Andy Bumatai, Hawai'i's homegrown stand-up comedian, has become an after-dark fixture as host of the TV talk show "NightTime With Andy Bumatai," airing twice each weeknight on local television.

It usually tapes Mondays and Thursdays from the show's new visitor-friendly home base, the Tropics Surf Club on the grounds of the Hilton Hawaiian Village. The show began in August, in a minuscule wedge of a space at the Honolulu Design Center, a furniture showroom-restaurant complex on Kapi'olani Boulevard.

But the Hilton venue can accommodate an audience, so visitors are invited to witness the tapings. There is no admission fee, and tickets are not required. All you need is patience, to show good audience behavior and to be responsive when necessary (clapping, cheering, laughing) and quiet when the tape's rolling.

"I'm getting a little better at this thing," said Bumatai, known for his quick wit and topical humor.

But as a sit-down host of a recurring chatfest, Bumatai has had to shelve topical elements while maintaining a comedic edge that's current and funny.

And with filming on a tricky three-shows-a-night, twice-a-week schedule, the pace is often grueling.

"The monologues are a challenge," he said. "Topical (humor) is easier, but because we tape shows that air a few days later, you can't always do topical."

Another hurdle he's trying to overcome: Working the cameras instead of the house.

"I have to look at the camera's eye," Bumatai said. "Not at the audience. For me, that's hard, with my (bum) eye."

But he's learned from the masters of late-night talk shows.

"Johnny Carson has said that you work one on one with America; you have to be intimate with America," he said. "And Jay Leno said you talk to America (not the audience) ... or in my case, talk to the Islands."

And with eventual syndication as a goal, Bumatai said, it's a test to "write a completely new act for each show."

The program welcomes myriad guest stars — normally two, often three, per half-hour show — so far including actors Richard Dreyfuss and George Segal, singers Raiatea Helm and Amy Hanaiali'i Gilliom, sumotori superstar Konishiki, comedians Rip Taylor and Frank DeLima, Elvis Presley impersonator Jonathan Von Brana, 'ukulele wizard Taimane Gardner and Mayor Mufi Hannemann. Others come to hawk books, precious jewelry or a show.

"The Tropics showroom is a way better (place) for our show," Bumatai said of the beachfront venue that once was the performing home of Charo, a former Island resident famous for her cuchi-cuchi charisma.

The switcheroo, from furniture showroom to actual club setting, has resulted in a change of house band.

Out: Don Tiki, the exotic music-makers.

In: Richard Natto and the NightTime Philharmonic.

"Don Tiki decided they wanted to leave," Bumatai said.

And Natto, a member of the Society of Seven Las Vegas showroom group, was hired to assemble the Philharmonic.

"The new band has more of a rock edge," Bumatai said. "It plays better, when you come back from a (commercial) break."

The new gig is a challenge for Natto, who can play the first of the three taping segments because of the earlier timetable.

"But he has to watch the clock, and he literally has a car waiting, with driver and engine running, to make it back to Waikiki (the SOS performs at the Outrigger Waikiki Hotel's Main Showroom)."

Natto also has provided an additional element: "He wrote our 'NightTime' theme song," Bumatai said.

Reach Wayne Harada at wharada@honoluluadvertiser.com.