'The Onion' describes comedian Troy Baxley's style as, among other things, "impish." It's a rather odd description for a stand-up comic. "If I show an impish side," he says, "it's probably in my crowd interactions. If the devil had a goofy fucker side to him, I'm definitely impish." Troy Baxley performs at Go Bananas in the Festival Market Place, Montgomery, Thursday-Sunday.  

What's comedian Marc Maron talking about on stage these days? "Everything," he says. "I'm doing a lot of stuff about relationships, divorce, drugs. The same conversations I have had over the years, topic-wise, though completely new. Older and wiser, less angry." Fans of the old 'Late Night With Conan O'Brien' are no doubt familiar with his work, as he had more appearances on that show than any other comedian. Maron performs at Go Bananas Thursday-Sunday.  

Pablo Francisco is widely known as a comic with a gift for making all sorts of sounds and doing funny voices, but that perception is a little inaccurate. In fact he's a talented impressionist who uses a variety of vocal effects and odd vocalizations to drive home those bits that involve impersonations. He performs Thursday-Sunday at Funny Bone on the Levee in Newport.  

Henry Phillips didn't always want to be a comedian. He started out in show biz as a serious singer/songwriter. However, to get people to pay attention in the coffeehouses and other small venues, he would drop in silly lyrics. "I've been writing melodies since I was 8 years old and didn't have any content for them," he says. "So, when I started doing comedy songs I said I'll just take these songs that I don’t have any lyrics for and put them in there."  

"Even after 25 years in the business, I'm like 'What do I do? What's my voice?' " says comedian Todd Glass. "After George Carlin died, I paid even more attention. It changes." Glass realized that he doesn't have to pigeonhole himself. "It's a little bit of everything. When I watched Carlin I asked, 'Am I social or silly?' And then I would watch him and go, 'You know what? You can do both.' "  

There are some comedians who squander their down time, but Ty Barnett isn't one of them. When he had some open spots in his tour this past summer, Barnett hunkered down to work on a number of projects. "I've got two pilots that I'm working on," he says. "I just finished a script for one, and I shot one up in Seattle that's in the final stages of being put together. I took time to work on stuff behind the camera, so it's great. It's amazing the stuff you can do with your computer when you're not watching porn." He plays Go Bananas Thursday-Sunday.  

Before putting it to rest, as it were, comedian Mike Birbiglia wanted to commit his acclaimed one-man show 'Sleepwalk With Me' to CD. It had a successful run of over 200 performances off-Broadway, but he wanted to record the CD in a comedy club, not a theatre. "I developed the show in comedy clubs," he explains. "It's a more intimate environment." The next question was which comedy club? He didn’t have to think very long for an answer. "Go Bananas is, as far as I’m concerned, one of the best comedy clubs in the country," Birbiglia says.  

"I always joke that I went from being a starving athlete to a starving artist," says comedian Michael Kosta. A native of Ann Arbor, Mich. and a talented tennis player, he wound up forsaking his hometown college (the University of Michigan) to attend the University of Illinois. "Michigan fans are very arrogant," Kosta states. "I'm on the record saying that. They couldn't understand why I would leave my hometown and go to a different school." He performs Thursday-Sunday at Go Bananas.  

When comedian Kyle Kinane moved from Chicago to Los Angeles seven years ago, he not only changed cities, but also the only living arrangement he had ever known. "I lived with my parents until I moved out to California," he says. "It was change by leaps and bounds all around when I moved." After diligently pursuing his dream, he was able to quit his day job last year.  

If you're a familiar with Dutch television, you might know American comedian Tom Rhodes as the host of his own late night talk show. For five years he hosted a chat show in the Netherlands and is still widely recognized there. He's back touring the U.S., and he performs Thursday-Sunday at Go Bananas in Montgomery.