Dan Cole, aka Common Man, spouts his nonstop nonsense, skulduggery and tomfoolery from noon to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday on air at 100.3 KFAN. In recent years, he's brought his unique blend of radio bits, everyman observations and cheap shots to the masses through his Flop Sweat and Tears stand-up comedy tour.

We caught up with him in anticipation of his two-night stay at the New Hope Cinema Grill this Friday and Saturday.

Q: When did you start doing stand-up?

A: You know, I can't even nail it down anymore. I suppose it's been about four or five years now.

Q: Who's the funniest person at KFAN?

A: Me.

Q: Well, besides you.

A: I suppose I'd say Hi-Fi, Dan Barreiro. He's got a pretty good sense of humor.

Q: How long do you plan on doing stand-up? Can you see yourself covered in flop sweat and tears a couple, 13, 14 years from now?

A: Here's the thing: I've been calling this my farewell tour, but it's like aging rock bands that have these farewell tours that last for years and years. I'll keep doing stand-up until they tell me to sit down. That's how I'll put it.

Q: If you had never gotten into radio, what would you be doing?

A: I'd be riding a mower at a golf course, probably. That's about all I'm qualified for, even though they'd still have to teach me how to do that. Either that or I would try to find some kind of product to sell to make big money. I don't know what I would sell — snake oil maybe. You know, I might be a snake oil salesman, that's what I'd probably be. You can go with that.

Q: You often describe your show as the tough-love covenant. Does that attitude transfer over to your act? How would you describe your style?

A: My style is more of a novelty act. I mean, I do stand-up comedy, but people will shout out radio bits they want me to do and I'll do them. It's still a stand-up routine, but I don't think I'll be playing in Chicago anytime soon, let's just say that.

Q: Does the ineptitude of Minnesota sports teams play into your act, or do you try to branch out a bit?

A: Oh yeah, that's a big part of it. I basically have my act split up into three chunks. One is Minnesota sports, one is Seven Outta 10, [Common Man has long proclaimed that seven out of every 10 people on Earth are just plain stupid] and the other is raising kids. Each runs about eight to 10 minutes, and I'll also ad-lib a bit, depending on what the crowd is like. But yeah, I'll take some cheap shots at the local teams, oh yeah.

Q: Do Deuce and Baby Brother Peter [his children] ever make it to any shows?

A: No, my humor tends to go a little blue. I don't work navy blue, it shades more royal blue, but it's blue enough where I wouldn't want the kids there.

Q: Do you have a favorite venue or a show from the past that sticks out?

A: I like the last one I just did at a guy's garage in Glencoe. He had a big double garage with two big overhead doors, like the kind that you would see at a car dealership, you know the ones that roll up? It was right in this guy's neighborhood, and he had a stage built with lighting and he actually had a sound system because he used to do disc jockey stuff on the side. It was really kind of weird because I pull into this neighborhood and he's got a red light outside of his house, spinning around and around like a cherry on a police car. And I come up and he's got all of these buddies of his and ­people from around Glencoe who have come out to this guy's garage for a party where he hired some stand-up comics.

Q: Really? That's pretty cool. How many people did he have out there?

A: I bet about 100, 110.

Q: You have over 50 Preposterous Statement Nominations already this year. Have any favorites emerged? What is your all-time favorite preposterous statement?

A: I don't know about this year; I haven't looked at them close enough. Tenna B [his producer] puts all of that stuff together. For all-time, it would have to be Kevin Gorg of Fox Sports North saying that a horse loses hundreds of pounds in a two-minute race. That's an all-time great one.

Q: When will be the first time you will hit the links this year?

A: Oh, I already played. I've already got 27 holes in.

Q: Where'd you hit it on one?

A: I hit it right up the middle, me boy!

Common will perform with Isaac Witty and Jamie Blanchard at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased at http://bit.ly/14euVxk.

Ben Johnson • 612-673-4499