CAMP FUJI, Japan — Foster Brooks is sitting in the club waiting to go on, and he's scared.

Brooks, who staggered onto fame playing a lush, is on his first USO tour, appearing in Japan and the Philippines. He's performed before thousands of people throughout the United States, but this audience — about 70 Marines stationed at the base of Mount Fuji — has the comedian worried.

"This'll make my ulcer flare up," he says. "I don't care who you are, or how funny you are, it's hard to make a small audience laugh."

Playing before military audiences on a USO tour is one of two dreams the 69-year-old comedian has harbored for a long time.

"For years I've wanted to do this ... Ever since World War II," he says.

But Brooks, whose fame has skyrocketed the past six years, failed his first USO audition. It wasn't until late last year that the organization called him to perform in the Hollywood Canteen.

"I told them I couldn't make it on the day they wanted me, but I asked them to line up a tour for me and this is what they came up with."

The other dream dates back to 1961 when he left his home town of Louisville, Ky., and a successful radio career for a shot at character acting in Hollywood.

Despite his success as a comedian, the character roles have been scarce.

"I've had one good role," he says. "I played a wealthy crooked lawyer on 'Policewoman.'"

There have been cameos — which he calls a "polite term for bit parts given to somebody because they've made a name for themselves" — but the big break hasn't happened yet.

The problem, oddly enough, is the role that made him famous.

"The producers tell me that audiences expect to see the lush when they see me. If I were to play a serious part, they'd be disappointed," he says.

What does Brooks think about that reasoning? In a word — hogwash.

"Producers are cold-hearted people. They don't really care about the audience being disappointed. They just want people in the theaters.

"As long as I'm alive and healthy, I'll keep trying to become a character actor," he says. "If I don't make it, I'll be disappointed, but I'm thankful for the success I've had."

That success came within $50 of never happening.

Coming to California, Brooks found that breaking into Hollywood wasn't easy, no matter how successful he had been in Kentucky. When the acting roles wouldn't come, he couldn't even fall back on what he did best — radio announcing.

"They don't care what you've done outside the state. All that counted is what you'd done in California."

It was a place called the Studio City Pitch and Putt Golf Course and Driving Range where success first came to Brooks.

"A lot of out of work entertainers hang out there. Every once in awhile I'd do something crazy to make them laugh," Brooks recalls.

"One day a guy came up to me and asked if I could make a group of people laugh for 15 or 20 minutes. I told him I didn't know. He said there was 50 bucks in it for me if I could.

"Well, for $50 I told him I'd think of something."

The event was the City of Hope's annual dinner dance and ball at the International Hotel in Los Angeles. Just before going onstage, Brooks remembered his father playing the role of a drunk who didn't want anybody to know he was tipsy.

"It was wonderful," Brooks remembers. "He'd tell the stories to me and my seven brothers to get us laughing.

"I figured what the heck, nobody knew me at the dinner dance. Why not take a shot at it there."

Twenty minutes and a standing ovation later, the portrayal of a lovable lush with the graying beard was born.

For months, that role landed him low-paying appearances at awards banquets following celebrity golf tournaments. Then, in 1971, his friend Dennis James landed him a Las Vegas appearance as the opening act for Perry Como.

Stints on the "Steve Allen Show" (14 weeks), and the "Bill Cosby Show" (26 weeks) followed, but it was his three appearances on the "Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts" in 1976 that really vaulted him to the top.

"More people said they saw me on those three roasts than on either one of the other shows," he says.

As for his role as a lush, Brooks, who has been on the wagon for 21 years, says he is not making fun of alcoholism. In fact, he was what he calls a "weekend lush" before giving up booze.

"Problem drinking is certainly not something to poke fun at," he says. "My character is based on the guy who has never been drunk in his life and he goes to the office party and gets smashed. But he's trying not to let anyone know he's drunk."

Brooks says he's never received any negative mail over what he does — although one man did write a letter to the editor condemning the role.

"As a matter of fact," he says, "this past year I was the headline performer for Alcoholics Anonymous' national convention in Las Vegas."

And his character "never got a better reception," he says.

Nearly 70, Brooks appears 15 years younger. But he says he's going to slow down on appearances.

"I retired from Las Vegas last March, and I've only got a year left to do in Atlantic City (N.J.) with Resorts, International," he says.

"I just can't keep up the pace."

For now, however, he's living his dream of playing for military audiences.

As for his other dream, he says: "I'll make it. I know I'll make it."

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