If there was any lesson to be taken from last night’s 8 p.m. show at the Palm Beach Improv that was 3/5 Wayans family hijinks, it’s that the club is not messing around when it warns guests not to talk back to the comedians.

And the couple sitting near the front whose male half couldn’t help but debate Marlon Wayans’ defense of President Barack Obama found that out when, after failing to heed the directions of the rather large and insistent security guard who told him to pipe down, they were escorted out of the club. They weren’t even allowed to come back and get the female half’s purse and jacket (security came back and fetched it for her). Even with the momentary brouhaha, the show went on. Comedy may not be pretty, but it does have a bouncer.

As for the happenings onstage, Marlon and brother Shawn, of “The Wayans Brothers,” “Scary Movie” and “White Chicks” fame, led a raucous comedy party featuring themselves, niece Shaunte, host Wil Sylvince and Miami radio and E! News personality Michael Yo, who impressed in only his second ever stand-up gig. While results varied, it made for a funny, if slightly long, evening of comedy.

Because they’re known for movies and television appearances more than for stand-up, the crowd could be forgiven for not knowing quite what to expect from Marlon and Shawn’s sets. Marlon, who just started doing such gigs in preparation for playing Richard Pryor on the big screen, opened for the more experienced Shawn. But surprisingly, the relative novice’s shorter set was crisper, quicker, more clever and ultimately funnier. It’s not that Shawn’s not funny- the so-called family pretty boy has an impressive command of the stage and a lovely deep voice.

But while Marlon’s set veered into varied territory like how taste is generational (“Who’s Michael Jordan? That bald man selling Hanes T-shirts to Charlie Sheen?,” he quotes his young son as saying), Shawn’s material was stuck too often in initially funny but increasingly tired jokes about penis size and ejaculation. Of course, anyone who’s seen their work should expect that kind of thing. But there is no joke about male anatomy that’s funny for 45 minutes.

Marlon, on the other hand, showed not only impressive charm, between the penis jokes, but a deft, energetic control of his various topics, which ranged from the debates with his son, who also believes that Rihanna is the greatest singer in the world, why white people were especially heartbroken about Tiger Woods’ public troubles (“That’s my Cablanasian!”) and why now Tiger might be ready to take his seat at the BET Awards next to fellow errant brother O.J. Simpson. He was particularly emphatic during his bit about Obama, and how his inheritance of the previous administration’s problems was like coming into the men’s room and being blamed for the mess the previous occupant left in the stall.

That the ex-audience members couldn’t contain their displeasure with Wayans’ opinion about the president not only proved the comic’s point about the lack of respect some people have about Obama, but provided something I haven’t seen at a comedy show in a while – political discourse that actually makes people mad enough to think, other than tired jokes about Obama’s race, George W.’s intelligence and Clinton’s libido. That unexpected discourse elevated the night, even with all the penis jokes. Which, once again, can be funny. But not all at once.

I admit to not having been a fan of “The Hills” – if I want to listen to stilted conversations between people I don’t know, I can just take the Tri-Rail. (Also, Spencer Pratt makes me twitchy). But I always though cast member Audrina Patridge was pretty, and I enjoyed her on ‘Dancing With The Stars” last season. Actually, I thought she should have been in the top three and was robbed by the tsunami of votes for another unlikely finalist who I will not name because, honestly, I don’t want the emails.

Anyway, I heard that Audrina was going to be in Palm Beach for the weekend. She rubbed shoulders with the pretty people at the International Polo Club in Wellington and took a private polo lesson from equally pretty polo player Nic Roldan. And on Saturday night, she partied at the island’s 251 The Club. It’s a gorgeous space, and Audrina fit right in. She hung out on a banquette with Nic, antique dealer Cedric DuPont, and public relations maven Shamin Abas (who, in full disclosure, I must tell you is a friend).

