'TOO JEWISH' FOR YOU? COMEDIAN SHOWS PRIDE FOR HERITAGE.

Byline: Evan Henerson Staff Writer

``Too Jewish'' is the tongue-in-cheek title of Avi Hoffman's fireside chat-like tribute to Jewish culture and vaudeville. It's also a refrain. Many of Hoffman's jokes revolve around a famous name being changed because the previous incarnation sounded ``too Jewish.'' Hoffman dons a baseball cap sporting the Hebrew letters meaning ``good health.'' ``Do you think this hat is ...'' he asks, getting his mileage out of a strategic pause, ``... too Jewish?'' And he gets a laugh for the effort.

So is the cap too Jewish? Is anything? Hoffman certainly doesn't think so, which is sort of the point of his show which plays UCLA's Freud Playhouse through Dec. 31. It could be argued, however, that the 42-year- old actor/comedian - who has performed this material all over the country - isn't really the best person to make that call.

To his target audience, Hoffman is the performing equivalent of a warm bowl of chicken soup: comfortable, easily digested and an utter pleasure to spend time with. Will non Jews - or audiences who don't get the jokes or the cultural references - derive the same kind of satisfaction? I have no idea, but my uncertainty makes me think the answer is no.

Those on the fence should give ``Too Jewish'' a spin. Hoffman's humor is gentle, often folksy and frequently pun-laden. His rift on Jewish cowboy Big Irving - the 142nd fastest gun in the west - melds into ``Borscht Riders in the Sky.'' Or that famed unreleased Rodgers and Hammerstein musical ``Oy, Glaucoma!'' You get the idea. A joke about the intricacies of Yiddish or Yinglish (a hybrid of Yiddish and English) can be interspersed with the performer's tender rendition of a Yiddish lullaby, ``Oyfn Veg Shteyt A Boym.'' Hoffman seems genuinely moved by the material he performs.

When he turns serious, Hoffman doesn't get overly preachy, despite an obvious interest in promoting Jewish culture and creativity. The show contains a lot of performer/audience chat including a section where we play a guessing game to discover the original names of several celebrities (Leonard Rosenberg became Tony Randall, Issur Danielovitch Demsky became Kirk Douglas). Correct guesses win bagels.

As a Jewish vaudville-ian, Hoffman owes a debt to Catskills comedian Menashe Skulnik - which he repays through a fairly deft Skulnik imitation. The rest of the evening - which runs a bit long at 2 1/2 hours - is pure Hoffman with all his warmth, cultural pride and good will in attendance. Is the performance also ``too Jewish?'' Not from this corner.

``TOO JEWISH''

Where: UCLA Freud Playhouse, Westwood.

When: 8 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, 7 p.m. Sunday, 2 p.m. Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday; through Dec. 31.

Tickets: $25 to $30. Call [phone].

Our rating: Three stars

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``Do you think this hat is ... too Jewish?'' Avi Hoffman jokes about his baseball cap with its Hebrew letters as part of his saucy act ``Too Jewish,'' which plays at UCLA through Dec. 31.