Tuesday night, while Godzilla was busy attacking New York City, El Nino was attacking Buffalo. Actually, in this case, El Nino was veteran comedian Angel Salazar in a diaper, squirting the crowd with two king-sized super-soakers and threatening to make thunder if they got out of hand.

Once openers Randy Kagen and Curtis Jay had warmed the place up, Salazar hit the room running for the first in a six-night engagement at Funny Bone Comedy Club. The comedian walked through the side doors carrying a boom box twice his size, sporting natty dreadlocks, and bouncing from table to table to a techno beat. When he finally danced his way up to the stage and let rip his trademark, "Sheck it out!" he already had the audience on his side. The shades and the hair came off to reveal a pint-sized Latino comic with a powerful punch. Except the first jab didn't land exactly how Salazar might have hoped.

"You all remember me from the movies?" he shouted. The crowd went silent for a moment before someone yelled, "No!" Salazar, who was in "Scarface" and "Carlito's Way," was not easily intimidated. He stood up on a chair and looked out over the audience. "Hey, I don't have to do this for money, you know. I could be out robbing your house." Then he smiled slowly and started to laugh - a high-pitched chuckle that would eventually spread through the room. "Play with me."

That summed up the night perfectly. Salazar played with the crowd as much as he played to the crowd. He danced with them on stage, walked out and talked to them, bought one young lady in the front row a drink, and called them out as they came into the room or got up to use the bathroom. No one was safe, especially if they were from Batavia or Tonawanda. The man did his homework, even if someone did shout out to him that there is no Route 84 in Buffalo during one bit. "The joke's going to work anyway, lady. Relax." He was finally able to change it to the 290 and move on.

One of the funniest moments of the night came when Salazar got a little unexpected audience participation. Salazar played Richard Simmons to an audience member who was supposed to "sweat to the oldies" with him. He egged the man on, dancing to "Walk Like a Man," until the man's cha-cha got a little too intimate and he pulled Salazar up close. The comic couldn't help but laugh and give the man the stage for a few moments while he recovered. He clarified that wasn't part of the act.

Throughout the show, Salazar peeled off several layers of clothes to become whatever character he was playing at that moment, from Bruce Springsteen to Rod Stewart to Boy George. The impressions were a bit old, but surprisingly effective, and the audience seemed too into the show to notice they were laughing at what, in some cases, were songs that were popular over a decade ago. Salazar was having as much fun as they were, and it seemed he could have done almost anything.

And then he did.

After three or four impressions, Salazar was down to his little Simmons skivvies, and there didn't appear to be much left to go. That's when the crowd got a taste of El Nino. The striped shorts and tank top came off in favor of a diaper. Salazar stood on a stool and sprayed the crowd with two rifle-sized squirt guns, effectively stopping any good-natured heckling. From there, he nixed the Huggies to do his own version of "The Full Monty," complete with g-string, hard hat, and baby oil. Again, he found a willing dance partner in the front row, who stuffed a dollar into the waistband of his thong.

With nothing left to peel down to, Salazar ended the show smiling, and the audience left the same way.