Laugh testers ‘The Comedians of Comedy’ hits town BY TED DROZDOWSKI

Many comedians enjoy testing audiences, but the four performers on the "Comedians of Comedy Tour" start right at the marquee. If you think the roving cross-country night of stand-up featuring Patton Oswalt, Maria Bamford, Zach Galifianakis, and Brian Posehn has a stupid name, it’s probably not for you. But if you think their touring mantle is a funny swipe at our pop-driven culture’s mania for hyping, well, everything, then their Paradise show this Wednesday might be your ticket.

"It’s a way of thinning the pack a little," admits Oswalt over the phone from his LA-area home. But by now — this is their second year touring together — the "Comedians of Comedy Tour" has its own posse. The tour is also the subject of a film by director Michael Blieden that’s been making the rounds at festivals. In the movie — titled, of course, The Comedians of Comedy — Bamford, Oswalt, Posehn, and Galifianakis are captured performing and filmed off stage telling stories about their wildest experiences as traveling laugh makers.

The "Comedians of Comedy Tour" started when the four friends banded together to escape what they see as the stagnant comedy club scene. "We perform in rock clubs, so we can control the price a little more, and we do all-ages and 18-plus shows whenever we can," Oswalt explains.

Although she’s had her own Comedy Central special, Bamford — who transforms herself into an innocent-but-wise country girl relocated to the big city on stage — is probably the least known of the pack. Oswalt, Posehn, and Galifianakis have appeared frequently in films and on TV. Oswalt’s been in Blade: Trinity, Starsky & Hutch, and Zoolander and a wide range of TV shows from Seinfeld to Reno 911. Galifianakis has been a regular on TV’s Boston Common and Jimmy Kimmel Live. And Posehn has appeared on Mr. Show and is in the new Rob Zombie–directed The Devil’s Rejects. All four are also regulars on late-night talk shows.

Oswalt is probably the most versatile artist on board. He spent two years writing for Mad TV and has written for the MTV Music Awards. He scripted the 1998 indie movie Vermin, and since he’s a hardcore horror-movie buff, he also has a zombie-flick script up his sleeve. (When I invoke the Bela Lugosi classic White Zombie as we compare notes on pioneering reanimated-corpse pictures, he complains, "Yeah, but those zombies weren’t flesh eaters. The first movie that had them eating human flesh was Plague of the Zombies, a Hammer film. That was cool.") For an unadulterated taste of his low-key weirdness, go to www.pattonoswalt.com, click "Special Features," and read "Sweep the Leg and Wake the Gimp," a delightfully twisted short story that’s a biography of Pulp Fiction’s vinyl-clad freak.

I ask Oswalt to evaluate his gigs. "Stand up is the most fun, acting is the most rewarding, and writing is the most satisfying. I’ve always liked horror and science fiction, and to me, whether you’re scaring somebody or getting them to laugh, you’re working the same mechanics. The key for me is keeping my imagination free and non-judgmental. I can’t let any filters go up."

That applies to all four Comedians of Comedy, who often use their routines as springboards for improvised absurdist free jumps. "The only problem with that is reality is now becoming more absurd than absurdism, even if it’s not funny," Oswalt acknowledges. "But I don’t think in terms of what I need to make something work for TV or the stage. I just try to make whatever I do really good and to avoid clichés. Everybody on the tour works really hard at that.

"I think there’s a lot of comedians right now who are doing great work, and they’re taking it outside the comedy clubs and trying to reach a younger audience like we are. Right now, stand-up comedy is the best it’s ever been in America. The ’80s comedy boom was just about commerce. What we’re seeing now is a creativity boom, which is a lot nicer."

"Comedians of Comedy Tour" | Paradise Rock Club, 967 Comm Ave, Boston | August 3 | 617.228.6000