Despite his placid exterior, Ben Roy is (thankfully) not ready to play nice. Photo by Crystal Allen.

“I will be not be clean. I will not be friendly,” comedian Ben Roy warns of his first-ever headlining set at Comedy Works on Wednesday, May 27. Thank God for that.

The 29-year-old Maine native and singer for local punks the 29th Street Disciples has carved a reputation as the most unhinged, energetic member of the Wrist Deep Productions collective, a DIY comedy quartet that holds weekly open-mic nights at the Squire and the monthly Los Comicos Super Hilariosos shows at the Orange Cat. He’s also been generating interest outside the state by proving himself a reliable firebrand with a refreshing trait: under all the profanity, he’s a clever, idea-driven stand-up.

Comedy, as Roy writes on his MySpace page, is “one of the last art forms in which views can be expressed without having to pander or coddle to four or five other sissies who fear losing a shot at their ‘big break.’”

He certainly conducts his stand-up that way. While profiling him in my indie comedy book “Mock Stars,” I called him “gloriously erratic, mixing Louis Black’s quivering indignation with Bill Hicks’ vitriol and David Cross’s unapologetic misanthropy.”

Having seen him quite a few times since I wrote that, I suppose that’s a bit reductive and cutesy, since he’s as adept at sex and drinking-related material as he is at political subject matter (with a transitional ease that makes many seasoned stand-ups look like three-legged dogs). But you get the picture.

Catch Roy on Wednesday at Comedy Works downtown, a night likely to leave you wiping spit and tears from your face in equal amounts.

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