The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 70

CYBER SHTICK ALERT Funnymen Mel Brooks, left, and Carl Reiner, whose justly famous 2000 YEAR OLD MAN routine was last recorded in 1973, have a new album on Rhino Records, The 2000 Year Old Man-in the Year 2000." Hear audio clips at http:www.rhino.com featuresZ72944p2.html Via Internet SECTION WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1997 Coo Angeles Stones 66 Most of the preparation here was deciding what kind of devil he would be. Everybody has an Idea about the devil or pure evil, but what Is he, how do you find him? Jumping Into the Fire i i 1 "Ah 1 By JACK MATHEWS FOR THE TIMES IV EW YORK A Method actor preparing for the role of a drug addict hangs out with junkies, and observes. When he's preparing to play a real-life cop who helped ferret out corruption among his peers, he gets to know the cop himself. But how in the devil does he prepare to play the devil? them. It smells like grass, but it's really good.

When you're working on movies where you have to smoke in a lot of takes, I recommend them." Pacino, of course, has played many characters who operate through a haze of smoke and vice. But "The Godfather's" Michael Corleone and "Scarface's" Tony Montana, to cite two, are mere soldiers in the greater crusade for evil led by Satan, whom Pacino plays, like a seductive slide trombone, in Taylor Hackford's "The Devil's Advocate," which opens Friday. Adapted from a 10-year-old novel by Andrew Niederman, "The Devil's Advocate" is the story of a hotshot Florida defense attorney (Keanu Reeves) whose unbeaten court record and gift for spotting friendly jurors lands him a job with the international firm of Milton, Chadwick, Waters in Manhattan. Charmed by the firm's charismatic boss, Pacino's John Milton, the young Please see PACINO, F3 In Al Pacino takes a walk on the dark side. Luckily, he's no stranger to these mean streets.

Both Their Homes Get Improved Television: In a strange show-biz synergy, the careers of Tim Allen and Jerry Seinfeld have intertwined and been financially rewarding for both. "There's not exactly somewhere you can go for that, is there?" says Al Pacino, settling into an overstuffed chair in a hotel suite across from Central Park. He's dressed in standard New York artist chic black shirt, black pants, black leather overcoat. A devil-red tie is knotted loosely at mid-chest. "Do you mind if I smoke these?" Pacino asks, holding up a pack of Honey Rose herbal cigarettes.

"There's no nicotine in a. 4. if By BRIAN LOWRY TIMES STAFF WRITER Though Tim Allen and Jerry Seinfeld star in different series on competing networks, their career paths keep crossing, in the process helping make them the most extravagantly compensated performers in television history. The Tim and Jerry show, in fact, has become an enormous money-making enterprise for all involved. The most recent example of this symbiosis came when Allen's representatives secured a major salary increase for the "Home Improvement" star $750,000 for each of 25 episodes this season, which is expected to escalate to $1.25 million next year based in part on the seven-figure sum paid Seinfeld for his eponymous sitcom.

Yet Seinfeld may never have been positioned to garner such riches in the first place were it not for Allen, who played an inadvertent role in putting his show on its current perch. Contemporaries from the comedy-club circuit, the destinies of Allen, 44, and Seinfeld, 43, really Please see SERIES, F5 I'T ft AS hf J) Howard Rosenberg it TELEVISION Yes, I Know It's Sick, but Still 9 SJ Perversity has been present in pop culture for years. So just how sick is some of TV getting? Sick enough that Comedy Central's "South Park," a Wednesday night animated comedy about four third-graders in the snowy Colorado Rockies, makes MTV's Beavis and Butt-head look like a couple of Republicans. You suspected something a bit lewd of center when the game of choice on the Aug. 13 premiere was "kick the baby." And when one of the kids erupted in flaming flatulence after getting a mysterious anal probe from outer-space spooks.

Aliens they'll resort to anything. As will MTV. Its first real sitcom, a new Wednesday night half hour of low-budget, laid-back Texas lunacy titled "Austin Stories," makes Please see ROSENBERG, F8 HURRAY CLOSE HIGHLIGHTS EMEMftI TIM N' JERRY: The paths of sitcom stars Tim Allen and Jerry Seinfeld keep crossing, in ways that have made them both richer and more powerful. Fl HOWARD ROSENBERG: If you agree with some of us that sicker can be healthier and funnier circle Comedy Central's "South Park" and give "Austin Stories" on MTV a try, too. Fl FAUSTIAN: How do you prepare for the role when you are playing Satan? That was the latest challenge for notable Method man Al Pacino.

Fl I hi 14 mini in Coming Thursday Home-Grown Opera Talent Although LA. isn't thought of as a prime training ground for opera singers, Hector vasquez, left, Suzanna Guzman, Greg Fedderiy and Rodney Giltry, all performers in "Florencia en el Amazonas," were either bom or trained here. F2 Fleetwood Mac's tour is coming to town, and Calendar was curious: How would the members of Fleetwood Mac Southern California area residents all spend their own "perfect" weekends around L.A.? A year after it opened, Billboard Live is showing signs of life. index Liz Smith F2 Morning Report F2 Openings F9 TV: Tonight's schedule F10 GARY FRIEDMAN Lm AngelMTimo I I.