Stand-up comic Joy Behar, a former secretary who worked for ABC’s “Good Morning America,” parlayed her exposure at clubs like Catch a Rising Star and the Greene Street Cafe, into her own talk show (“Way Off Broadway with Joy Behar”) on the Lifetime network. Mario Cantone, another talented young comic, was recently signed up as the host of a new children’s show for WWOR called “Steam Pipe Alley.” And Colin Quinn is now the announcer on MTV’s new show “Remote Control,” a show hosted by yet another stand-up veteran, Ken Ober.

There isn’t enough room here to list the many other comics who’ve derived TV (ahem, Brian Mung), film or commercial work from appearing in the clubs. It’s safe to say, however, that their number is rapidly growing, and, good or bad, the end appears to be nowhere in sight.

“It’s a situation that is accelerating at a very rapid pace,” observes Cary Hoffman, owner of the uptown club Stand-Up New York, “and one which is altering stand-up tremendously. We’re seeing comics today developing cleaner, more generic acts–television

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