Comedian Christian Finnegan thinks he’s insane for booking a comedy show in Denver in January. Is he right?

Christian Finnegan should be familiar to TV audiences from his regular stints on VH1’s “Best Week Ever,” the “Today” show and even a “Chappelle’s Show” cameo, but the 34-year-old comedian doesn’t feel as if he belongs to any particular scene. Neither indie rock nor jock, low-brow nor pretentious, Finnegan brings his affable yet barbed punch- lines to the Improv at Northfield Stapleton tonight through Sunday.

We spoke with Finnegan by phone from Virginia Beach, Va., where he was performing. Here’s our extended interview with him, spanning everything from the weirdness of being on VH1 to sage time-travel advice (you know, the perennial topics…)

How’s the weather there?

It’s lovely, but when I say lovely I don’t precisely mean lovely.

Is the weather crappy?

It actually is by beach standards. It’s pretty damn cold here, and obviously I understand by coming to Denver next week that it must be colder there. I’m thinking I must be mentally ill coming to Denver in early January.

It’s not so bad here now, actually. It could be much worse.

I remember I did a show in North Dakota awhile ago and it was negative 7, and negative 19 with wind chill. And I just thought, “Humans aren’t meant to live in this area of the world.” Even worse, it’s that’s cold and it’s North Dakota.

How did that show go over?

It was a college show, and it went really well. Honestly, when it comes to doing colleges, the more remote the school is, the better. They’re often so thrilled to have you. You almost feel like you’re one of the Russians liberating Berlin and you just stumbled upon a camp of POWs. College people tend to be aware of you more.

Doing clubs, you have a lot of people at both ends, who are maybe aware that you exist, but also there because it’s Kim’s birthday. So you have to sort of learn how to entertain all three. What entertains one isn’t going to entertain another group. It’s a subtle alchemy this comedy… (laughs at self) I’m basically telling dick jokes to drunk people.

Christian Finnegan, Fresh Meat at Comix from kambric on Vimeo.

It seems like a lot of comedians have gotten valuable exposure from those VH1 shows. I remember interviewing Michael Ian Black about it not too long ago and he said he gets noticed more for that than shows like “Ed,” “The State” or “Stella.”

Incidentally, he was a senior at NYU when I as a freshman. I think we even had a class together. But he’s exactly right in the sense that you get people who know who you are (at comedy shows), and a lot of times when I play colleges… well, how old are you?

I’m 30.

OK, so you’re not so far removed from me. When I play colleges… I’m talking about people who don’t remember a time before 1,000 TV channels. People in college now — VH1, “CSI,” it’s all f**kin’ TV to them. So sometimes I would get uncomfortable when people would treat me like I was on TV, because I’d be like, “I’m not on TV, I’m on VH1.” But now I’m like, “Why make somebody feel like crap because they’re happy to see you?”

Do you enjoy doing the talking-head bits, riffing on the news and things like that?

As stupid as the stuff we’re talking about is, they allow us to make some really obscure, dark jokes. I get away with stuff on that show that’s much stranger and more esoteric than something that would go over in a club, like in Virginia Beach.

Do the producers coach you?

You are certainly given a clear direction where they want to go with these topics. There’s definitely a course set, but the jokes you choose to write are up to you. And certain people on the show are more improv than stand-up, and there are people who are straight stand-up. Those people tend to be want to stake out their own territory a little more. But when I’m in the room doing “Best Week Ever,” there’s a producer and writer there with me and they’re taking notes to be collaborative. I may have just seen a clip five minutes earlier, so it helps to have that collaboration and it’s certainly there.

And people recognize you from the show?

Yeah, it’s weird though. I did that thing on “Chappelle’s Show” a few years ago (a parody of “The Real World” in which he played the only white guy) and that was fantastic. But if you’re coming out to see my comedy show based on “Chappelle’s Show,” who the hell knows if you’re going to enjoy it or not?

It’s been over 10 years since you started doing comedy at Surf Reality in New York. What have you learned?

