‘Jason Alexander as Donny Clay’

If you don’t catch the "Seinfeld" reference, you’re probably not enough of an Alexander fan to pay up to $99 to see him live (even if he did win a Tony Award).

Donny is Alexander’s new alter ego. He’s a motivational speaker of the Tony Robbins school, only less convincing when a George Costanza smile sneaks through as he shares "the four words that spell out fortune: Get a second job."

It’s a thin but agreeable vehicle worthy of Alexander’s sly-dog charisma, if not his "Seinfeld" legacy.

The TV series became such a part of American life in the ’90s that it’s risky to categorize fans as being cut from one cloth. But 12 years down the road, it’s fair to suggest the faithful would expect Alexander’s new one-man comedy venture to come closer to the TV show’s sharp, character-driven humor.

Instead, you get double-entendres, bare breasts Photoshopped onto paintings in overhead slides, and a long segment with the star in a flesh-toned body stocking.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that, as George would say. (Donny does at one point, too.) Tourists who have slurped a few drinks might be fine just to get face time with Alexander, whose new guise preserves George’s con man tendencies, minus the self-loathing.

It’s a great concept that gives the show a logical structure. Alexander paces the stage in a toupee and expounds on projected PowerPoint bullets such as "Don’t Just Do" and "Commitment."

Donny also breaks into song now and then, tapping into the actor’s musical-theater background with "Getting to Know You," or the Carpenters’ "Close to You." It’s very nearly worth the ticket price to see him slip on a "Phantom of the Opera" mask and launch into "The Music of the Night."

Much of the stage time goes to semi-improvised banter with audience recruits. "Discomfort is good," he tells one man who is forced to lay hands on his body sock. Another — a long-married retiree — is coached on ways to put romance back into his relationship, with Donny demonstrating on the man’s wife.

The act is padded with film clips of real celebrities — from Ray Romano to Brad Paisley — describing Donny’s impact on their lives. The longest and funniest is a filmed sketch that has Donny grabbing the scrotum of "American Gladiator" Don Yates, before realizing that if he ever lets go, he will die.

That clip threatens to upstage the live action, a sure sign the antics onstage aren’t building to any real point beyond where they started. Here’s where it seems there would be room to grow, to give the character a back story.

When Donny talks about his life and family, we get a series of one-liners and visual puns on the projection screen. What if he became more real, gradually revealing the truth behind his self-help facade? Not that we would believe him either way. But slowly learning why we shouldn’t might be more fun.

If Donny sells enough tickets for Alexander and co-writer Peter Tilden to bring him back, it would be fun to see something more like our complex love-hate relationship with George Costanza. For now, it’s enough to share a wink and a wiener joke ("I stand firm and proudly erect …" ) with an actor we feel like we’ve known a long time, but are just now getting to meet.

Contact reporter Mike Weatherford at mweatherford@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0288.