Performing back home no joke for Billy Gardell

A year or so from now, Pittsburgh-area cable-channel subscribers could be tuning into Billy Gardell's Comedy Central special and trying to spot themselves in the audience.

Meanwhile, Gardell is not asking for any special treatment when he films the special Friday at the Byham Theater, where he'll perform two shows. Prayers• Sure, he'll accept a Hail Mary or two. But he earns his own way, so he wants the laughs to be genuine, not partisan, even though the audience will be stacked with family and friends from his old Swissvale neighborhood.

"I think I was more nervous on my wedding day but this is up there right with it, believe me," says Gardell, his yinzer accent intact despite years spent in the drive-through karma of Los Angeles, where he lives with his wife and son. "You feel like you're under the microscope."

The comedian and actor knows he's got to please his hometown audience while appealing to viewers in Tacoma and Duluth.

"Because I'm filming it in Pittsburgh, there's added pressure," he says. "I obviously want the special to be great but I want to represent Pittsburgh at the same time."

Gardell's previous Comedy Central special got such high ratings it gave him enough leverage to have his next one filmed here. But he's not taking anything for granted. It's one thing to go off-script Tuesday mornings on WDVE-FM, where he banters by phone with co-hosts Jim Krenn and Randy Baumann. But there's no calling an audible here.

"This one has to be very structured," he says. "Because it's for the cameras, you can't have time to be messing around and hope that it goes well. This has to be structured down to the last comma."

In August, Gardell starts filming "Mike & Molly," a sitcom about a romance between two compulsive overeaters. The comedy, part of the CBS fall lineup, could vault Gardell from character actor to a boldface name. Krenn, of WDVE, likes the big guy's chances.

"It's the right place, right time, right costume," Krenn says. "You have to have the talent to back it up. I know he's ready for the next level. I'm excited for him. Billy is like a rock and roll comedian to me. He's no-nonsense, in-your-face."

Gardell's sardonic wit comes partly from a childhood interrupted by his parents' divorce, a move to Florida and mistreatment at the hands of an abusive stepfather.

"The only way to make that stuff funny was to joke about it," he says. "Really, I just turned a defense mechanism into a paycheck."

Additional Information:

Billy Gardell

Where: Byham Theater, Cultural District

When: 7 and 9:30 p.m. Friday

Admission: $23 ($5 handling fee if ordered by phone)

Details: 412-456-6666