Brian Regan a comedian’s comedian

Throughout his stand-up career, Brian Regan has established an unshakeable reputation as a “clean comedian.” It’s mentioned in just about any feature written about him, as if that’s the genre he works in: clean.

That kind of classification carries some unfair baggage: Not only does it incorrectly suggest that comedy is inherently unclean and that Regan is deliberately subverting it, but it also implies that his material lacks edge or that he’s playing it safe.

But that’s not so, because Regan has earned the distinction of being a “comedian’s comedian” within the world of stand-up. Like Jerry Seinfeld or Mitch Hedburg or Jim Gaffigan, Regan is respected among his peers as a guy who writes impeccable, well-crafted jokes, and his routines are the kind that make other comedians weep with jealousy. That he doesn’t swear while he’s doing them is incidental.

Regan’s approachable, observational humor has made him a popular touring comedian all over the country, and he brings his act back to Spokane tonight (he was last here in 2012).

“I’m just always on the road,” said Regan from his home in Las Vegas. “I go out, I come home, I go out, I come home. It’s just a never-ending tour.”

His career began in Florida in the ’80s, where he started getting regular gigs at a local comedy club. That led to performances on the road, first as an opener and later as a headliner. He’s also recorded several comedy albums and two one-hour specials for Comedy Central, 2007’s “Standing Up” and 2008’s “The Epitome of Hyperbole.”

Even though he’s constantly traveling (his current touring schedule is exhaustive), Regan hasn’t turned into a greatest hits comedian. Although he’ll occasionally throw out a well-known routine from one of his albums, he’s always writing new material and often trying it out for the first time in front of a huge audience.

“If I think of something during the day and I’m excited about it, and I’ve got a show that night, I’m trying it that night,” he said. “Sometimes the best writing takes place onstage. If you’re doing a new bit, and they’re not laughing where you think they would, but they’re giggling at this other thing that I didn’t expect them to, then I play off that.

“It fascinates me how the brain edits in the heat of the moment,” he added. “It’s why I tape every show. Sometimes, me onstage is better than me on a yellow legal pad trying to be clever and cutesy.”

Although he said his writing process hasn’t changed much since his club days, the subject matter he writes about certainly has. “When I started comedy, I was in my early 20s and I had just come out of my childhood,” Regan said, “so I had a lot of material about playing Little League baseball and school and feeling stupid.

“Now I’m talking about the fact that my hip hurts and that I get AARP cards in the mail, things that have to do with my world. If you’re not talking about things that are actually affecting you it’s hard to sell it.”

While a lot of comedians are eager to jump ship from the stand-up beat for the greener pastures of TV or film, Regan said his ultimate rush is working in front of an audience and watching his material develop in the moment.

“I still enjoy the immediacy of it, getting onstage and finding out right then and there if something’s funny,” he said. “I still like that.”