Anthony Jeselnik kicking off Funny Games tour at Basie

It's perhaps ironic that Anthony Jeselnik got his big break during a Comedy Central Roast of Donald Trump, now that the man is president and all.

"Politics bores me. I'm happy to tell you who I voted for and give you my opinion, but my act, my art, is jokes," Jeselnik says.

"And when you tell a political joke, you're literally only telling it to the person who already agrees with you. And that is boring to me. I don't want people clapping because they agree with my opinion."

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What he does want to do is provide audiences with "dark, smart jokes, with a twist they can't see coming."

And he's doing just that on his Funny Games world tour, which kicks off by pulling into the Count Basie Theatre on Feb 22.

And he's not kidding about the dark humor, calling his on-stage persona nihilistic.

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"I just think that the laugh is bigger the more tension you have in the setup. If you laugh at a funeral, it's inappropriate, and that makes you laugh more and that's always what I'm going for. If I see someone complain about relationships or something, I just don't care. I'd rather hear a joke about a horrible topic that no one should ever laugh at. To me, that's more entertaining."

Just don't mistake the real Anthony Jeselnik for the persona he morphs into onstage.

"They're completely different. One is basically the devil, and the other person is someone self-aware enough to recognize that.

"I get people people who tell me, 'Anthony, I love your comedy. You're saying what we're all thinking.' No, I am not. You should not be thinking these things, but the idea of thinking them makes me laugh. It's a parody of the biggest jerk in the world. Whereas I am kind of a nerd. I study comedy and I read a lot. I'm certainly not the person you see on stage."

Jeselnik grew up in Pittsburgh and graduated from Tulane University before moving to Los Angeles after college, where he launched his standup career.

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"I always loved comedy, I was attracted to comedy, and especially standup comedy. I just found that when people were laughing, everything was OK. You couldn't be mad and be laughing."

He says growing up he never aimed to be a comic, but started signing up for open mic nights in LA.

"It's hard to find a job out of college. But it was easy to go up and sign up for an open mic. So I thought this way, I'm 23 years old, nobody wants to hire me and I can be proactive and I can try this thing by myself. I don't need anyone to interview and hire me for this job, I can just start doing it and see how well I do."

In addition to the roast of Donald Trump, Jeselnik has written or taken part in other Comedy Central Roasts, including Charlie Sheen and Roseanne Barr, and starred in "The Jeselnik Offensive," in addition to a slew of TV appearances.He earned an Emmy nomination for his work on "A Night of Too Many Stars: An Overbooked Concert for Autism Education."

Jeselnik says looking back at the roast of Trump, he wouldn't have made any changes.

"I look back on my jokes very fondly and think I couldn't have gone harder. I talked about wishing him cancer and saying these awful things and I certainly think I got to him on a couple jokes. I wouldn't do anything differently, I wouldn't soften or harden anything. And I think if you had even said that he was going to be president, the audience would not have believed you. They would say you're out of your mind. There are no regrets or no 'what if I had done this differently.'"

Jeselnik is performing at 8 p.m. on Feb. 22 at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank. For tickets, $20 to $45, visit thebasie.org.

Jeselnik also will be at the Borgata in Atlantic City on Feb. 23 and the Wellmont Theatre in Montclair on June 2.

For more information about Jeselnik or the tour, visit anthonyjeselnik.com.

Ilana Keller: 732-643-4260; ikeller@gannettnj.com