Simmermon, who will tape both his Thursday sets, grew up in Norfolk, Va., and lived in D.C. from 2004 to 2007 while working at random office jobs.

One of the first outlets he found for his stories in New York was an event sponsored by storytelling collective The Moth. He went on to win several Moth competitions and The Paris Review ran a couple of his tales on its daily blog. However, he quickly felt himself outgrowing the form.

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“Storytelling can be a little self-indulgent,” he says. “I’ve seen so many people tell terrible, boring stories — about, say, the time they tried polyamory — that nobody wants to hear about.”

Veteran comedians like Louis C.K. and Bill Burr inspired Simmermon, who now lives in New York, to revisit his anecdotes and add what he calls a commentary track — a parallel narrative arc of witty observations. That process, Simmermon says, made his stories more entertaining and helped him discover what they were really about. For instance, one of Simmermon’s favorite stories — about the giant monitor lizard that ate his pants in the Australian Outback — ended up being less about the lizard and more about Simmermon’s flimsy sense of masculinity at the time.

“I thought it was a story about a crazy job I had as an assistant to a kangaroo hunter, but it’s actually about the ridiculous, frustrating and pointless s— you get yourself into when you think you’re proving something to the world but you’re really just trying to prove something to yourself,” he says.

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At the Black Cat, Simmermon will share that tale and three others, using a combination of storytelling and stand-up that audiences can find challenging.

“If you aren’t funny within 30 to 60 seconds, an audience will turn on you,” he says. “So I always start out with some solid jokes before I launch into a story.”

D.C. folks have longer attention spans than most people, Simmermon says, which is one reason he’s coming here to record the album, which is set for release next spring.

“People in D.C. are the best,” Simmermon says. “I always get a great crowd. People are ready to laugh and excited to be there. In New York, everybody is always checking their phone to see if there’s somewhere else they’d rather be.”

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Plus, he says, the food at the Black Cat is tops.

“If you’re a performer, they give you a complimentary burger,” he says. “I’m lucky in New York to get a drink ticket. To get a meal I don’t have to pay for? That is just so awesome.”

Black Cat, 1811 14th St. NW; Thu., 7 & 9 p.m., $15.