I didn’t get to meet Audrina,  but I walked by her a couple of times enough to say that she’s even prettier in person. She’s also thinner than she appears on TV, but I imagine that’s the thing with the cameras adding a few pounds. She also seemed pretty nice, making conversation, smiling and looking like she was enjoying herself. I can’t imagine what it’s like trying to do that with everybody looking at you. Then again, she’s a celebrity, so I guess that’s in the job description.

More: American Idols LIVE! concert details, nearby dining

Sometimes, Michael Lynche looks back over the incredible turn his life has taken since last summer, from his audition for “American Idol” at the exact moment that his first child was born, his success on the show and the current tour that’s currently introducing to fans old and new. And sometimes he’s overwhelmed with the sheer weight of all the hard work, sacrifices and time away from the people he loves.

But he wouldn’t change it.

“Some days I think ‘Can I just kind of wake up from this?’” laughs Lynche, 27, a St. Petersburg native who finished fourth in Idol’s tenth season. “I think ‘Would I do this again if I knew how it was gonna play out?’ I really try to focus on the task at hand, but the big picture is pretty nuts! Being away from the baby…My wife and I decided that we really wanted to be successful, and knew a lot of that would come from me working really hard on my music. We talked about it, thought about it. It’s hard being away from them. But if this is what it takes, I’ll take the good with the bad.”

Luckily, there’s been a lot of good in Mike Lynche’s life lately. Besides the rush of being on “Idol,” where he impressed with his Maxwell-esque brand of neo-soul swagger touched with a righteous rock tinge, he’s loved being on tour with the other members of the season’s Top 10, including winner Lee DeWyze and runner-up Crystal Bowersox.

“One of the amazing things is being able to thank the fans and to let them know that we’re just regular kids trying to find our dreams,” he says. “We had the studio audience there during the show, and they were amazing, but it’s the people at home who really make that show. We see the T-shirts, the hard core ones who come to the tour, and really do love us all.”

Because it’s impossible to know exactly who’s there at home voting for you every week, Lynche says he was surprised that how many of the fans on tour wearing Big Mike shirts are the teenage girls that everyone expected to be big fans of DeWyze and of Tim Urban and his perfect Bobby Sherman hair – “I knew that (my fans) were older, like family, with moms, dads and grandparents, even, but that was a surprise!,” he says. “You know who is out there from the feedback you get, but out in the world it’s been very interesting to see.”

Lynche says he knew he had fans, but not specifics about what they – or the non-fans – might be saying about him online, because “I stopped reading that stuff after the first week. There’s not really a point to it. To me the game plan was that it was important to keep my confidence the way it was when I came in,” he says. “I didn’t want to lose confidence or get a big head. I wanted to keep it right down the middle and not (internalize) anything anyone had to say good or bad about me. I really live off the support I get from my wife and my family. Are they proud of me? Then there’s no reason to read it. People have opinions, and that’s one of the fun things about the show!”

He says he’d suggest that future “Idol” contestants do the same – “Don’t even worry about it. There’s always going to be a 9 to 1 ratio of good stuff to the bad stuff, but you always remember the bad.”

It’s a big week for graduates of West Palm Beach’s Dreyfoos School Of The Arts: Days before Billy Bell (hopefully) defends his spot on “So You Think You Can Dance,” 25-year-old Erin Krakow, of Wellington, makes her debut tonight on Lifetime’s “Army Wives.”

Krakow, the only Dreyfoos grad ever accepted to the prestigious Drama department of the Juilliard School (Bell, interestingly enough, is on leave from studying dance at Juilliard), will play the recurring role of Specialist Tanya Gabriel, a medic in Afghanistan who becomes the love interest of Jeremy Sherwood (Richard Bryant). She currently lives in New York City but filmed her part on “Army Wives” in Charleston. S.C., where the show is located.

I haven’t seen it yet, but I’ll watch tonight’s show and report back. Go, Dreyfoos!

Last year, Dreyfoos School for the Arts graduate Billy Bell was looking forward to making his hometown proud as a competitor on FOX’s “So You Think You Can Dance,” … until, suddenly, he wasn’t.

