Returning to his comedic roots

Larry Miller heads back to stand-up gigs

"I just know it's the exact right creative move to be the best comic I can be again," Larry Miller says of doing stand-up.

For the past eight years, Larry Miller has done just about everything but stand-up comedy. He has been an in-demand character actor since his turn as an ultra-smarmy salesman in "Pretty Woman." He has written sitcom pilots for Universal, a column for the Weekly Standard, and a book of essays called "Spoiled Rotten America."

But for the past few years - and especially the past few months - he has felt something missing. And that has been stand-up comedy gigs in a stand-up comedy club, like Boston's Comedy Connection, which he plays tonight and tomorrow. Miller began his career in the mid-'70s in New York's club scene, and though he could easily book cushy corporate or theater gigs, he says he wants to be a real comic again, which means heading back to the smaller rooms.

"I just know it's the exact right creative move to be the best comic I can be again," he says, "and that everything else springs from that. That always was the wellspring, and it always will be."

After such a long absence, Miller knows it won't be easy to step back on the boards. That's why he's been going out to the Comedy & Magic Club in Los Angeles to limber up whenever he gets a free moment from shooting films or TV pilots.

"I asked a friend who had been out for several years, how long before you felt like Ali again, and he said three years," says Miller. "And so I've really been enjoying, just loving, every single night, and that's all you have to do, really."

Miller's forte, both in his stand-up act and on-screen, has been portraying what he calls "frequently blockheaded people." It's something he sees everywhere and increasingly so, especially in more privileged modern society - people irritated when their computers take a few extra seconds to load up or trying to decide which restaurant to go to that evening.

"The behavior of people is shockingly closed, defensive, tribal, primal, primitive, actually savage and malevolent, duplicitous, and that behavior, of course, is older than all those words," he says. "And this, by the way, is on a shift on the snack bar at Little League. You want to say to someone, 'You don't need to be this way, stop it. You know me, I'm standing here with you. What are you doing?' "

Any good comic knows that to find the best comedic targets, you aim up, and that means inflated egos as well as people in power. What sets Miller apart is an extraordinary sense of kindness - you won't see him screaming on his frequent guest appearances on friend Bill Maher's "Real Time." And if you read his essays, you'll find he never points a finger without looking at himself first.

"I don't know why observers ever want to be so objective that they don't realize they're part of the observation, too," he says. "They are the observation - it's our lives. This sounds a little fanciful perhaps, but we really are all connected on a very deep level. That makes me laugh, too."

Miller is thankful for that laughter, and for the opportunity to make other people laugh. He never lacks for work: He's taping a pilot, and he's in the upcoming film adaptation of "Get Smart" with Steve Carell and has already filmed a short for the subsequent DVD release. And whenever he gets the chance, he'll be in the comedy clubs.

"I can't imagine that anyone has ever been luckier than me," he says. "If you'd said to me when I started out what would you like to be, I think I would have said I think I'd like to be an actor and a writer and a comic, and good lord, here I am."

Around town

Character comic Chris Coxen heads to Worcester tonight to play the Jerkus Circus show at Ralph's Diner a richer man. Last week, he was officially named the winner of Jockey's "Underwars" for a video he submitted of his Danny Morsel character boogying in front of Fenway Park, netting the $25,000 prize. . . . Wanda Sykes is at the Orpheum Theatre tonight. . . . Chris Oake, Dave Rattigan, and Andrea Henry play a benefit for the Acton and Maynard Democratic Town Committees tonight at the Maynard Rod & Gun Club. . . . Steve Sweeney, who is back on the air with a new morning show on 1510 The Zone, plays the early show at the Connection tomorrow. . . . "Daily Show" writer Rob Kutner will read from his "Apocalypse How" book at Pandemonium Books & Games in Cambridge Monday.