Former Philly comic Doogie Horner is back in a 'Delicate' condition

It's a late night at Sansom Street's Helium Comedy Club, and Doogie Horner - an absurdist stand-up comedian and former Philadelphian who recently moved to Queens - is on stage, talking about his debut album, recorded at the club last year, and his coming gigs in the area.

"I'm a delicate man made for a smaller planet," Horner says, echoing both the title of his album (A Delicate Man) and his awkward position as a new family man in a hipster-conscious New York City borough, joking about difficulties at Home Depot and his habit of "pulling his back while sitting."

What else would you expect from a desk-and-easel jockey - a longtime graphic artist for Philadelphia's Quirk Books who did the jacket for the best-selling Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children before releasing his own schematic-rich Everything Explained Through Flowcharts: All of Life's Mysteries Unraveled, Including Tips for World Domination.

"Doogie represents the best of intelligence and the wry wit of Philly," says fellow comic Greg Proops, who was set to open for Horner this weekend at Helium until a funny thing happened on the way to the gig.

"Seriously, a broken elevator," Horner says, talking about the cancellation of his Norristown shows. "I know, I don't understand it, either. Apparently, the theater is on the fourth floor, and the sole way to get there is elevator. The glamour of show business."

Horner, minus Proops, will play May 4 at Bardot Cafe in Center City and May 7 at Norristown's Centre Theater.

"It's important to have friends in this biz, and I'm glad I started at Helium," Horner says, "because they've been very supportive." He also says he prefers Philadelphia audiences, "although I'm probably the only comedian who feels that way."

Why? "They're the perfect balance of tough but smart. They're more likely to heckle you, but I don't mind. New York City audiences are often a lot of tourists who are tired because they've been walking around all day, and often [they] don't speak English as their first language."

Horner lived in Philadelphia for 15 years, and "it still feels like home. . . . I love our neighborhood in Queens, but I don't feel a personal, emotional connection."

That emotional connectivity once took comedic form in free-flying expressionism and delicious non sequiturs comparable to avant-garde saxophonist Ornette Coleman. "When I started telling jokes, my chief concern wasn't being funny, it was being original," said Horner, who has heard the free-jazz comparison before.

The material that littered his March set at Helium and most of A Delicate Man, though, is less manically absurd than in the past. "In visual art and music, artists start out realistic and get more abstract. Comedy is the opposite. A lot of comics - and this includes me - start by telling silly, abstract jokes but get more grounded as they age. Now, I want to talk about subjects that actually matter to me, my opinions."

It bothers Horner some that he talks about marriage and having a kid, because other comedians cover those topics. "Yet I can still find original ways to discuss those subjects. It's like working in genre film - westerns, horror, whatever - it takes more creativity to discover new ground in the mainstream than on the fringes."

9 p.m. May 4 at Bardot Cafe, 447 Poplar St. Free. 267-639-4761, bardotcafe.com; 8:30 p.m. May 7 at Centre Theater, 208 W DeKalb St., Norristown. $20 advance, $25 at door. http://m.bpt.me/event/2510599.