Brian Regan’s mood ring is flaming red. Spirits are high for the comedian, and with good reason. He’s received positive feedback for his most recent album, All By Myself, and he’s in the midst of a vigorous touring schedule, doing precisely what he loves: stand-up comedy. His national tour hits the Mountain Winery for one night only on Thursday, June 23.

Though he once considered a sitcom to be the apex of a career in comedy, he realized his own show was a goal imposed upon him by others. “I used to get tired of people coming up to me saying, ‘You should get a sitcom!’ I started wanting to get one just so people would think that I’m a good comedian,” he says in a phone interview.

But Regan, who has been performing since 1981, prefers the immediate feedback that stand-up comedy provides. “It’s fun to think of something in the day, wonder if it’s funny, and then find out that night.” The bureaucracy involved in network television, however, makes the process much slower. Regan explains, “You come up with an idea at a big conference table… and it comes up on the air 18 months later and you think, ‘Was this ever funny?’”

Though Regan may doubt the humorousness of his jokes, critics and audiences definitely do not. He has appeared on Letterman a whopping 23 times and has been selling out theaters nationwide since 2005. Though he is often noted for having a clean, family-friendly show, he prefers not to let the label define him. “It’s not that I’m a prude or anything like that,” he says. “I can get quite filthy and raunchy when I’m backstage with my friends, but when I’m onstage it’s just fun to see if I can get people laughing [by] talking about everyday things.” Regan’s humor is self-effacing and riffs on relatable topics like the pains of aging and the perils of going to the doctor.

With a national tour, a new album and no need for the small screen, what’s left to do for Brian Regan?

“I just want to get to the point where people name an international airport after me,” he answers. “I should probably put out a few more CDs.”

Brian Regan performs at the Mountain Winery on Thursday, June 23 at 8pm.

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