By Linda Bailey, Student Reporter

Brian Regan has performed comedy for the past 25 years or as he likes to put it: “since President Taft was in office.”

The comedian, who has made appearances on the Late Show with David Letterman, will perform at 8 p.m. Friday at the Abilene Civic Center.

Regan said his favorite thing about performing is connecting with the audience.

“When you are on stage and people are laughing, it is an honest, electrical connection,” Regan said. “It feels good to make people laugh.”

Regan’s Web site, www.brianregan.com, said his jokes find the comedy in real-life situations and are presented in a cleaner way than other popular comedians.

“I don’t make that choice for any reason other than I enjoy the challenge comedically,” Regan said. “I like to get on stage, and for me, it is kind of fun to see how hard I can get people laughing without hitting certain buzz words.”

Regan said his goal for Friday is to enhance his older, established material with new comedy. He said he enjoys seeing if people will laugh at something new.

“One of my favorite compliments after the show is when people say, ‘Hey, man, we are big fans, and half of that stuff we saw tonight we have never seen before,'” Regan said. “I’m sure people will see some stuff from what I’ve done on TV, but they will see a lot of stuff that they have never seen as well.”

As part of his tour, Regan said he will perform in approximately 100 different cities within the year.

“A band goes out for four months to promote a CD or something like that. A comedian goes out in the mid ’80s and never comes home,” Regan said. “For comedians, you are just always out there working, writing stuff and hopefully growing as a comedian.”

Emily Kopp, director of marketing for Live Nation Dallas, booked Regan’s show in Abilene. She said ticket sales have been high throughout the tour, and tickets still are available for Friday’s show.

Tickets are available at the Civic Center Box Office.