Ask comedian Larry Miller about his first appearance on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" and he'll tell you it was interesting.

That's his short answer.

The longer answer is a tear-inducing story involving his friend Jerry Seinfeld, a missing pair of pants and an agent with a bump on his head.

After listening to him tell the tale during a phone interview, it's easy to understand why Seinfeld has said Miller "will always be the funniest guy I know."

The 58-year-old comedian will share his talent with a Lincoln audience Saturday night when he presents his one-man show, "Cocktails With Larry Miller," at the Lied Center for Performing Arts.

Produced and directed by Nebraska native and comedian Pat Hazell, "Cocktails" features Miller sharing stories, music and more about children, relationships and marriage. And, yes, there will be cocktails.

"This is something I couldn't do on Letterman or Leno or in a nightclub, but it's something I love and very much something I hope to be doing as long as I'm alive," Miller said of his theater piece.

You may not know Miller by name, but his face is quite familiar, thanks to his extensive film and television resume. He has appeared in more than 50 movies, including "Pretty Woman," "10 Things I Hate About You," "The Princess Diaries" and "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang."

His other connection to a Nebraskan, outside of Hazell and Carson, is Lincoln native Lindsey Shaw, who starred in the ABC Family reboot of "10 Things I Hate About You." Miller reprised his film role in the television drama series, playing the single father to sisters played by Shaw and Meaghan Martin.

As for Carson, Miller performed stand-up on "The Tonight Show" more than 20 times when Carson was the host, but he said his first time may have been his most memorable. Miller guessed that was 25 years ago. He already had performed several times on talk shows hosted by David Letterman, Merv Griffin and others.

"But this was 'The Tonight Show,'" he said. "It's the one that everyone wanted to do."

After he finally booked a spot on the show, Seinfeld, who already had appeared two or three times, told Miller he needed a new suit and took him "one of those places in Beverly Hills that doesn't have a name on the front," where he purchased a black, double-breasted Armani suit.

On the day of his performance, Miller and his agent, Tom Stern, picked up the suit in Beverly Hills and headed to the "Tonight Show" studios in Burbank.

"I'm edgy, but not nervous," Miller recalled. "I'm feeling good. This is wonderful. It's a very, very good moment."

Those good feelings lasted right up to 20 minutes before the taping of the show started. That's when Miller discovered his new suit had no pants.

"I stood there blinking at it, and Tom said, 'What's wrong?'" Miller said. "I said, 'No pants.' He said, 'What do you mean?' And I said, 'No pants.' That was somehow the only two words that I could say. He said, 'What do you mean no pants?' and I said, 'No pants."

That's when Stern panicked and in an attempt to get help, he ran out the door, turned the wrong way and smacked into a concrete wall.

"Immediately, a lump grew on his forehead that I began calling 'Little Tom,'" Miller said.

Miller said he called the store with the secret name, which acknowledged the pants were still there.

"I said it might be nice if the pants were here," he said.

The store said it would send them over immediately. By then it was 5:15 p.m., just 15 minutes before the start of the show.

"In the middle of the night, by missile, it would still take a half-hour to get to Burbank," he said. "I thought, this isn't going to happen."

In the meantime, the wardrobe people found another pair of black pants to go with the suit jacket, but they had a flaw.

"These pants apparently had last been worn by William Conrad," Miller said. "I'm not exactly built like Christian Bale, but these pants had to be a 58 to 64 waist. There was a good foot of material when you pinched it in the back."

Miller declined to wear them, choosing instead to wait backstage -- in his suit jacket and boxers -- for his pants to arrive.

He was still pantless when Carson went into his introduction. That's when he decided to put on the oversized trousers. But just before Carson finished the intro, his agent came running up with his pants. Miller did a quick change. He headed on stage without a belt but was able to button his suit jacket.

His set went well despite the wardrobe malfunction. He was lauded by Carson for his performance.

"That's when I learned something I've never forgotten," he said. "There are two kinds of people in life. … The two kinds are when something goes wrong you either fall apart and get angry and yell at someone or you just start laughing. I'm on the laughing side. It's just life."