Grill of a lifetime

>> Comedian Mitch Hedberg cashes in his tortilla chips

by RUPERT BOTTENBERG

Mitch Hedberg is scarred for life. Run as he might, he just can't escape the demons of low-wage kitchen-job drudgery.

The laidback comedian is coming to town to highlight Comedyworks' 10th anniversary--which is a bit of an anniversary for him, too. "Man, that's weird," say the Minnesota native. "I'd just started doing comedy at this time 10 years ago. I was three weeks into it. It was rough, because I didn't know what the fuck I was doing. But up to that point I wasn't doing anything constructive, just working as a cook in a restaurant in Florida."

Resolving never to slave over a grill again, even part-time, Hedberg took any gig that came along, any shitcreek low-end dive that would book him. Problem was, his style of standup (imagine a cross between Steven Wright's surreal logic and the stoner wisdom of Fast Times' Jeff Spicolli) didn't always click with rednecks, bikers and drunks. "They got hostile sometimes. They weren't looking for much of anything beyond some rowdy sex material."

That's one of two topics Hedberg won't touch. The other is politics, unless it's the politics of the aforementioned shit job. With money from an inconclusive development deal ("Nothing's happened yet, because I haven't had the ultimate idea for a sitcom"), Hedberg wrote, directed and starred in Los Enchiladas! "It's about a day in the life of a chain Mexican restaurant in the midwest. It takes place on the day before Cinco de Mayo, the busiest day of the year for them. So of course, shit starts going wrong. It's kind of a true story, based on when I was 17." The demons! The demons!

Given that the flick was closer to Hedberg's low-key observationalism (is that a word?) then the standard zany hijinx of Sandler or Dangerfield, comedy fans have been lukewarm on the flick. All the more reason for Hedberg to hightail it back to the safety of standup, which he now does with bonus bassist behind him.

"People think I'm trying to be jazzy or something, but I'm not. I'm just doing standup with basslines. My bass player's name is Chuck Savage, and he's a comedian, too, who thinks he's really funny. I'm just glad he sticks to the bass."

At Comedyworks on Friday and Saturday, March 17-18, 9 & 11:15pm, $12