He won't perform, but he knows what makes people laugh

Brian Joyce created AltCom, an annual festival which gathers comics from around the world. (dina rudick/globe staff)

Audiences at the Somerville Theatre for this weekend's inaugural AltCom festival will see a lot of talented comedians. There are comics with national name recognition like Emo Philips, Patton Oswalt, and Todd Barry, lesser-known names like Morgan Murphy, Australian comic Jim Jeffries, and English comic doktor coca-colamcdonalds, and local favorites who have moved on including Eugene Mirman and the Walsh Brothers.

The comedian you probably won't get to see is Brian Joyce, a booker who put the festival together in the first place.

"I will be there to make sure nothing burns down," he says. "Certainly, I'd like to come out at the end of the shows and say thank you to everybody. I think the shows are in very capable hands."

It's not that Joyce doesn't have the chops or the credits to include himself on the bill - he's done theater shows like this before, and if you listen closely, you'll hear his voice in Sunday's new episode of Adult Swim's "Assy McGee." The comic in him would love to be onstage, but the booker in him knows he doesn't quite fit the lineup.

Joyce would like to make AltCom an annual festival, and he's scored with a great lineup this year. He'll also continue to produce his Off the Boat Comedy shows, which have brought popular comedians from the United Kingdom to smaller American stages. So far, Joyce hasn't had to choose between his on- and offstage roles.

"Let's put it this way, whenever I'm onstage, and I'm having a great set, I love being a stand-up comedian," he says. "Whenever I put on a show, and it's a good show, and the audience enjoys it, I enjoy being a booker. I've always been that type of person: I just do what I enjoy doing."

Joyce got the idea for AltCom while living in Ireland and performing at festivals like the one in Letterkenny, where he met Philips, Jeffries, and doktor cocacolamcdonalds. He thought he'd like to bring something like that to the states if he ever got the chance.

"It was this kind of cool comedy festival with a lot of really great headliners from all over the world kind of descending on this little area for a weekend," he says. "That was my inspiration. I don't want to just start a comedy festival. There's already plenty of comedy festivals in America."

AltCom, of course, stands for alternative comedy, a somewhat vague term. Oswalt was the main voice in Pixar's "Ratatouille" and in the cast of the sitcom "King of Queens," and Philips was one of the bigger comedic names in the '80s. But there's something that binds the names on this bill, even if it's not easily defined.

"I think it's a genre, the same way that alternative rock is, or modern rock or college rock," says Mirman. "Some college rock sounds like folk music, and some college rock sounds like '70s hard rock. But it's still all thought of as college rock."

For Mirman, the festival is a homecoming and a chance to play on the same bill as Philips, a childhood hero. "I used to listen to his tape every day probably for like two years," he says.

Joyce may not tell a single joke this weekend, but he's satisfied with bringing Philips and Mirman together on the same bill, with acts like Jeffries, who's just starting to get traction in this country, and the odd musical comedy of cocacolcamcdonalds. "I definitely think there will be parts of each show where even the nerdiest of comedy nerds will be going, 'Wow, I've never really seen something like this,' " he says. "That's what I really like about it."

His life's an open book

Robert Schimmel's life has been the stuff of inspirational books - he has lived through a heart attack, cancer, and the death of a young son. He's been able to bring his personal experiences into his stage act but never thought about writing a book until he was approached by a fan last year at the Comedy Connection, where he'll play tonight and tomorrow.

The woman said she was moved and asked why he didn't already have a book. "I said, 'Who's going to give me a book deal?' " Schimmel recalls, "and she said, 'I am.' She was the editor for Da Capo Press."

Schimmel and writer Alan Eisenstock made quick work of the book, "Cancer on $5 a Day* *(chemo not included): How Humor Got Me Through the Toughest Journey of My Life," which hit shelves in February. Writing the book has also affected Schimmel's stage act. Already gritty and honest, the comedian says he's "more honest about the things that I go through in my life, I feel more connected to the audience."

Around town

Emerson grad Eddie Brill headlines the Comedy Studio tonight and tomorrow and will be there Sunday in his capacity as booker for David Letterman, auditioning local comics for the show. Rodney Carrington plays the Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts in Worcester Sunday. Mexican improv troupe ImproTop plays early shows at the Apollinaire Theatre in Chelsea and late shows at ImprovBoston tonight through Sunday.