Comedian Brian Regan brings laughs for all ages to Beaver Creek

Vilar Performing Arts Center has limited tickets available for its Sunday show featuring Brian Regan, who Entertainment Weekly calls “your favorite comedian’s favorite comedian.”

While he doesn’t describe himself that way, he does explain how his approach to comedy involves working the whole room, from the audience to “the back of the room,” a term referring to comedians sitting in the back.

“Sometimes comedians care more about the audience than the people in the back of the room, and sometimes comedians care more about the people in the back of the room than the audience,” he said. “I describe myself as a pig, in that I want the audience and the back of the room to like what I do. You won’t see that in my press, (but) I’m the comedy pig.”

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He credits part of his 30-plus-year success to the fact that he continually comes up with new material, so audiences never hear the same thing. He covers a wide range of topics and often retaliates against being pigeon-holed.

“If I felt I was being described in a certain way, instead of writing more towards that, I would write away from that. You know, instead of saying, ‘oh, wow, people like this about me, I’ll give them more of that,’ I would say I would do less of that and do more of something else, and so that’s why I’m not a household name is because I’m not wise enough to give people what they want.”

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Of course, he is a household name, not only performing in nearly a hundred cities annually, but also literally coming into homes through Netflix’s “Loudermilk,” which has ranked in Netflix’s top 10 shows for more than a month. Before moving to that network, the first two seasons debuted on AT&T’s Audience Network and then moved to Amazon Prime for the premiere of its third season. Critics have acclaimed Regan’s portrayal of Mugsy, a recovering addict who is estranged from his family.

Though he did deliver a scene-stealing cameo in Chris Rock’s romantic-comedy-drama film, “Top Five,” up until Peter Farrelly’s “Loudermilk,” acting wasn’t a big part of his career.

“It gave me an opportunity to be creative in a different way, and I’m proud of the show,” he said, describing how stand-up comedy uses his words, but with acting, he’s portraying someone else’s words. “Even the type of comedy is different (with) what I do in ‘Loudermilk.’ The show can get a little dirty and a little raunchy and a little rough around the edges, but it’s somebody else’s creation. I’m just a small piece of the pie … serving their vision. So somebody might watch ‘Loudermilk” and go, ‘wow, I didn’t realize Brian Regan would be in something that’s dirty,’ but again, they’re not my words. But the thing I like about ‘Loudermilk” is, despite how rude and crude it can be at times, there’s a lot of love in it — there’s love at the end of the tunnel.”

He believes every subject is fair game for comedy, though he prefers to offer enlightened perspectives and deliver jokes that surprise audiences.

“I like to talk about things or come from a perspective that people might go, ‘wow, I certainly didn’t expect that out of this person.’ Not that I’m into shock. It’s just I like to explore different ways of approaching comedy,” he said. “One joke might be autobiographical, and then the next joke might be me making fun of words and then the next joke might be completely absurd that has nothing to do with reality. I like the ride being herky-jerky, you know, like one of those old wooden rollercoasters that’s bouncing you around. Hopefully you don’t fall out, but it’s a herky-jerky ride.”

What he loves most about comedy is the honesty it elicits, noting that people don’t fake laughter.

“When you get a laugh out of someone, or if you get a laugh out of a crowd, you can trust that you are communicating,” he said, adding that people might applaud or smile even when they don’t like something, but they won’t laugh. “It feels so good to be laughed with and to be on stage and get a crowd going, because you know that that crowd is feeling good in that moment; you can trust it.”

He believes laughter, and humor, are powerful.

“Everybody has difficulties, everybody has challenges, but in the moment of a laugh, you feel good,” he said.

He’s known as a clean comic and said even a 12-year-old could attend without parents fearing they’d need to cover the kid’s ears. Granted, he points out that they might not relate to his show, like adults who have more experience in life and can appreciate the humor.