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With an edgy style and witty punk rock sensibility, comedian Ben Roy became a darling of the Denver comedy scene and, with the albums “I Got Demons” and “No Enlightenment in Sobriety,” rose in the ranks of indie comedy over the last decade.
Roy emerged out of the fertile Front Range scene as a member of The Grawlix troupe. He currently writes and stars with fellow Grawlix members Adam Cayton-Holland and Andrew Orvedahl on the TruTV sitcom “Those Who Can’t,” about a trio of dysfunctional Denver high school teachers. The show, which concludes its third season with an episode airing Monday, drew him away from Denver to settle in Los Angeles.
Roy has been hitting the road with new stand-up material since the show finished taping in late 2017 and has been playing some shows with his Denver-based punk band Spells. The demands of television production keep him off stage for long stretches these days, but he’s been itching to perform.
Roy will headline the Temporary at Willits Town Center on Friday night. He made his debut in the space in December 2017, marking his first time performing in the Roaring Fork Valley since the old days of the Rooftop Comedy Festival.
“Once you’re a stand-up, you’re always a stand-up,” he said in a recent phone interview from Los Angeles. “I can’t wait to get back on the road and get in front of crowds.”
Friday’s show is the last comedy act on the books at the Temporary, which is set to close in early May. The club, in less than two years, gave Denver comics a home stage in the valley with Roy, Cayton-Holland, Overdahl and other to Front Rangers like Troy Walker regular headlining slots.
Ben Roy’s sets often range from observational bits about traveling and phenomena like photo radar traps on highways to biting social critiques about issues like marriage, monogamy and the social stigma around heroin addicts.
He’s avoided doing material on President Trump. Roy chalked that up to his life in the punk scene, which has bestowed upon him a dim view of government and humanity overall since his teen years. That girded him for the Trump era, he said, and inoculated him from the outrage and surprise that many comics are voicing these days.
“Being in that scene, the world has always been dog s—,” he said with a laugh. “I’m blessed in that regard. The punk and hardcore scene has always been talking about how s—ty the world is for tread-upon people and minorities and women.”