Rob Nash jokes his way through acting, imitations and interviews

Rob Nash loves Grover. And with good reason — the 32-year-old stand-up comedian and actor can impersonate the blue-furred Sesame Street character with striking and hilarious accuracy.

Nash's repertoire of impressions also includes Ronald Reagan, Snagglepuss and a gay Morris the Cat. He seamlessly wove all of these into a recent stand-up act on Comedy Central. But Nash is also an accomplished actor, having toured extensively with his critically acclaimed one-man shows.

"A stand-up who acts has an edge," Nash said. "He or she can sell more subtle humor to an audience. If the humor isn't in the words, but how you endow the words or the physical expression on your face or body, the comic who can act has more opportunities for laughs."

Nash will have the opportunity to show off both his stand-up and solo performance talents at Princeton. He will appear Thursday as part of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Week at Princeton.

Nash draws extensively from his life when he writes his material. The characters in his series of four coming-of-age plays are based on the collective experiences of Nash and his friends during their stint at a Catholic high school in Houston. The series begins with the aptly named scene "Freshman Year Sucks!" and follows the lives of Ben, George and Johnny through "Senioritis," the final piece.

The result is hilarious, moving and sometimes uncomfortably familiar. Nash and the 26 characters he plays touch upon both the euphoric and the I-wish-I-could-forget-them high school years that most know well. Each character has a distinct persona and voice, and Nash switches between them with ease.

There is, however, an additional dimension to the real-life character of Nash. This comedian, actor and improv artist is gay. Gay themes permeate his work, but the result is universal. "I feel compelled to convey the gay boy's desire to be different and still belong. Everyone wants that. Even un-gay people," Nash said. He came out at an early age — to a teacher when he was 14, to his brother at 16 and finally to his parents shortly after his 17th birthday. It was a frightening journey.

"Now, being out helps get certain bookings and auditions — a college has a Coming Out Week function, Will or Jack from 'Will and Grace' needs a date," Nash explained. "Professionally it hurts less and less."

"Just two years ago I'm convinced I was not signed by an agency because Ellen had just come out and gotten canceled," he continued. "They probably thought, 'Oh no, guess an actor can't be out and get cast. It's not our homophobia. It's everyone else's.' Cut to two years later and this season just about every pilot has a gay character. We've come a long way, baby."

And Nash has seen his fellow comedians come a long way firsthand. He started stand-up in 1987, when comedy thrived on "really offensive gay-bashing" material. "It's amazing," reflected Nash, "how most comics wouldn't feel comfortable anymore with the jokes everyone was telling just 10 years ago. They wouldn't even think it was funny."

He described his first time on a stand-up stage — at the Laff Stop in Austin, Texas — as "amazing." But, he added, there are many lows mixed in with the highs. "Dead audiences, shitty money, hurt feelings when you offend someone you don't want to offend, the rejection of offending someone who deserved a good offending," he said.

Nash performed a sketch, rather than a stand-up routine during his premiere on the Laff Stop stage. His stand-up career later blossomed, and it was not until some six years later that he started doing solo performance again.

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Today, it is his passion. His series of four plays is scheduled to open off-Broadway this summer. "It's a different world," said Nash of performing his plays. "In a theater people aren't drinking, smoking and talking to each other."

"I'm looking forward to Princeton," Nash said. "A college audience ain't a club date, so I can do stand-up, scenes from 'Freshman Year Sucks!', Q&A and all kinds of fun stuff. I don't get to do a little bit of everything everywhere else."

The Pride Alliance presents comedian Rob Nash. Thurs., April 20 at 8 p.m. in McCormick 101. Admission is free.