Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

Brad Garrett is teaming up with "Everybody Loves Raymond" cohort Ray Romano for a concert tour that will take them cross-country and conclude in April at Las Vegas's Mirage Hotel.

Garrett credits Ray with getting him back on the comedy stage. He explains that he had been making a lively living doing standup for years, but by the time "Everybody Loves Raymond" came along in 1996, "I had been spending 35 weeks a year on the road and was so burnt out I stayed away from stand-up for seven years. Then, one night, I went to see Ray at a club, and he got me up on stage — and the bug struck again. The last two years I did a little date here, a little date there, and now, well, I'm contracted to do nine weekends at The Mirage in '07, I'll be playing the Tropicana in Atlanta March 30 and 31, I have about 20 theater dates set, and I also do corporate gigs — for people who can emotionally handle it."

Garrett describes his act as "very R-rated, but not blue. People who go to see me in Vegas expecting Robert from 'Raymond' will discover it's definitely not for them."

THE VIDEOLAND VIEW: Club promoter Greg Carney, who has been dating Haylie Duff off and on for over three years, tells us it was important to keep his relationship separate from his MTV reality show, "Twentyfourseven."

"She makes a couple of appearances, but when I did this show, I told the producers that it's about my friends and me," says Carney about the series, which was initiated when he and his buddies would film themselves just for fun. "My personal life — I don't want to show that too much. You see the fact that she supports me. Other than that, we're not diving into a love romance with Haylie on TV."

Though it appears to be just one big party after another, Carney assures us he and his six show-business-wannabe pals are really working to make it in Hollywood. "There are a lot of lunches, dinners, clubs, lounges, and pool parties, but in the midst of all that we still find a way to network and do business," he claims. "People are going to make fun of us and say what they will. We're just trying to be good American citizens. We're trying to be motivated and get off our butts and stop playing Playstation and do something with our lives." Um-hm.

THE INSIDE TRACK: Former pop star Tiffany, blindingly bright red hair and all, tells us to get ready to hear her new sound when she releases her next album in March.

"I just got off tour doing my dance album, so that's why the funky hair," she quickly adds before telling us about the music.

Whew, glad we got that cleared up!

"It's going to be a live album, which is a first for me. There's no real studio stuff, so that was much easier. It's kind of like a Natalie Merchant sound. It's more organic, very earthy." Tiffany says she hopes to introduce some of the new songs this month by performing a concert in Los Angeles. And with her hair, at least she won't need spotlights.

OPEN-DOOR POLICY: "Monk" regular Ted Levine says Tony Shalhoub and the show's producers have been very gracious about letting the show's supporting players do other gigs. "I've been able to get away and do a few things," says the actor, who plays Captain Stottlemeyer in the USA Network comedy returning for the last half of its fifth season Jan. 19.

He plays Sheriff James Timberlake, who tries to hunt down Jesse James, in Brad Pitt's forthcoming "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford." Ridley Scott directs, and "Sam Shepard plays Frank James, Mary Louise Parker plays Jesse's wife, and Sam Rockwell is in it," notes Ted. "It's based on the book of the same title, and Casey Affleck plays the coward who shot Jesse James."

Levine again finds himself on the right side of the law in the Ridley Scott-directed "American Gangster," starring Denzel Washington as real-life '70s drug lord Frank Lucas. "My character's name is Lou Toback, and he's based on the prosecutor in New Jersey who actually lowered the boom on this guy," says Levine. "He had a lot to do with cleaning up New Jersey, Newark in particular, from the drugs."

THEY'LL BE BACK: With a mid-January production start scheduled, and Thomas Dekker of "Heroes" and Lena Headey set to play John and Sarah Connor, respectively, things are finally moving fast on the pilot for Fox's "The Sarah Connor Chronicles." The much-anticipated series — first announced in 2005 — that picks up a year after the action in "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" will also feature an FBI agent character whose job it is to track down the Connors, who are on the lam. That part is now being cast. (Mom and son are accused of terrorism, but of course we know their mission is to save humanity from terminators — "except California," adds a casting source.) John yearns to be a normal teenager in spite of everything.

(With reports by Stephanie DuBois and Emily Feimster)

To find out more about Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith and read their past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2006 MARILYN BECK AND STACY JENEL SMITH

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