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WEDNESDAY

Back when cable TV was considered not-real television, it had its own awards show, the ACE Awards. The acronym stood for “award for cable excellence.” It sounded oxymoronic then, and it still does, even when the ACEs are gone and Sex and the City and The Sopranos are winning all the Emmys. Which is not to denigrate the ACE that Allan Havey was nominated for. He should have won something for Night After Night, his late-night talk show in the early days of Comedy Central. But as Ted Koppel is discovering, intelligence, wit, and gentle banter are a hard sell at that hour. So we get idiocies like The Man Show. And what does it say that there are more search-engine hits for the misspelling of Havey’s first name than for the correct, two-L version? Perhaps that Havey’s audience is not the great unwashed, but those refined individuals who can appreciate subtlety and nuance. People like you. So go see him. Havey performs until next Saturday, but tonight he starts at 8:30 p.m. at the Improv, 1140 Connecticut Ave. NW. $15-$17. (202) 296-7008. (Dave Nuttycombe)