Nealon has made a career of playing an ‘average joe’ to hilarious results

Kevin Nealon shows up in the most unlikely of places. He’s your favorite pot-smoking accountant on the Showtime hit, “Weeds,” and has cameos in everything from “The Wedding Singer” to “You Don’t Mess with the Zohan” and “Get Smart.”

Nealon first came to national attention after his friend Dana Carvey helped him get hired with “Saturday Night Live” in 1986. It was there that he perfected playing the straight guy with a twist. He was Franz in the Hans and Franz skits, as well as Mr. Subliminal and the anchor for Weekend Update from 1991 to 1994.

On Friday, Nealon is headlining Oregon State University’s Dad’s Weekend Comedy Show and both the 6:30 and

9 p.m. shows are sold out.

In advance of the big night, I caught up with Nealon via cell phone near his Southern California home to chat about his Corvallis show, beach cruisers and his book, “Yes, You’re Pregnant, But What About Me?”

Entertainer: Have you ever been to Corvallis or Oregon State before?

Kevin Nealon: I have never been to Corvallis or Oregon State, but my experience with Oregon, I don’t know how long ago, but I took a bike trip and I started in Medford, and went up, did a big circle, went through Crater Lake, and it was the most excruciating bike trip I’d ever taken. Trucks just kind of whizzing by. It was gorgeous.

ET: Are you an avid cyclist? Do you do that often?

KN: Not so much lately, but I still have my bike out in the garage. I actually have a mountain bike too, but I live near the beach so there aren’t a lot of mountains. I look kind of ridiculous going down the bike path on a mountain bike.

ET: Do you have a beach cruiser?

KN: I don’t have one of those yet. I want to get one, but I want one that’s all rusted out, one that looks like a real beach cruiser.

ET: It’s got to have the drink cozy in the front.

KN: Yeah.

ET: Is there any particular college material or even Dad’s Weekend material that you bring to shows like this?

KN: This is going to be the night before I tape my comedy special in Los Angeles so I’m using it kind of as a rehearsal. It’s great that it’s Dad’s Night because a lot of my material is about becoming a dad. And the anxiety and the insecurities that go along with that. I mean, not a lot of it but a portion of my act is about that. Then I deal with what is going on in the world today and my own little twist on things.

ET: You’ve just written a book, right, about being or becoming a father?

KN: That’s right, yeah. It’s called, “Yes, You’re Pregnant, But What About Me?” And it deals with coming to terms with having a baby at my age. You know, I’m an older father. Also when you’re about to have a kid you start thinking about your own childhood and your own parents. So I did a lot of thinking about that and kind of reliving my life so it’s kind of a collection of comedic essays and, in a way, kind of a memoir. But you know, my first two chapters are about my affair with Barbara Walters.

ET: Do you talk about your childhood in that as well?

KN: Yeah, yeah my crushes on girls and going to high school and auditioning for “Saturday Night Live,” all the way up to getting ready to have a baby. So, it’s not even really about being a father, it’s about the anticipation of being a father and going through a pregnancy.

ET: Are you going to do anything from that book, kind of a reading, or use any material from the book this weekend?

KN: Yeah, I’ll use some material from the book and then the rest is stuff that I’ve kind of come up with.

ET: You’re involved in so many things. You are touring as a stand-up, you’ve written a book, you’re an actor on TV and in the movies. Which of these is you? Which of these are you more inclined toward? What do you think of yourself as?

KN: I really don’t label myself as anything. You know, I’ve got a lot of slashes in my title now. Actor slash comedian slash author. I enjoy doing them all because if I only had to do just one, I’d get sick and tired of it. So if I’m acting on a show, let’s say I’m doing “Weeds” and that lasts for three and a half months. It ends at the right time because I’m ready to do something else. I get bored easily. So I mix it up. I have stand-up to do, then the writing, then back to acting so that really keeps my life interesting.

