Ha! It’s the little things that make Brian Regan’s comedy connect

Brian Regan is a master of alchemy. The veteran stand-up comic, who is making his first trip to Maine next week, is forever taking the mundane, whether it be airplane flights or fast-food workers or motorists, and turning it into gold.

Interviewed via telephone from his Las Vegas home, Regan admits he doesn’t know how his material comes to him.

“It’s like a prism, where you shine the light through it and it comes out more colorful,” said Regan, who will play at 8 p.m. Thursday, April 27, at the Maine Center for the Arts in Orono and at 8 p.m. Saturday, April 29, at Merrill Auditorium in Portland. “I ask the audience, ‘Have you ever looked at it from this angle?”

After a quarter-century in the biz, Regan, 47, has earned the admiration of many of his comedy peers, with regular appearances on the late-night talk shows. He’s had specials on Comedy Central and Showtime, and his live performance was captured in the DVD “I Walked on the Moon,” released in late 2004.

And yet, it’s only been in the last couple of years that he’s made the transition from comedy clubs to theaters. It’s a change that Regan has appreciated.

“It’s been a nice adjustment,” he said. “The focus of the audience is stronger than at a comedy club, because they’re there to see you. At a club, in addition to doing your act, you have to be a teacher, a disciplinarian, a psychologist and even do crowd control.”

Regan has been around long enough on the national stage that fans will holler out requests for favorite bits at shows. That situation has improved on his current “You Too” theater tour.

“It’s more restrained, more polite in theaters, but it still happens,” he said. “I give them an opportunity at the end of the show. If you start doing it right off the bat, it becomes a hootenanny. It has to be disciplined.”

Regan is also that rarity today – the clean comic, whom parents can take their children to see.

Inspired by the surreal comedy of Steve Martin, he started performing in his native Miami in the early ’80s. He said his act wasn’t always clean, but that’s how he’s most comfortable.

“At first, when I was playing the rougher clubs, there was some dirty bits in my act,” he said. “But after I began playing the nicer venues, where I didn’t need the shock-value jokes, I would just do the jokes I felt like doing.”

Regan is ambivalent about the idea of starring in a TV sitcom, which is probably wise, since for every “Seinfeld” or “Everybody Loves Raymond,” there are a dozen forgettable vehicles.

“For a long time, I wanted to do a sitcom, because I thought that represented being a good comedian,” he said. “I thought I needed the visibility of TV to move into the theaters, but I made it without TV. I’m at the point now where I love what I’m doing, since I always wanted to be a comedian.”

Among the comics who make Regan laugh: Dave Attell, Dave Chappelle, Eddie Izzard, David Letterman, Dennis Miller, Carol Liefer and Wendy Liebman.

Regan has seen many changes in the comedy scene since he began.

“Comedy will always be here,” he said. “It has its ebbs and flows, but people will always want to laugh.”

And, thanks to his work ethic, Regan plans to be there, sparking that laughter.

“I started at the beginning of the comedy boom,” he recalled. “I could work every week, because so many clubs needed comedians, and that allowed me to improve and become pretty good. I keep writing, and turn the material over, so fans will always see new stuff.”

For tickets to the Orono show, visit the MCA box office or call 581-1755. Tickets to the Portland show are available by calling Porttix at 842-0800. Dale McGarrigle can be reached at 990-8028 or mcgarrigle@bangordailynews.net.