Hipster humorist is a dad at heart

Neal Pollack, with his son Elijah, has written "Alternadad." (NILES FULLER FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE)

Neal Pollack spent the first decade of his career satirizing all forms of memoir, from rock 'n' roll tell-alls to war journals. In "The Neal Pollack Anthology of Literature," he called himself "the greatest writer of my time." In "Never Mind the Pollacks," he was "the breathing essence of America's music."

His new book, "Alternadad," from which he will read Wednesday at Great Scott, is the kind of book he would normally hate. It details his experience as a father determined not to let the birth of his first child, Elijah, start a spiral into mainstream mediocrity. These were stories he was telling his friends and literary agent, who finally convinced him they'd make a good book.

"I followed their lead after much resistance," says the 37-year-old Pollack. "I always said that I would never get on the memoir train. One of the things that I mocked was the sort of self-absorbed first-person narrative."

"Alternadad" has its serious moments, as Pollack and his wife, Regina, try to reconcile their artistic lives with new responsibilities, or their struggle with their parents over the decision to circumcise their child. But there is an element of self-deprecation, absent by necessity from Pollack's previous work, that buoys the story.

"I had to try to retain my sense of humor while doing it, because I think one of the problems that plagues many memoirs is this self-importance and self-seriousness," he says. "I tried really hard in my book to keep that at bay . . . to keep it in perspective that I'm just another [guy] trying to raise his kid."

The transition from smarmy to earnest yet goofy proved difficult at first. Pollack's initial attempt, an article for Salon.com about what happened when his son began biting other children in day care, met with fierce criticism from the online magazine's readers. The response stunned Pollack, and at one point, made his wife break down. He says he had learned his lesson by the time he wrote the book. "I was writing about events as they happened, and I think [the] tone was a little whiny," he says. "It lacked a little bit of perspective, which I was able to give the incident in my book [where] it comes off as part of a larger narrative and it makes Regina and I look a little more sympathetic."

Pollack has already found success with the material. The book only hit the shelves Tuesday, but Warner Brothers has optioned it as a screenplay, and Pollack has been blogging about his continuing experiences for the past year and may turn that into a sequel.

Despite his hipster status, Pollack confesses he was aiming for the universal humor of authors like Jean Shepherd and Erma Bombeck in the new book. "There's this sort of frosting layer of pseudo-hipness and rock 'n' roll and Gen-X neuroses, but in the end it's still the same basic story about having to feed, clothe, and house your family and try to raise a smart, healthy kid," he says.

Neal Pollack plays Great Scott, 1222 Commonwealth Ave., Allston, Wednesday at 7 p.m. ($5) with Harry and the Potters. 617-566-9014 , greatscottboston.com.

Bill Burr , whose new special debuted Sunday on Comedy Central, plays the Comedy Connection tonight and tomorrow. . . . Louis C.K.'s new special "Shameless" debuts on HBO tomorrow at 10 p.m. . . . J.J. Leslie hosts Comedy Night at Yerardi's Restaurant in Newton tomorrow, featuring Micah Sherman , Sean Sullivan, Myq Kaplan , Mike Oster , and others. . . . Big Funny Sunday, hosted by Chris Tabb and Corey Manning , plays the Emerald Isle in Dorchester Sunday. . . . ImprovBoston features the sketch comedy show "Tales From the Script" every Wednesday this month.