He's starting over -- again

Al Madrigal feels his TV and club work is getting him closer to a mainstream breakthrough.

Experience is a relative thing, especially in terms of stand-up comedy. Some would say that Al Madrigal, who comes to the Comedy Connection tonight and tomorrow, is an established comic, having just passed his 10-year anniversary in the business. He's already been in three sitcoms, including the recently canceled "Welcome to the Captain" and the upcoming "Project Gary." He's toured with Dave Chappelle and Mitch Hedberg.

With all of that on his resume, why would he consider himself a "baby headliner?"

"I think Jay Leno said it's the same thing as becoming an attorney - seven years to get your law degree and then another seven years to actually become a good attorney," he says. "How long are you new for?"

Madrigal has been "new" for 10 years. He was new in 2002, when he played the "New Faces" showcase in the Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal. He was new again in 2004, when he won a jury award for best stand-up comedian at the US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen. He was probably new to most audiences when he costarred with Jeffrey Tambor and Raquel Welch in "Welcome to the Captain," and he's ready to be discovered yet again when he costars with Jay Mohr in "Project Gary" this fall.

Still, Madrigal wouldn't trade his current struggles for his last gig, working for his parents' human resources business, for which he claims to have fired more than 1,500 people.

"I don't think I'll ever be disappointed because I worked a regular job," he says. "I work, what, two hours a night, tops? I've got a bunch of scripts I'm working on, I get free bar, I'm staying most likely at a decent hotel. This is one of the best gigs in the world."

Madrigal got into stand-up a bit late, finally giving in to his lifelong itch to try comedy at age 27.

"I thought if I made it to 30, and I hadn't tried it yet, I'd have a midlife crisis, and I'd regret it for the rest of my life," he says, remembering his plan. "I'm going to try it five times, and if I don't get laughs these first five times, at least I'll be able to say I tried. And then five times became, all right, I'll try this for a year."

Things moved quickly at first for Madrigal. He got to play some of the best clubs in his native San Francisco, like Cobb's and the Punch Line. And if the fact that he was a comedy fan before he was a comic left him a little star-struck by comedians he met, he also thinks his late start helped him.

"I got to build up all of this perspective that I don't think a lot of people have when they're young and just truly appreciate who I was working amongst," he says. "It sort of translated in my act. I have a lot to talk about."

Madrigal has worked to ensure his act has the widest appeal possible, playing alternative and mainstream venues, something he says follows the tradition of his fellow San Francisco comedians.

"I don't do any specific type of room," he says. "I feel like the one thing the truly great San Francisco comics have done is been able to do a variety of gigs. I don't think you're funny unless you're funny in front of a mainstream audience."

That mainstream breakthrough may not be far off. Madrigal is convinced that his TV appearances and his work in the clubs are adding up.

"I'm on my way," he says. "People are starting to come out to the clubs. So it's all starting to build, and I anticipate that great things will happen.

Around town

If you're fond of the wacky green window and fake piano at the Comedy Connection's Faneuil Hall location, you'll want to get out to the club this weekend. This is the Connection's last weekend in its current location before it relocates to the Theater District next month. . . . Tom E. Morello hosts Myq Kaplan, Erin Judge, the Steamy Bohemians, Dan Crohn, Matt MacArthur, Shaun Bedgood, J.J. Leslie, and Tony Pizazz & Dr. Xanax Sunday at the Comedy Studio.