01:00 AM EST on Thursday, April 1, 2004

Charlie Hall is the father of the first Rhode Island Comedy Festival. It's his brainchild, conceived three years ago. And after a long gestation, Hall delivers it today, after "all the planets lined up."

The Greenwich Odeum's 400-seat theater is available for three straight days. A couple of dozen professional comics have committed. And today is April Fool's Day.

So tonight the festival begins with the aptly named Fool Search. It's an amateur stand-up competition.

"We are looking for the most foolish person in Rhode Island," Hall says. "A non-politician, if possible."

You be the judge. The audience helps determine the winner, along with celebrity judges Steve Aveson, Bill Rappleye, Kitty Litter, Dana Nathanson, Mike Sheridan and Frank O'Donnell. Hall, John Perrotta and Doreen Collins host, with special guest Eddie Galvin.

"It will be a reality comedy show right there on stage," Hall says. "That can be unfair. If someone brings 40 people, they're probably going to win. But that's how you sell tickets."

The winner receives $500, and, most likely, an invitation to perform again.

The show starts at 7:30 p.m.; tickets are $12 at the door.

Tomorrow night at 7:30, professional comics -- including Perrotta, Mike Petit, Mary Ellen DePetrillo-Rinaldi, Frank O'Donnell, Ace Aceto, Brian Frates, P.J. Thibodeau and Rick Beretta -- perform stand-up. Hall hosts. Tickets are $15 in advance and $17 at the door.

On Saturday at 2 p.m. there's a kids show of clowning, magic and ventriloquism with Bruce and Arlene Kalver and Marlene Clark. Tickets are $7 for kids, $10 for adults, and $25 for a family package if purchased in advance.

That's followed by a night of comedy theater: excerpts from Dave Kane's Father Misgivings, the Speed of Thought Players' improvisational act, Hall's Ocean State Follies, and Collins's Boozical the Musical: The Unorganized Biography of Doreen Collins. That starts at 7:30 p.m.; tickets are $18 in advance and $20 at the door.

Tickets for a three-night package of shows are $35. For tickets and more information, call (401) 885-9119 or go online at www.greenwichodeum.org or www.ricomedyfestival.com.

The Greenwich Odeum is at 59 Main St., East Greenwich.