ET: You mentioned “Weeds.” That’s taking up a lot of your time these days. You play a character named Doug Wilson, who’s a pot-smoking accountant. How does a character like that come into being? Did they already have that and think Kevin Nealon or did you bring your own thing to that?

KN: I brought my own little thing to that. I read the pilot and I loved it. I thought the characters were pretty real, as opposed to a lot of stoner shows. When I first saw the title “Weeds,” I thought, “Ahh, I don’t want to do a stoner kind of a show,” but this, there’s so much more to it. I just went in and read for it and put my little twist on the character and they really loved it. They actually made the part that I was reading for, which was a guest-starring part, a regular role on there. So it worked out nicely.

ET: After several seasons of “Weeds,” is there anyone on the cast that you’ve become particularly close with? Or that you admire?

KN: Well, I admire everybody on that cast. That’s the great thing about it. They’re all such great actors. It’s really a pleasure to be working with them all. I’m learning so much because I don’t really have as much of an acting background as someone like Mary-Louise Parker (who plays Nancy Botwin). So I learn a lot as I go along. Kind of what I’ve been doing with everything, even when I started off doing stand-up comedy. You know, I didn’t know anything about stand-up. Except what, I’ve watched and people I’ve seen. It’s just when you immerse yourself into something like this. It’s like learning a new language; you learn quicker if you go to that country. I’m learning firsthand by actually doing it.

ET: What can we expect from your character in this upcoming season? Any big changes?

KN: Boy, that’s a good question. They haven’t even written the next season yet. This last season we moved to Renoir, which is a fictitious town north of the Mexican border. But it’s actually where I live, so it’s quite easy to get to work these days. Next season, I’m not really sure what’s going to happen. I mean we’ve dealt with the Mafia n the Mexican mafia, there’s the drug lords, prostitution and smuggling illegals across the border. So it will be interesting, the next season.

ET: How about any new projects? Is anything else on the horizon for you?

KN: Yeah, I did a film in New Zealand in February. I lived there for 2 ½ months. It’s called, “They Came from Upstairs.” And it’s got Doris Roberts in it and Andy Richter and Tim Meadows. I play Ashley Tisdale’s (“High School Musical”) father. It’s kind of a family action movie. It will be a big summer movie this July.

ET: How did you like New Zealand?

KN: It’s absolutely gorgeous. If you ever get the chance to go there, jump on it. They’re two big islands, actually, which I never knew. They have their summer when we have our winter. And the beaches are gorgeous, the people are friendly. It’s close to Australia. It’s not that bad of a flight, about a 12½-hour flight to New Zealand.

ET: Did you get any biking in?

KN: No not there, mostly kind of sightseeing.

ET: There’s also some stand-up on the horizon?

KN: Yeah, I’m taping the stand-up special.

ET: Tell us a little about that.

KN: Well, we’re going to tape it and we’re going to sell it to either Showtime or HBO or Comedy Central, so there’s no real final destination for it yet.

ET: Will that be mostly standup? Or a combination of sketch and standup?

KN: It’s going to be 95 percent stand-up.

ET: A lot of people when they start moving over to TV and acting set aside the stand-up. It seems like you’re really going strong on that. Where does stand-up come in to all this? Are you going to keep your hand in, do you think?

KN: For me stand-up is what I really wanted to do. It’s why I came out to Los Angeles. The acting came secondary. Acting has always been on the back burner for me. Stand-up is really my forte. It’s what I love doing. I know a lot of guys that get into stand-up as a stepping stone to get into acting or to get into sitcoms. But I would be content just doing stand-up for the rest of my life. It’s what I love.

ET: Is there anything else you’re thinking about or that you’re currently interested in?

KN: I’m looking forward to coming up to Oregon. I’ve heard some good things about that college. I’m coming in with a buddy of mine, David Wilcox, who’s a great guitarist-singer-songwriter. I haven’t seen him in awhile. He’s passing through and I’ll be kind of hanging out with him.