Funny business at City Hall

Dane Cook could not stop grinning yesterday. Still sporting a smart suit from his Dane Cook Day celebration at City Hall, the pride of Arlington said taking his family to meet with Mayor Tom Menino and being honored by Councilor John M. Tobin Jr. at the City Council meeting was downright moving. "I am not a person who gets nervous, but I love seeing my family excited," the actor-comedian said. "I can't believe I'm seeing them, seeing this, happen to me." He and the mayor talked comedy, and Cook now believes they're kindred spirits. "I think he handles the city the same way I do comedy, always looking to improve it." It'd be tough to improve on Cook's cinematic love interests - he's now starred with Jessica Alba, Jessica Biel, Jessica Simpson, and Kate Hudson. (Their shot-in-Boston comedy, "My Best Friend's Girl," hits theaters tomorrow.) But he thinks he and Hudson had the best comic synergy. "She has a terminator exo-skeletal funny bone," he said. "And, of course, her laugh just lights up a screen."

Get used to seeing Boston comic Shane Mauss on TV. Mauss, who appeared on Comedy Central this summer, is on Showtime's "Comics Without Borders" tonight, and makes his third appearance on "Late Night With Conan O'Brien" tomorrow. The Conan gig came together quickly: Mauss sent producers a DVD of some new material two weeks ago, and they got back to him the very next day. He's becoming something of a regular. "I definitely feel that way," he told us. Mauss has been performing steadily since his second appearance on Conan last year. "This is going to be my best one because I can't decide which jokes to cut," he said. "I've gotten a lot better." You can catch him in person at Mottley's Comedy Club tonight and at the Comedy Studio Sunday.

"Barfly" director Barbet Schroeder has accepted Alice Kelikian's invitation to screen his new movie at Brandeis tonight. Called "Terror's Advocate," the documentary is about Jacques Vergès, the French lawyer who's defended the likes of Pol Pot, Carlos the Jackal, and Klaus Barbie. (Schroeder, Oscar nominated for "Reversal of Fortune, will also do a Q&A.) Earlier in the day, we're told Schroeder will meet up in Cambridge with fellow director Errol Morris.

Congrats to Joe Perry's son Adrian, who just married girlfriend Anne Cortina at the Church of the Holy Trinity in Philadelphia's fashionable Rittenhouse Square. Adrian, whose mother is Joe's ex, Elyssa, plays with brother Tony in TAB the Band. (Yes, TAB played at the reception and, yes, Joe, joined his two sons on stage for a few tunes.)

The cast of "A Chorus Line" celebrated opening night with a party at blu. The crowd included director Bob Avian and no fewer than three Cassies: Leslie Woodies, a Harvard dance prof who played Cassie in an '80s touring production of "A Chorus Line," Nikki Snelson, who plays Cassie in the show at the Opera House, and Kirsten McKinney, who was Cassie in a local production directed by Woodies.

Who's that standard-issue blonde on the October cover of Allure? Why it's a very air-brushed, almost unrecognizable Ellen Pompeo. But inside the mag, Everett's favorite actress gets the full cover treatment in a photo spread that shows her working every hair color and wearing everything from a feather dress, to a sheet, to a monkey. Juicy tidbit: She and hubby Chris Ivery are cramming in all the fun they can, in case the 38-year-old decides it's time for a baby. "We go to Europe and sleep in," she said. "So when I have the baby, I won't feel like we've missed any fun, reckless times together, like staying up all night drinking champagne and having sex until five in the morning and not having to get up until two in the afternoon. But I've got to get on it, because the clock is ticking."

Greg Kinnear received the Boston Film Festival's "best actor" award after last night's screening of "Flash of Genius." Kinnear and director Marc Abraham both attended the screening at the Kendall Square Cinema, and answered questions from fans afterward.

Celeb stylist and Harper's Bazaar fashion editor Mary Alice Stephenson was in town for the first time since she graduated from BU with a journalism degree in 1992, and she found herself wowed by all the treasures on Newbury Street. "This is my new favorite place," she raved, after lunch at Stephanie's yesterday. "The shopping is insane." Last night, she was advising fashionistas on all the latest trends at a MasterCard event at Saks. (She should know, she's dressed Drew Barrymore, Jessica Biel, and many other A-listers.) Good news: Boston's quite fashion forward this fall. "You're definitely more conservative [here]," she said, "and everything is very elegant right now."

The drama didn't end when Anna Deavere Smith took a bow at the American Repertory Theatre Tuesday. In the audience at the opening-night performance of "Let Me Down Easy" were legendary actresses Lauren Bacall and Julie Harris, and they shared a lengthy hug after the show. (Harris had come from the Cape for the occasion.) The leading ladies, who have seven Tony Awards between them, weren't the only luminaries in the house. Also spotted were Harvard honchos Henry Louis Gates Jr., Lani Guinier, and Stephen Greenblatt; novelist Claire Messud; actress Annette Miller; therapist and former "Knot's Landing" star Constance McCashin; and photojournalist Cheryl Diaz Meyer and jockey's agent Ruben Muñoz, both of whom Smith portrays in the show. ART artistic director Diane Paulus was wearing a small bandage on her nose after having a growth removed. Paulus said some friends had teased her about having "work" done before assuming her new high-profile post.

Globe correspondent Nick Zaino contributed. Names can be reached at names@globe.com or at 617-929-8253.