Louie Anderson hasn’t performed in the Bay Area in a while, but he’ll return to Cobb’s Comedy Club this weekend just as he left — with self-deprecating humor.

“I think Louis C.K. is (in San Francisco) the same weekend,” Anderson says, during a recent phone interview from the road. “I hope he’s sold out really early, and people get mixed up, and come out to my show, thinking I’m Louis Anderson C.K.”

That won’t be necessary. Anderson has his own substantial fan base, which has grown recently thanks to his memorable role as Christine, the title characters’ mother in “Baskets.” The quirky FX comedy has been renewed for another season, and Anderson, 63, has been enjoying some of the greatest praise of his life.

The Minnesota-born comic has had an eclectic career on television, in films and on game shows, with his highest-profile jobs including the biographical animated hit “Life with Louie” in the 1990s, and four years hosting “Family Feud.”

But stand-up comedy has been his constant. Anderson opened for Marsha Warfield at the Punch Line as early as 1984. He competed in one San Francisco comedy competition (getting beat by impressionist and musician Mark McCollum). And since the 1980s, no matter what was happening with his Hollywood career, Anderson continued to perform on stage steadily.

Anderson was in the middle of a residency in Las Vegas last year when he was recruited by executive producer C.K. to co-star in “Baskets.” He jumped at the chance to play Christine, the Costco-loving, tough-love matriarch in the Baskets clan of Bakersfield, which includes community-college-instructor brother Dale and sad clown Chip, both played by Zach Galifianakis.

Anderson’s imitation of his own mother has been a stand-up staple for years, but after watching Jeffrey Tambor play a transgender woman in “Transparent,” he chose to use his own voice.

“We kind of did the pilot under secrecy, because they didn’t want anyone to know that I was playing Zach’s mom,” Anderson says. “It’s one thing to hear about it and it’s another thing to hear it. People would be like ‘What’s he doing? It seems cartoonish.’”

Anderson has long been a family-friendly comic — a different tone than the bleaker television show. Cobb’s is advertising, “Louie Anderson from ‘Baskets’ on FX.”

The comedian says his stand-up act has always had dark elements. (His abusive father is another character.) Anderson also asserts that the “Life with Louie” fans and “Baskets” fans may be different personalities, but they’re not warring factions.

“I have two different kinds of fans coming to my show,” he says. “Some people like Christine and they love Louis Anderson. And some people love Christine and they like Louis Anderson. I could probably do a show just as Christine. There’s a group of people who would love to hear her politics.”

Anderson says it has been about 10 years since he played the Bay Area, last performing at the Masonic as well as a benefit for the poor in Oakland. In addition to the Punch Line, Anderson remembers playing at the Boarding House on Bush Street and the Other Cafe in the 1980s.

“I was more of a L.A. person, coming up and saying, ‘Oh, I wonder if I should live up here,’” Anderson remembers, “because there was so much comedy going on up here, and it seemed friendlier.”

But he never moved to San Francisco full time, and it all worked out for the best. He’s still very proud of his previous TV work and calls “Baskets” “a special situation.” While he’ll always be respectful of audiences who supported the old Louie, he’s happy to explore some new, darker, places as well.

“I’m a little less careful of what I say than I used to be,” Anderson says. “And I think people are OK with it. I don’t think you have to be squeaky-clean anymore.”

Peter Hartlaub is The San Francisco Chronicle’s pop culture critic. Email: phartlaub@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @PeterHartlaub.

Louie Anderson: 8 and 10:15 p.m. Friday, July 8; 7:30 and 9:45 p.m. Saturday, July 9. $25. Cobb’s Comedy Club, 915 Columbus Ave., S.F. www.cobbscomedy.com