Comedian Michael Ian Black to perform at Bottlerocket Social Hall

Fresh off the successful first season of the CNN comedy game show “Have I Got News For You,” comedian, actor and media personality Michael Ian Black is headed to Bottlerocket Social Hall in Pittsburgh’s Allentown neighborhood this weekend for a series of stand-up shows.

What can audiences expect from those shows? “Primarily jokes. It’s mostly gonna be jokes, jokes and stories and maybe even some audience interaction, who knows?” Black said in an interview.

His three released comedy albums have delivered acerbic, irreverent comedy that touches on his experiences in the entertainment industry, Halloween costumes, health scares and bumper stickers, among other topics. This time around will be similar.

“I usually talk about my family and my sort of life experiences, and there’ll be a sprinkling of politics, I imagine, but not a tremendous amount,” he said.

Black is no stranger to the world of political comedy and commentary. He acts as a “team captain” on “Have I Got News For You,” which has been renewed for a second season and will return early next year.

“It’s been very fun. It’s maybe the best job I’ve ever had because it requires so little of me. And that’s the kind of job I prefer — anything where I get to sit down and wear nice clothing and don’t have to memorize anything or really even know anything. Fantastic. That’s a job I want and thankfully that’s the job I have,” he said.

Black has been into politics for his entire life, going back to childhood.

“I’ve always been interested. I just didn’t really talk about it. I remember … when I was coming home from summer camp when I was like 10 or 11, we stopped at a gas station to fill up and … I was looking at the magazine rack at the gas station, and there was a Time cover story about Alexander Haig.”

Haig, who was President Ronald Reagan’s Secretary of State, had resigned.

“I was 10, like 10 or 11 years old. And I said to my mother, ‘Why didn’t you tell me Alexander Haig resigned?’

“I’ve always been fascinated. It’s not the exercise of power that interests me. It’s the desire to have power that is really interesting. Maybe because I’ve never had that desire, like I’ve never wanted to be a leader. My God. I can’t imagine anything worse,” he continued.

Just as politics have always been part of his life, so has writing. Black has written more than a dozen books — for children and adults — and he pens many posts for numerous news sites and his own Substack. He has written two screenplays that were made into films, 2006’s “Wedding Daze” and 2007’s “Run Fatboy Run,” which was co-written with Simon Pegg, the film’s star.

“I write pretty much every day because I guess on some molecular level, I am a writer. I think for some people, they feel out of sorts if they don’t go to the gym every day and I’m like that with writing. So do I love it? I, I don’t know, it’s just what I do. It’s not that I love it or don’t love it. It’s just, that’s kind of what I am and who I am,” he said.

That said, whether it’s acting, writing, podcasting, hosting or comedy, Black has enjoyed all aspects of his career.

“I like whatever is appealing and interesting in that moment. There are times where acting gets boring, there are times when writing gets boring and there are times when, you know, anything you do over and over again gets boring. So, it’s nice to be able to draw from a lot of different things that I can do,” he said.

Black has acted in a number of television shows and movies, including “Ed,” “Wet Hot American Summer” and “The Jim Gaffigan Show.” He also appeared on VH1’s “I Love The…” series of shows in the early-to-mid 2000s.

“Acting I got into because I was a 9-year-old at summer camp and there was a girl I had a crush on and she was doing the play. So I was like, oh, I should do the play. And then I ended up liking acting. I don’t wanna say more than I liked her, but probably just as much. … I wanted to recreate, I think, that excitement and so I became an actor.

“And comedy. I wasn’t planning on getting into comedy. I just sort of fell into it in college when I joined a sketch comedy troupe that eventually became known as The State, and we had our own TV show,” he said.

Black isn’t very into pop culture, something about himself that he laments. “I mostly spend my time thinking about UFOs and playing poker. That’s what I do.”

He appeared on the first, second and eighth seasons of “Celebrity Poker Showdown,” and he made it to the championship game in seasons two and eight.

“I’ve been doing it most of my adult life and I keep doing it and you’d think I’d be better at it. … I’m not becoming a pro any time soon,” he said.

Michael Ian Black will perform at Bottlerocket Social Hall in Pittsurgh’s Allentown neighborhood Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Learn more at bottlerocketpgh.com.