“I don’t think anyone was more heartbroken than I was,” admits Bell, 20, who had to drop out of the show at the very beginning of the competition when he was diagnosed with mono. Although he had taken a break from his studies at the Juilliard School to do the show and was understandably disappointed, the setback “made me want to work harder. At the same time, watching the season didn’t hurt at all because I still had my family of dancers on the show. It was great just to watch them go through that tough experience. And now, I have an even bigger family.”

And that’s because Bell, of Loxahatchee Groves, is back on the show this season, preparing Wednesday to dance his heart out in order to stay in the competition. Across the country and back here at home, his friends and family are rallying to keep him in the mix. He relies on that support, he says. Read the full story

By CAROL SAUNDERS

Eight aspiring actors from the Treasure Coast are getting an opportunity to learn how to act from Hollywood legend Burt Reynolds.

They’re part of a Master Acting Class at the Burt Reynolds Institute for Film and Theatre at the Burt Reynolds & Friends Museum in Jupiter. The class has 35 students.

A key component at the institute is to provide a training facility for would-be professional actors and prepare them to obtain jobs in the industry.

Read the full story

Lisa Loeb plays for kids and their parents at Genius Jones in Boca Raton. (Taylor Jones / Palm Beach Post)

Photos: Lisa Loeb at Genius Jones, Boca Raton

Four-year-old Simone Spanbroek may not know the exact identity of the nice lady in the glasses and the khaki shorts who tuned her little purple guitar Friday afternoon. But her mother sure does.

“I love, love, love her!,” gushed Suzanne Spanbroek, of Boca Raton, as her daughter adorably showed off the bright instrument that singer Lisa Loeb had just handled at Genius Jones, a quirky children’s store in Boca’s Mizner Park shopping area. “I have since the early ’90s.”

Read the full story

Pounding his piano in blue-tinted sunglasses before nearly 50,000 screaming fans, Elton John took center stage in a battle over Israel’s image.

The legendary British rocker’s concert on Thursday night followed a string of cancellations by artists like Elvis Costello and the Pixies. Resisting a growing wave of calls from pro-Palestinian activists to boycott the Jewish state, John gave Israelis a rare reason to smile amid their increasing sense of international isolation.

“Ain’t gonna stop me from coming here, baby,” he told the cheering crowd in Tel Aviv, saying he believed music should spread peace and bring people together: “That is what we do. We do not cherry-pick our consciences, OK?” he added, in an apparent swipe at the artists who have canceled concerts in Israel.

John’s concert was notable precisely because Israel seems to be losing the battle against the country’s isolation worldwide. That isolation was exacerbated after Israel’s May 31 naval raid on a flotilla trying to break the blockade of Gaza spiraled into violence that left nine Turkish activists dead in a clash with troops.

Read the full story

If any state had the right to claim Betty White as its Beloved Elder, it would be Minnesota. In her two most iconic roles, she played happy homemaker Sue Ann Nivens, who scandalized Minneapolis in The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and naive Rose Nylund, whose St. Olaf roots informed her every earnest reaction on The Golden Girls.

But these days, everyone wants to adopt the comic legend. At age 88, White has reluctantly agreed to host this weekend’s edition of Saturday Night Live, a gig sandwiched between her scene-stealing turn in The Proposal and the start of her umpteenth sitcom, Hot in Cleveland, which debuts in June on TV Land. Read the full story

James Cameron

PASADENA, Calif. — Avatar director James Cameron is helping to build a high-resolution 3-D camera on the next-generation Mars rover.

The camera will be mounted atop Curiosity, the next rover mission to Mars set for launch next year.

Pasadena’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory scaled back its plans in 2007 to mount a 3-D camera atop Curiosity because the upcoming flagship mission to Mars was consistently over budget and behind schedule.

But Cameron lobbied NASA administrator Charles Bolden for inclusion of the 3-D camera during a January meeting, saying a rover with a better set of eyes will help the public connect with the mission.

Bolden was convinced.

San Diego-based Malin Space Science Systems is now building the 3-D mast camera with Cameron listed as co-investigator.

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Information from: Pasadena Star-News, http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/