the comic's comic: David Alan Grier

Producers of a Broadway revival of Terrance McNally's "Lips Together, Teeth Apart," announced that Megan Mullally and Patton Oswalt would take the leading roles when the former Off-Broadway hit from 1991 returns to New York City's bigger stages in April 2010. It's set for a limited engagement to run through June.

Oswalt played drama on the big screen this year in Big Fan, but his Broadway debut in the coming year marks yet another stand-up comedian who will learn the lines for the dramatic stage. Is this a new trend or just something we're only now starting to notice? Who's to say? A quick search of my memory and the Internet turns up at least these precedents of going from stand-up to stage:

Mario Cantone has performed in several Broadway productions since 1995. But it seems as though the connection between stand-up and Broadway began heating up in the past six years, when Eddie Izzard received a Tony Award nomination for starring in the 2003 revival of "A Day in the Death of Joe Egg." Since then, musical comedian Stephen Lynch has starred in the stage adaptation of the film, "The Wedding Singer," Bob Saget took a turn as the Man in Chair in 2007's version of "The Drowsy Chaperone," Cedric the Entertainer was part of last year's short-lived revival of "American Buffalo," and of course, the beginning of 2009 saw Will Ferrell romp on Broadway in his one-man show, "You're Welcome America: A Final Night with George W. Bush." Currently, you can see David Alan Grier in David Mamet's new play, "Race," co-starring with James Spader, Richard Thomas and Kerry Washington.

Who else am I missing from this list? Are comedians finally being taken seriously as stage performers? Discuss.

Fun fact: Do you know where David Alan Grier was last night when his stand-up performance was set to begin at Caesars Palace for The Comedy Festival? Festival staff didn't know. They caught up with him in his hotel room, where he was fast asleep! Good thing the show before his in the Palace Ballroom -- a TBS TV taping for the Cheech & Chong roast -- went an hour long, eh? That gave Grier just enough time to make his gig. Afterward, Grier talked with me about his new Comedy Central sketch show, Chocolate News. He says the comparisons to Chappelle's Show aren't really valid, though he understands why they'd say that. Grier's initial pitch? Take Bryant Gumbel's Real Sports, add In Living Color, subtract Wayans brothers. Watch and learn:

Related: If you're in New York City on Dec. 12-13, you can see Grier perform stand-up at Comix. The weekend before that (Dec. 4-7, 2008), he'll be at the Improv in Louisville.