “Richard brings music and humor to fans that might take themselves too seriously.”

And Cheese loves the fans -- especially the locals -- right back.

“L.A. is my lady,” he said. “Really.”