MARCO ISLAND — Nationally-known standup comedian Bob Zany talked the other day about how to treat an audience, specifically people around here who attend live comedy shows at the Off the Hook Comedy Club on Marco Island.

“I like the audience to be in on the joke,” Zany told me before he began his four-night stand now underway at Off the Hook. He’s a veteran of 30+ years in the laugh business and he didn’t get there by insulting people. But he’s no pushover.

“I don’t need to make fun of the audience here,” he says with a straight face, referring to Capt. Brien’s comedy venue inside his Seafood and Raw Bar restaurant at Marco Walk.

“I’m playing to a fish house. I love Brien’s parents, but let’s be honest, there’s a blowfish hanging from the ceiling. Come on, Brien wears a hat and calls himself ‘the captain.’ The last guy who did that hooked up with someone named Tennille and we had to sit through ‘Muskrat Love.’”

I told Zany that other comics have enjoyed poking fun at Marco Island, its slow pace and all that. He doesn’t dwell on that stuff, at least not yet.

“If I do make fun, but then sense the audience isn’t getting it, I try to move on and make fun of myself. But if they don’t get it at all, maybe they shouldn’t be in a comedy club in the first place,” Zany said.

Zany’s self-deprecating touch is at the heart of his talent. A good example is his role in the movie, “The Informant!”

It opened at Marco Movies and other area theaters shortly before Zany came to town for this, his third visit. How did he get the part, playing with Matt Damon and the Smothers Brothers?

“They asked me to read for one part and then another and then they called and said I got a different part,” he said.

He played one of the lawyers in the true-to-life drama that also has a lot of laughs.

I asked Zany about working on the film with one of its executive producers, George Clooney. In his answer, Zany reverted to his instincts as a funny guy.

“Clooney never was on the set because he knew I was there. We have this rivalry, where, when I’m around, women want to talk to me and not him and it’s embarrassing for George. I’m married, see, so with all the women, I have to say, ‘Hey, George is OK, go talk to him.’”

Zany may use some of his experiences in “The Informant!” in his comedy here, tonight, tomorrow and Sunday. For example, he’s in awe of some other comedians, with whom he worked in the movie, including Tom Smothers.

“It was so cool working with him. I actually made him laugh and when you make someone of that stature laugh, it’s something,” Zany said. “I was doing an improv bit between scenes, pretending to be a receptionist. He loved it.”

Zany’s brand of humor is well known to a lot of people here, because of his appearance every Tuesday morning on one of this area’s most popular radio programs, the “Bob and Tom Show” on 94.5 FM.

So there’s that, and then the movie, and now the comedy club. It’s Zany Days here. Now that’s funny.

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Don Farmer is a former ABC News correspondent and bureau chief and CNN news anchor. He can be reached at don@donfarmer.com.

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