Fan Fare

Okay. So he’s no Simon Cowell. But based on his first outing on the “American Idol” judging panel,  Aerosmith rocker Steven Tyler had the wackiness and unpredictability of  the much-loved, and much-missed Paula Abdul.

With Jennifer Lopez breaking her heart over saying no to some of the wannabe pop stars, it was left to Tyler, 62,  to inject much of the fun into the new line-up.

Whooping, clapping, hollering, and flirting with the contestants, the heavily made-up rocker also had the best of the jokes and one-liners — sometimes against himself.

“We are all here, because we’re not all there!” quipped Tyler — who has been in and out of rehab for addictions to everything from cocaine, to alcohol, to painkiller and sleep medication in his colorful 40-year stint with Aerosmith.

And even given producers’ obvious switch of emphasis to show more “good” contenders than laughable train wrecks,  it was Tyler who was quickest with the put-downs. “You scared everbody in the room,” he told the unfortunate Boy Scout who sang “My Way”.

“Did you eat a lot of paint chips as a child?” he asked another contestant.

Tyler’s sometimes foul language earned just a couple of bleeps on Wednesday, but looks likely to bring a sense of danger to the show when episodes go live in a few weeks time.

Whether he will lose hardcore Aerosmith fans, or gain a few million new ones by appearing on the show, remains to be seen.

But with his resemblance to the volatile and quirky Abdul, Tyler is starting to look like the best new “American Idol” pick yet.