Comedian Dave Attell: Come see me before I retire

Veteran stand-up Dave Attell, 51, claims he is close to retiring. "I'm way too old to keep doing this," he said. "The travel sucks, and I'm out of touch. I just saw a bunch of kids with selfie sticks, and I make fun of them. I don't even know how to use them. I'm pretty ancient."

By stand-up standards, Attell, who will perform Friday at Bethlehem's Musikfest Cafe, is fairly young. Don Rickles, who is approaching 90, is on tour. George Carlin once said comedy was something a comedian could do until he died.

"But that's not me," Attell said. "I'm enjoying my last chapter in this business. I love doing clubs like I'm doing now, but you can't do it forever. However, my accountant thinks I should do it forever. The travel stinks, but the shows are great. I have a great audience. I know some of those fans go back to my television days."

During the dawn of the century, the Everyman comic, who smokes incessantly, hit with Comedy Central's Insomniac with Dave Attell, which ran from 2001 to 2004. Attell would start the unique program doing stand-up at a club, and then it was all about bars, clubs, and city landmarks of different cities into the wee hours of the morning.

"That show was my calling card," Attell said. "I had fun going to cool places. Kids today come up to me and tell me they would sneak downstairs when they were little to watch the show. I'm like their Gilligan. It's kind of creepy and cool at the same time."

During the second season of Insomniac, the Queens native visited Philadelphia. "Philly was so different then," Attell said. "It was rough. Back then in downtown, you turned onto the wrong block, it was like walking onto the set of The Wire. Now you turn that same corner, and you walk into a pottery class. It was a rough town, and now about the only thing that's rough there is finding parking, which I guess is a good thing. Back during those days in Philly, comedians earned combat pay. I remember thinking, 'These people are rough.' But those people made me a better comic."

During Insomniac, Attell would consistently imbibe. But these days are different. Fans often offer him drinks, but he turns them down. "I don't drink," Attell said. "How can I? I'm too busy taking my mom to Petco."

Attell isn't looking for another TV gig as he hits the swan-song route. "I'm content riding this out doing comedy," Attell said. "I love playing before true comedy fans. The type that regularly go to clubs. The kind of people that don't just go out to see a certain stand-up. They go to see different acts because they love comedy. Those comedy fans are like jazz fans. There really aren't that many of those kind of fans, but I go out and I want them to like what I do."

Will Attell have second thoughts about calling it a day in a few years? "I don't think so," he said. "I came up with a couple of great comics, Mitch Hedberg and Greg Giraldo, and they're both gone. I'm still here, and I'm satisfied with what I've done. There are guys I came up with like Lewis Black, who is older and been on the road for every weekend for the last 12 years, but he's hard-core. I've done what I wanted to do, and I'm still out there now. If you want to see me, come out now because I won't be doing this in a couple of years."

Dave Attell, with Michelle Biloon and Tyler Rothrock, 8 and 10 p.m. Friday at Musikfest Cafe, 101 Founders Way, Bethlehem. Tickets: $29-$34 in advance; $34-$39 at the door.

Information: 610-332-3378 or www.musikfest.org