Rick Shapiro has been under the weather. More to the point, the veteran comedian has been recuperating from an accident in which he fractured several ribs, which has kept him offstage for a few months, which is one of the reasons he’s eager to be out on the road for a string of 15 shows, including performing for Flipped Out Comedy Presents at 7 p.m. Sunday at Ralph’s Rock Diner, 148 Grove St., Worcester, along with Erin Markey, Ron Bush and Matthew Flynn, and hosted by Niki Luparelli.



"I just wanted to make sure my health is good enough," he says, saying that when this short tour's up, he's got four films lined up. That's not surprising, considering his résumé, which includes numerous TV and movie appearances, most notably on TV shows such as "Maron," "Louie," "The League" and "2 Broke Girls," and movies such as "Project X" and "Pootie Tang." But he likes being busy. A native of New Jersey who spent his early career in New York City, Shapiro now lives in Los Angeles, where he says people are always telling him, " 'Out here we try to relax.'

"I'm out here to do work," he says. "I wake up every day and I think I’m going to hear stupid things all day long. Every day I hear comics saying that 'it was my dream to come out to Hollywood.' What kind of dream is that? Hollywood is a place where people skittle when you have an opinion. I don't know, my friends in New York complain that New York has changed a lot, too, so maybe I just need to go to AA again."

Shapiro's comedy is rooted in his early struggles with addiction and poverty, and he isn't afraid to make his audience a little uncomfortable.



"I would always horse around," he says, "my twin and I used to get really drunk, drop our pants on the sidewalk, pretend we were warming our hands on the fire like we were homeless … we realized we were comedians. What happened was I got clean."



It was at Alcoholics Anonymous that he began his path to comedy, where he scored laughs imitating other attendees. He shares an impersonation of someone named Ray, including a litany of unspeakably horrible things Ray does to his family, "and I realize," says Shapiro, "that Ray don't feel too good about Ray." When Ray calls his sponsor for help, he's told, "Did you drink today, your primary and only problem? No? Then you’re a winner!"



It's an easily offensive joke, when Shapiro tells it, but it's also hilarious. He says he found his inspiration early in his career, when he was shown a tape of Richard Pryor.



"I was lost, didn’t have any clothes, any money and one shirt," he says, of the time a friend exposed him to Pryor's work, "I don’t want to be presumptuous, but I saw something in common." He also claims watching Robin Williams "set my voice free."



He began performing at New York open mics, where he started with the bits he'd developed in AA, and soon he found himself on stage with the likes of Dave Attell and Louis C.K.

"I had to go on after Attell and Louis," he says, "and they were doing great all over town. They were starting to kill. That’s a good way to learn to have to step up fast. Louis was extremely nice, and one day Attell called me up and wanted to know if I (wanted to do a show) … I had to borrow cab fare for the night from someone every night. I didn’t have a job."



Shapiro says that "it’s almost harder now," quoting Kahil Gibran, who says, of comfort, "Though its hands are silken, its heart is of iron," and saying that "I'm not going to get too comfortable."

"I used to live in flophouses," he says. "and now I have what most comics would call a small place. I'm going to try to get used to staying home."



Email Victor D. Infante at Victor.Infante@Telegram.com and follow him on Twitter @ocvictor.