Brian Regan's comedy of anxiety

Though it took him until college to realize he belongs on stage, Brian Regan says he's wired to perform stand-up comedy.

"There's nothing more exciting than standing backstage before the show and hearing the increasing murmur of the crowd as it gets closer and closer to showtime," he said.

"When I first started comedy, I loved that scary feeling of not knowing if a joke was going to work or not," Regan said in an interview ahead of his performance at Northrop Auditorium this Saturday. He spoke at length about "those butterflies you feel in your stomach" when he was invited to give the 2008 commencement address at his alma mater, Heidelberg University in Ohio.

"Most of the most memorable experiences in my life are things that happened right after that feeling," Regan said.

When he was a student at Heidelberg, he initially majored in accounting. It wasn't long before he discovered that crunching numbers wasn't going to give him any buzz. Rather, he was interested in the feeling he got from his speech class, where he made a point to ensure that his speeches were entertaining for himself and his classmates. That eventually landed Regan in front of the crowd rather than boxed into a cubicle.

"What's weird is people try to avoid that feeling in your gut," Regan said. "You shouldn't avoid it, you should seek that out." Embracing those good nerves has paid off for the natural funnyman, who's mastered the art of acting on that anxiety and channeling it into creativity.

Since his type of creative energy lends itself to spontaneity, he makes sure to tape every show. "Some of the best writing, I think, takes place on stage," Regan said. "While you're up there in the heat of the moment, there's something that goes on in my brain that goes, 'Say it this way!' and it comes out in a much tighter, better way than what I had written down."

"He stays true to the art form. His stuff is very silly but smart. It's fun and dark, but it's never mean and it's never gross," said Jackie Kashian, a Wisconsin-born stand-up veteran and former Minneapolitan who has toured with Regan this year.

"He respects the audience and he respects the craft," Kashian added. "For the goofiest dude in the world, he's incredibly smart."

Regan said that his early ideas were very quirky. "My parents told me I was named after Thomas Jefferson," went one of his first jokes. "Well, that's confusing, what do you mean I was named after Thomas Jefferson? 'No,' they said, 'you were named after Thomas Jefferson. Like years after.' "

Other fans include Jerry Seinfeld, who featured Regan on an early segment of his "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee" Web series. David Letterman has invited Regan to perform on "The Late Show" almost 30 times in 20 years, more than any other comedian.

Gigs like Letterman keep him on his toes. "I still get nervous," Regan admits. "It depends on the situation. I'm much more comfortable in front of audiences that are there to see me. If my name is on the marquee and people are holding tickets with my name on it then I know I'm walking out to a friendly audience. When I do a TV spot like Letterman, that TV audience isn't there to see me. They're there to watch Dave Letterman and watch a TV taping and I just happen to be one of the people on the show."

Regan's collegiate departure from accounting led him to some theater classes, where he learned a slew of tactics that he still uses to command a presence. "One of the things I remember learning was you're supposed to fill up your stage," Regan said. "That includes physicality, acting things out. I want it to be a visual experience in addition to an experience of words."

Regan knows full well that there's much more to stand-up comedy than telling jokes. He likened getting on stage at Red Rocks to getting into the pilot's seat. "You need to grab the controls and fly that thing," he said.

His theater background is apparent in his signature hilarious cinematic bits — "vignettes," as he calls them. "It's usually me and another character or me and an inanimate object," Regan said. "It's me and the eye doctor, or it's me and a flight attendant, or it's me and a refrigerator, or it's me and a microwave.

"Basically, my jokes are these little one-minute plays, but I'm not a good enough writer to write a play that lasts more than a minute," he added. "So I write a hundred different plays and I string them together like a string of pearls and I call it a comedy show."

Regan tours relentlessly, returning to the same cities often. He recalls a time around 15 years ago when he kept touring the same material for too long. He felt stagnant. Impressively, he now makes a point to bring new material each time he comes to town. "I started rededicating myself to making sure I was bangin' out new jokes," Regan said. "I like to make sure I'm always throwing new stuff out there. I describe it as 'running on virgin snow.' It's fun to make new footprints."

"One thing I do now is, when I'm on stage, I try to imagine myself out in the middle of the audience," Regan said. "I go, 'What would make me laugh? What would entertain me?' That I can accomplish. I can figure out what makes me laugh. I can't figure out what makes the other thousand people laugh."

Kashian compares touring with him to Rocky Balboa. "You want to be a good sparring partner.

"His audiences are a theater audience, so they've eaten and drank before they got there," Kashian added. "They're incredibly well-behaved and they're ready to laugh."

Regan said performing in the Midwest is especially enjoyable. "I have wonderful experiences in Minneapolis. First of all, audiences are smart and they're paying attention and all of that, but they're also gracious, you know? They're happy that you're there."

Brian Regan

Where: Carlson Family Stage at Northrop, 84 SE. Church St., Mpls.