Comedian was inspired at young age

Friday, July 11, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Comedian John Heffron’s fate was sealed when he was 11 years old and his mother bought him George Carlin’s “A Place for My Stuff.”

“I would listen to that thing and kind of memorize it,” Heffron said during a recent interview. “I didn’t understand some of the words — like what a shmuck was — and I would ask my mom.”

Heffron remembers listening again and again to the cassette tape. “That kind of dates me,” the 37-year-old entertainer says from his home in Los Angeles. It really would have dated Heffron if he had listened to Carlin on an eight-track tape or even a Stone Age vinyl LP.

The 1981 recording launched Heffron’s comedy career. The winner of “Last Comic Standing” performs at South Point this weekend. While he’s in town he’ll be shooting an hourlong special for Comedy Central, although his engagement at South Point won’t be part of the taping.

Heffron remembered meeting Carlin, who died last month a week after performing his final shows at the Orleans.

“It was in Hermosa Beach (Calif.) and he was getting ready for one of his specials,” Heffron said. “He was in the green room and he was going over his act. He did the entire act in the green room to himself. I’ve never seen a comic ever do that. It was pretty impressive. You see a lot of comics talking to themselves, working out a new bit. But I’ve never seen anybody do an entire act.

“The work ethic of Carlin was incredible. After he passed I went online to download ‘A Place for My Stuff.’ I hadn’t heard it in years. I didn’t realize how many albums that guy had. It’s pretty inspiring.”

Heffron’s work ethic has been impressive as well.

The Detroit native was a teenager when he became a professional comedian, paid for what he had been doing for free for years.

“I was 18,” he said. “It was at a bowling alley. They paid me 25 bucks, so I’m counting that.”

Heffron wasn’t inspired only by Carlin. He had cassettes by Bill Cosby, Eddie Murphy and others. Those cassettes sort of shaped his style. He doesn’t do one-liners. He talks about his life, tells stories. Looks for the humor in situations.

He did stand-up comedy through college and has been on the comedy circuit ever since.

“In the ’80s it was kind of like the heyday of stand-up comedy,” Heffron said. “I came in right at the end of that.”

He says he wasn’t really affected when the comic bubble burst at the end of the ’80s.

“I was still working on my craft while I was in college,” he says. “By the time I got out of college, I was performing at colleges around the country. When the comedy boom hit again, when improv started popping up all over the place, I had the legs and the conditioning for it.”

In 2004, he was the winner of the second season of “Last Comic Standing.”

“That was a tremendous boost,” Heffron said. “People still recognize me from that.”

He’s done a lot of TV, including “The Tonight Show” with Jay Leno and Comedy Central.

He’s no stranger to Vegas.

“Way back in the day I was a regular at Harrah’s Improv. “I was there every couple of months.” And he sometimes worked at the Monte Carlo.

Heffron’s previous Vegas gig was a few months back when he performed at a convention, a private event held in a room that could seat 5,000 people.

“It was a huge room,” he said. “The convention was for guys who make trailer hitch balls — you know, the ball that you attach the trailer hitches to. Only like 30 guys showed up in this huge concert hall. That was the last time I was in Vegas.

“But it was a great show, though.”