You won't see Aaron Ross, Alex Falcone or Leo Daedalus on TV, and they don't hob knob with A-list celebrities, yet their presence is well known in Portland's thriving late-night talk show scene.

Unlike its milquetoast TV counterpart, Portland's late-night circuit features three very different shows -- driven by hosts who have three very different styles. Ross is the prolific MC of the fast-paced "Who's the Ross?"; Falcone produces the slick "Late Night Action"; and Daedalus is the ringmaster of the subversive art experiment "The Late Now."

You would expect to see these kinds of shows in bigger markets like New York or L.A., but all of Portland's late-night shows regularly draw crowds, and their hosts have gained recognition in their circles as talented entertainers and comedians. Still, each says that despite their hard work, many Portlanders know little about this aspect of the city's nightlife scene.

Consider the following a brief introduction to the weird and wild world of Portland's live late-night talk shows.*

"Who's the Ross?"

Host: Leo Daedalus

Location: Vie de Boheme (map it)

Time: Every other month

Style: Intellectual, unpredictable, avante-garde

Network TV Counterpart: Craig Ferguson

A lobster and a bull stand onstage, competing in a game show overseen by former Spanish dictator Francisco Franco. A "PC parole officer" stands above the scene, ready to ring a bell of disapproval. A nun roams the audience, bowing stoically. At the center of it all is Leo Daedalus, dressed as a matador, ranting about the Spanish philosophy known as duende.

This is not a typical "Late Now" show, but there really is no such thing as a typical "Late Now" show. Daedalus started the bi-monthly series in 2012 and has been skipping around to venues including Vie de Boheme, The Waypost and Din Din ever since. Daedalus' comedy is high-minded -- educational even. During his most recent show he brought in a Flamenco guitarist, not just to play but to discuss art and culture at length. The audience, well-dressed and drinking $10 cocktails, was mesmerized.

"It's like 'The Tonight Show' hosted by Marcel Duchamp, broadcast from a parallel universe where Dada won the war," Daedalus says of his show. "The (late-night) format has potential, it has life, but it's only available in a moribund way in general culture, so we have to do it ourselves."

He's the kind of man who focuses obsessively on one topic for a short period of time, then grows tired of it and moves on. He has enough material for an 18-hour show every month, he says, but instead edits down his passions into an unpredictable two hours, staging episodes with titles like "Genomic Mandolins" or "Reptiles of the Mind."

The point is to entertain, of course, but Daedalus says he also wants to challenge his audience and disrupt social norms. He crafts a world where "awkward" and "confusing" aren't dirty words, but feelings to strive for.

"My favorite place to be is improvising where the wheels are about the come off," he explains. "If you're not failing a fair amount of the time, then you're not really pushing at the edge."

The next performance of "The Late Now" is on April 25 at 7:30 p.m. Buy tickets online.

* It's also worth mentioning the wonderful and popular "Live Wire," which is a talk show but doesn't operate under the same host-driven format, so only gets a footnote here.

--Jamie Hale | jhale@oregonian.com | @HaleJamesB