The gritty and unpredictable comic Mark Normand returns

“I was brought up under the roller coaster in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn. Maybe that accounts for my personality, which is a little nervous.” -Annie Hall

Alvy Singer, the protagonist from Woody Allen’s classic “Annie Hall” has something in common with comic Mark Normand. The veteran humorist grew up in a dilapidated mansion in New Orleans’ notorious Treme Neighborhood.

“It was a weird place to grow up in since we were constantly getting robbed,” Normand said while calling from New York. “It definitely had an impact on me. I would often walk into the house and someone would be in my dad’s office stealing a computer or something.

“But our house was usually a disappointment for criminals. They would wander into our weird home and find that there was really not much worth stealing.”

Normand’s life was molded by living in a perpetual fixer-upper in a dodgy neighborhood in a wild and unpredictable city.

“I reflected on how and where I grew up since I was a mess in college,” Normand said. “I was flunking out of college. I was a rudderless alcoholic.”

Comedy saved Normand, who discovered he was passionate about writing and delivering humor.

“I ended up succeeding with a job that most people don’t look at as realistic,” Normand said. “But comedy is real. The jokes are the truth. The funniest stuff isn’t made up.”

George Carlin, Mitch Hedberg, Bill Burr, Greg Giraldo and Steven Wright are some of Normand’s comedic heroes.

“All of those guys are comic legends to me,” Normand said. “George Carlin could do it all, social commentary, jokes. I’ve been into comedy ever since I was a little kid.

“I was a big Groucho Marx fan. He was the funniest, weirdest guy. Who would have ever thought that I would follow in their footsteps as a comic?”

Normand, who will appear Friday and Saturday before a sold-out crowd at the Spokane Comedy Club, is an inveterate stand-up. The gig is not a stepping stone to a sitcom or a film.

“I have nothing against that kind of work,” Normand said. “It’s just that I like to focus on the stage.”

Normand is a gritty comic, who is crazy about his new city, New York.

“ You have to love it to be in New York,” he said. “I’ve been mugged three times. But that’s what happened when you lived in Brooklyn before sections were gentrified and you’re young, dumb and drunk.”

Trouble seems to find Normand.

“It’s all true,” Normand says. “I’ve had a lot of interesting stuff happen to me and still do.”

The exploits of Normand and his pal and fellow comic Joe List, can be heard on their weekly podcast, “Tuesdays with Stories” (yes, it’s a nod to Mitch Albom’s bestseller “Tuesdays with Morrie”).

“We talk about what happens to us,” Normand says. “I’ll talk about how badly I got drunk. It’s all about the stories.”

With Normand, truth is certainly stranger than fiction.

“It’s fun to talk about that whether it’s on a stage or on a podcast,” Normand said.