AT KIMMEL'S PARTY, THERE'S DANGER IN SNOOPING AROUND.

Byline: David Kronke TV Critic

THERE'S A LINE. It's a theoretical line, somewhere on the floor between me and a dressing room. I'm standing in an overcrowded room of postshow partiers celebrating the premiere episode of ``Jimmy Kimmel Live.'' I've snuck in. (The show began its regular schedule Monday night.)

Everyone's ebullient because the program seemed a raging success, frequently off-color but in a sort of droll way. Kimmel was funny; his guests were ingratiating. His guest co-host, Snoop Dogg, boasted an anarchic sense of humor, flashing the bird repeatedly on live television. Yep, Snoop flipped off middle America to test ABC censors. Here, we have no idea how much of Snoop's gesture arrived intact in homes across America, but best guess suggests they let Snoop express himself to his naughty heart's - and digit's - content.

Now, though, Snoop's somewhere on the other side of this party line, which, if crossed by the likes of me, Snoop's people have assured me, will result in my backside being roundly, soundly kicked.

I don't cross it. I don't even consider crossing it. I'm just covering a new, hopefully fresh late-night talk show that debuted fairly spectacularly - George Clooney, Super Bowl hero Warren Sapp and the band Coldplay were guests.

Clooney has already rushed off to another party somewhere; Sapp has far more urgent celebrations to tend to. Kimmel's on hand, though, and will speak for a minute, explaining precisely how Snoop Dogg, who's serving as his guest sidekick this week, one of what is foreseen to be a continually rotating group of co-hosts, helped calm him in the early moments of his first live network broadcast. His producer, Daniel Kellison, talks for several minutes about how the show surmounted its initial jitters. Kimmel's boss, ABC Entertainment chairman Lloyd Braun, will even exult over his employee's success for a full, fulsome 90 seconds.

Only Snoop Dogg's people have sensed that I don't belong in this place and inform me of the grave, inexorable fate my posterior awaits if I venture an inch beyond where I am standing right now.

``Jimmy Kimmel Live'' comes from the heart of Hollywood Boulevard, from an elaborately remodeled Masonic building formerly employed as a mini-amusement park for moviegoers who sat through Disney animated flicks at the El Capitan Theatre next door. It will spring to life every evening about 9 p.m., and if Sunday's show was any indication, the additional foot traffic will be considerable.

Before the show began, Kimmel greeted his audience with the words, ``This is either going to be a very big night or a very humiliating experience.'' He tried to make a prank phone call (a la his Comedy Central series ``Crank Yankers'') to his aunt; she promptly hung up on him.

On the show, Kimmel naturally made comic hash out of Super Bowl hoopla. Regarding a jar of pickles with a game prediction put in the heart of Times Square as a stunt by magicians Penn & Teller, Kimmel noted, ``We're about to go to war with two different countries and the Marines are guarding pickle jars.'' He presented a shot of Snoop Dogg as a teen that suggested the rapper and ``Girls Gone Wild'' videographer would've made a good member of the AV and chess clubs in high school. ``That makes me feel better about myself,'' Kimmel said.

Clooney emerged with a bottle of vodka that he passed around to Kimmel and his guests during the show; he asked how far ABC's censors would let the show go, dropping a few choice epithets to test their mettle. Referring to Kimmel's current personal travails, he asked, ``How's that divorce going?'' (Kimmel's response: In the wake of his show's bad behavior, ``It's going faster.'')

Sapp was helicoptered in from San Diego immediately after his team's Super Bowl victory. Coldplay - whose song ``Yellow'' was used for several years by ABC as a sort of unofficial motto - performed on a stage on Hollywood Boulevard for thousands of fans, some of whom had been there for at least six hours. In the crowd, one could encounter a guy on stilts and an Elvis impersonator. Most disturbingly, there was a guy dressed as a bat - his teeth were filed as if we was ready to appear in ``Gangs of New York,'' his eyes were yellow and his nipples were pierced - and he wasn't even part of the show.

The premiere show was a hot ticket - not only did I not get into the studio audience, but neither did many others, including one of the writers' girlfriends. On the other hand, Gwyneth Paltrow, who's dating Coldplay's lead singer Chris Martin, scored as many seats as she wanted. The rest of us were, however, given free access to the show's open bar. On ``The Man Show,'' Kimmel gave his studio audience beer. For his ABC show, he's adding wine and hard liquor on the assumption that a well-greased audience will laugh that much harder.

Based on the first show, the alcohol isn't that necessary.

THE JIMMY KIMMEL SHOW

What: Newest late-night talk show, only with a twist of vodka.

Where: ABC (Channel 7).

When: 12:05 a.m. weekdays.

CAPTION(S):

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Photo:

Tampa Bay's Warren Sapp, left, caught a helicopter from San Diego to appear on the premiere of ``The Jimmy Kimmel Show,'' live from Hollywood following the Super Bowl, Sunday on ABC.