Sometimes I feel like I’ve learned so much and other times I’m like, “Have I learned anything?â€? The first couple years I was doing stand-up, but I was also in a sketch group (the Non-Prophets). The stand-up was more like open mics and stuff like that. After a while, I kind of moved on because I learned that sketch comedy has a real ceiling to it. Now with YouTube, it has a life that it didn’t have in the late ’90s. In the ’90s sketch groups were getting life on Comedy Central. There were a slew of them then, and it kind of dried up.

But one of the reasons I love doing stand-up is because it’s so mercenary. You don’t need to depend on anybody else. You’re just doing your own thing. Now, one of the guys I was in Non-Prophets with and I are writing a screenplay together (John Corbett). In a lot of ways things have come full circle.

Any advice for younger comedians?

If I could go back and talk to the “me” who was just starting to do comedy, I would have told myself to relax and not worry about things happening right away. That’s a mistake a lot of people make –- they think a year is a long time and it’s really not. They put themselves out there before they really know what they’re doing. That can really stunt your growth. But 2007 was about changing my work habits, working smarter and being more proactive with what you do.

Yeah, I read somewhere that you said you actually are beginning to like working within certain confines.

I find deadlines liberating, whether they’re self-imposed or not. I kind of think if you’re an accountant you have to almost think of it as an art and imbue it with creativity to not go crazy. Similar, if you’re an artist, you have to imbue it with some workmanlike sense. It’s such a vague, weird way to spend your life. The more demarcation points you can put in there, the better. It really is like a muscle. As a result I’ve written more in the past year than the last three.

You also once said: “when I go to Williamsburg I feel like Bert Convy and when I go to Jacksonville I feel like GG Allin.� Have you found an audience or city that totally “gets� you yet?

Oh yeah, for sure. There are certain cities that are easier than others. Obviously you want to learn, too. I’m not one of those people… there are a lot of comedians I know that kind of take pride in the fact that nobody gets them. They’re like, “Man, I’m just too above them.” First of all, I find that loathsome and bullshit. Generally that’s fear talking, like pretending that you’re doing it on purpose. Kind of like not trying, so you can never fail. You never put your neck on the block.

Believe me, I run across a lot of them too.

“Go forth and spread my wisdom to the children of the world.”

I really respect peple who try. People who say, “No, I’m actually going to do the best I can.” That said, you want to do the best you can while remaining who you are. So it’s definitely an ongoing process. Any comedian’s dream is to be able to show up in any city and every person that’s there is there to see them. That’s really when you can do the purest version of yourself. People already assume you’re funny and you can do what you want. Whereas, I’m coming up so I have to let people relax right off the bat. “Sit back and enjoy yourself, ’cause I know what I’m doing. You’re not going to be uncomfortable for the next hour.”

Sort of lead them into your material…

You want to hit them hard and quick right up top. They’re there to have a good time, and watching bad comedy is maybe the least fun you can have — even though bad music or drama can be totally amusing.

What parts of the country do you like to play?

I’ve definitely found that certain cities are a little bit more of a comfort zone than others. I haven’t played in Denver so I’m looking forward to seeing what that’s like. A lot of cities that I wouldn’t have thought would respond to me did. One of my favorite places to play is Houston. Austin’s great… D.C. and Philly are two of my favorites. But I love going to different areas of the country and finding a city that has its own spirit. There aren’t that many left. It’s weird when you come into a town and they’re like, “I love our Cheesecake Factory!”

I ride the shuttle on Denver’s 16th Street Mall and every day I hear people freaking out about how much they love that place. Literally… every day.

Hey, I ate there yesterday. But there is something special about not using those places as references points.

Your Myspace page lists a good amount of dates already booked for this year. Is it weird to have everything somewhat mapped out already, or do you like the job security that provides?

I have those same mixed feelings. I took the entirety of December off from traveling because I wanted a break, so I’m happy to get some dates in 2008 booked. That said, it can be a little bit of a burden. I’m married so it’s hard to be away from home so much. My wife comes with me sometimes but she has a career too. So there’s only a certain amount of time that we can be away from New York. But I like to perform and honestly I’m gearing up to shoot a DVD later this year, so I’m working on some of tha material, which you’ll see if you come out to the Denver shows.

Do you prefer comedy clubs to the college dates?

Colleges are a lot of fun in terms of feeling like a rock star, and the money is good, but doing clubs is where you really get better as a comedian. You can test new material two or three nights in a row.