Some entertainers shorten their names so the ADD generation can remember them, like J Lo. Stand-up comedian Alex House can’t do that, as she’d be A Ho, which is a variation of the joke she opened with on the first season of NBC’s ‘Last Comic Standing.’

House performed at Northern Kentucky University in Norse Commons April 11, and despite the small turnout she had a blast, she said.

“I had as much fun with the crowd of 30 as I would with a larger audience,” House said. “In fact I prefer smaller audiences sometimes because you can connect better with them.”

House performed to help promote her participation in the online voting competition, Purina Pet Comedy Challenge 2008 (http://www.petcomedychallenge.com).

Voting for the Purina Pet Comedy Challenge 2008 ends April 23, and people can vote once a day until the deadline.

“I’m begging anybody and everybody to go online and vote for me,” House said.

House made it to the finals in 2007, but, because of it’s a little hard to do be a comedian while giving birth, she missed the competition.

However, since there is no maternity-leave in stand-up, House performed up until two weeks before her due date, filming for the documentary “Nine Months and Still Standing.”

During her pregnancy, House fell getting offstage. She explained the difference between the reactions of a man and a woman.

A man put his beer down, drunkenly asking, “Are you alright?” A woman, asking the same question, did so while soberly running across the club.

House started taking classes on film editing to prepare for “Nine Months and Still Standing,” which she hopes to complete on her own.

“I’m just going to do it, get it done and buy it if you want it,” House said.

House has put her other side-project, writing a book on comedians hailing from Long Island (where House is from), aside until she completes the film.

Comedy legends Lenny Bruce and Jerry Seinfeld came from Long Island, and House travels to interview comics like them. She said Long Island comedians have a “brotherhood.”

“It’s an exploration into why Long Island produces the most comedians, known and unknown,” House said.

House began performing in college, eventually moving to New York City and working for Stand Up New York, paying to perform in rough rooms consisting of few audience members and comics scribbling their jokes in notebooks.

“If you can get a comic to put down their pen and paper, you know you have something good,” House said.

House’s biggest supporter coming up was Tim Davis, an Andre the Giant-looking promoter, who was her “comedy angel.”

Davis was an advocate for women’s comedy, running workshops with female comedians, but House said she isn’t the typical female comedian, as she’s invited on shows consisting of all males, aside from her.

House describes her brand of comedy as very honest, personal and opinionated. Her observations are about how she views the world, whether it’s her relationship with her family or slow drivers.

“My act is basically my life,” House said. “I don’t make things up.”

Her advice to aspiring comedians is to hone their craft locally before heading to a major comedy city.

“Find a place locally to get good, become a big fish in a little pond, then go to New York or Los Angeles,” House said.

Despite being a professional comedian for more than seven years, House still gets star-struck. She attended a sold out Robin Williams show, and crouched in the aisle due to lack of seats. In front of her doing the same thing was Chris Rock.

“We were both really into the show, acting like little kids,” House said.