Fresh off his third comedy special, Last Comic Standing finalist Chris Porter returns to Alaska this weekend

Former Last Comic Standing finalist Chris Porter makes his seventh trip to Alaska this weekend, playing a pair of shows at Koot’s on Thursday and again on Friday as part of the Erickson Unlimited Fall Comedy Series, sponsored by the Anchorage Press.

Back in March, Porter headlined a festival that included Arden Myrin and Bill Dwyer, at the Wendy Williamson Theater at UAA. The cozy ‘Ice Bar’ at Koot’s figures to be a better setting for Porter’s smart, yet salt-of-the-earth midwestern bluntness.

“I did Koot’s once, and I’ve done a lot of work up in Fairbanks with Jerry (Evans) and Glenn (Anderson),” Porter said. “Alaska is one of my favorite places to go. I love Anchorage and Fairbanks for different reasons. Anchorage has this cool city vibe, it’s kind of like growing up in Kansas City, it’s very similar. Fairbanks is like the frontier, those guys live on the edge.”

Porter is coming off a new special, his third, shot in Denver three weeks ago. The Alaska gigs will be Porter’s first since then as he starts the always challenging transition of phasing out that material with new.

“This is kind of my entry back on tour… The last time I was in Anchorage, I only had 15 or 20 minutes,” said Porter, who’s hopeful his latest will be picked up by Netflix or another online hub. “We’re definitely in a (stand-up comedy) boom. The 80s will always be the Golden Age… but we’re definitely in boomtime and Netflix is a huge part of that, and the Internet, in general.”

Porter said the timelessness of streaming content helps today’s comics immensely.

“With Netflix and Hulu people have a lot more access to stand-up. Back in the day, if someone had a special on a Friday and it pretty much just disappeared for the rest of time,” said Porter, whose 2013 special ‘Ugly and Angry’ had a run on Netflix. “Not it sits like a book on your shelf, at any time it’s their will. That’s what’s causing the boom — that and podcasts.”

This boom coincides with the arrival of a most unusual president in the White House. Despite the tense political climate, Porter looks to keep his act as politics-free as possible.

“It’s just straight standup. I’m using words that are not vulgar, not gross and I avoid politics. We’re kind of at a place where there’s enough news out there, so people just want to come and enjoy the show,” said Porter, whose go-to jokes tend to focus on the stupidity of people in everyday life. Think of him like a white George Wallace with a light Kansas City twang. “That’s always a constant — stupid people keep making more stupid people. They always reproduce… At the end of the day, I’m just another angry white dude. There’s a bunch of those out there.

I think me not talking about politics allows everyone to have a good time. Trump supporters, whether you agree with them or not, they’re people. Whether you’re Republican or Democrat, if you’re not talking about any of that stuff, then you don’t end up arguing… I want to come in and unify, not be ‘us against them’, or ‘us for us’ and not be a bunch of dumbshits.”

Porter began doing stand-up comedy as a 19-year-old, now two decades ago.

“Being a stand-up comic is like being a NASCAR driver. What’s day one of that? My buddy tried it, so I thought, if nothing else, I’d try it as a way to meet girls,” Porter said. “I was pretty introverted — still am, but at 19 much more so. Maybe if I was funny girls will approach me; change the game a little bit.”

Porter’s shows are 7 and 9:30 Thursday and Friday nights at Koot’s, presented by Erickson Unlimited Productions and sponsored by the Anchorage Press.

Local comics Kass Smiley and Kyle Farrell will be opening both nights.

Tickets are available at www.erickson.events.