Best Week Eve r could be described as a support group for wayward comedians.

 

"We're not talking brain surgery; we're talking about Sanjaya," said Christian Finnegan, a panelist on VH1's weekly roundup of pop culture.

"They let us get away with saying some bizarre and offensive things, as long as we say it with a smile."

Finnegan, who will perform this weekend at the Funny Bone, lives in New York and has worked in stand-up for 10 years.

"I had no marketable skills at all, and my options were few," he said. "It was either this or continue being a really terrible bartender."

Finnegan started in television as a writer and producer for Comedy Central's Tough Crowd W ith Colin Quinn.

"The show was kind of a glorious mess in the sense that you never knew where it was going to go -- and, sure, a lot of times it was just a lot of people shouting over each other. But there were other times of such pure honesty and directness."

Finnegan recently headlined a Comedy Central college tour to promote his compact disc, Two for Flinching.

But he is looking forward to the more-intimate club setting, he said.

"A college crowd, a lot of times they're not even there to laugh; they're just sort of there to go, 'Whoo!' They would be perfectly pleased if I just said, 'Who likes boobies?' "

Those expecting Best Week Ever snarkiness might be slightly disappointed.

"I'm not going to get up there and say: 'You're fat. You're ugly. You're bald.' It's not bully comedy."

He rates his language as "hard PG-13" or "light R."

"The way I try to describe my comedy is 'smart thoughts about stupid things and stupid thoughts on smart things.'

"I think of myself as sort of being a man-child: I'm in my 30s now, but I still feel like a ninth-grader intellectually."

gbudzak@dispatch.com

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Christian Finnegan , , Funny Bone Comedy Club & Cafe, Easton Town Center (614-471-5653, )8 tonight and Sunday night; 8 and 10:15 p.m. Friday; and 7, 9:15 and 11:15 p.m. Saturday $10 to $15