Nobody in their right mind would call Brian Posehn a child.
The 42-year-old California native strikes an imposing figure at 6 feet 6 inches. He’s been around long enough to appear on some of TV’s more visible sitcoms, from “Seinfeld” and “Friends” to regular roles on “Just Shoot Me!” and “The Sarah Silverman Program.”
But in many ways, Posehn is just now starting to grow up. A chunk of his stand-up persona comes directly from his love of “Star Wars,” comic books, metal and weed, and he rivals Mitch Hedberg and David Cross in his renown among the indie rock set.
“It’s pretty strange and it’s almost hacky to talk about because everybody’s been through it, but my wife and I are having a baby this year,” Posehn said over the phone last week. “Patton (Oswalt) and I have talked about how we never thought we’d be those comedians, but when that’s your life you don’t want to do some fake character.”
No worries there. Posehn, who plays the Improv at Northfield Stapleton tonight and Saturday, seems incapable of being anyone but himself.
A veteran of the San Francisco and Los Angeles alt-comedy scenes in the 1990s, he’s played an integral part of cult shows such as HBO’s “Mr. Show” and, more recently, the Comedians of Comedy tour with Patton Oswalt, Maria Bamford and Zach Galifianakis.
“I find myself being slower than some of my peers in writing material,” Posehn admitted. “It’s mostly because my way is kind of waiting for jokes to come to me, and that doesn’t always work. It sounds dorky, but I like my act to be a little more organic.”
That may explain why it took Posehn a couple of years to record his latest CD of stand-up material. It’s not an unheard-of amount of time for a comedian, especially when his 2006 release, “Live In: Nerd Rage,” provided such a wealth of quotable jokes (covering typical nerd topics in addition to late-night TV, movie etiquette, religion and porn).
But his forthcoming CD, which he hopes to release in September on metal label Relapse, takes more time than most. Unlike many stand-up discs, it includes multiple songs with friends from the music world.
“I’m writing more music with Scott Ian (Anthrax), who did two songs last time and is going to do four this time,” Posehn said. “It takes longer when you have guest players, but hopefully by the time it comes out I’ll have another half hour or so of material.”
Posehn could even envision following friend and fellow stand- up/actor Oswalt in a dramatic film role, as Oswalt did recently in the indie flick “Big Fan.”
Well, sort of.
“You know how they make those serial killer direct-to-DVD movies?” Posehn asked. “I’ve been approached for doing one of those about Ed Kemper (a.k.a. The Coed Killer), which is so different than anything I’ve ever done. It was appealing in getting away from comedy and trying something totally different, but the fact that it was so low-budget and might come out really sleazy — it just wasn’t the right thing.”
Not that he’s afraid of absurdity, having appeared in numerous programs on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim block. He just wants to be himself on stage, even if that means talking about potentially “hacky” subjects like marriage and kids.
“I was thinking about people like Louis C.K. and Greg Fitzsimmons and I realized it’s not the subject matter, it’s the person,” Posehn said. “You can’t declare that whole area to be hacky.”
Well, you could. Posehn just wouldn’t be anywhere near it.
John Wenzel: 303-954-1642 or jwenzel@denverpost.com
Brian Posehn
Comedy. Improv at Northfield Stapleton, 8246 E. 49th Ave. No. 1400. Tonight- Saturday. 8 and 10:15 tonight; 7 and 9:30 p.m. Saturday. $20. 303-307-1777 or .
