IF YOU GO

WHAT: Comedian Bobcat Goldthwait

WHEN: Friday-Sunday

WHERE: ComedyWorks, Denver

Bobcat Goldthwait, who has been performing standup comedy since the age of 15, is a veteran of the business with nearly 30 years of laughs under his belt.

Some people still show up to his performances not knowing who he is, others still show up wanting him to "make noises like Grover for 50 minutes reenacting scenes from 'Police Academy,'" as he told the Colorado Daily. No matter who winds up in the audience, however, nobody leaves without an unforgettable experience.

Charged with some of the highest level of energy, volume, and misguided angst of any comics currently working, Goldthwait charges through his act like a firestorm--unleashing stories from his personal life, chopping down hecklers with a razor's edge wit, and chasing his whims through a barrage of social and pop-culture commentary.

Coming out of the second wave of "Bostong Gold Rush" comedians in the 1980s, Goldthwait has consistently raised the bar and pushed the envelope for standup acts everywhere.

That is until he stopped.

"People evolve," Goldthwait told the Colorado Daily. "I started doing stand-up comedy when I was 15. I started thinking about it when I was nine. If we all had the jobs that we wanted when we were nine, there would be a lot more astronauts and firemen in the world."

Understandably, Goldthwait took a few years branch out shortly after his latest Comedy Central CD "I Don't Mean to Insult You, But You Look Like Bobcat Goldthwait," was released in 2003. Goldthwait had been spending his downtime years prior to that developing a hobby for direction--beginning in 1991 with a film called "Shakes the Clown," followed off and on by TV directorial projects including episodes of "The Man Show," "Crank Yankers," and "Chappelle's Show,"--until he stopped doing comedy for a steady job as director of "Jimmy Kimmel Live!"

"I like directing. I don't think people believe that a performer could be happy being behind the camera and not in front of it--but 'Sleeping Dogs Lie' is probably the thing I'm most proud of and I'm not even in that movie," said Goldthwait, referencing his latest film release.

Success and the nightly commitment to "Kimmel" kept Goldthwait on a four year hiatus from the standup world--until the Writer's Guild went on strike last year, that is. With no nightly directorial gig to keep him occupied, Goldthwait decided to return to the comedy scene.

"It's funny, going back was the first time in years that I'd been a little nervous--which is good because if you're nervous about something it means you're trying," said Goldthwait. "But once I got back up on stage and started working again, it was just like riding a bike with hecklers."

Looking back at a career that has always stayed true to being experimental and unpredictable, Goldthwait also said that his act has evolved as much as his interests in his own life.

"My act has changed because as a middle-aged man I'm not angry about the same things anymore," he said. "I tell a lot of personal stories because when you are telling a story from your own life, the likelihood of another comedian talking about it is non-existent. Everybody has an Elliott Spitzer joke right now, and I do talk about pop culture too, but I tend to talk about my own life so I don't have material that's similar to other people."

Catch Goldthwait this weekend, April 18-20 at ComedyWorks in downtown Denver.

"I've been there a bunch of times and that's a really great club" Goldthwait said of ComedyWorks. "It's a great room--it's set up the way a comedy room should be set up and that really seems to lend itself to having great audiences."Contact Lance Vaillancourt about this story at (303) 443-6272 ext. 125 or vaillancourt@coloradodaily.com