Reggie Watts shares the love in silly musical sendups

You'd think the unconventional minds behind the "alternative comedy" underground could've come up with a better tag for their breed of ironic, absurdist humor; "alternative" anything smacks of 1990s marketing, all tribal tattoos and trimmed goatees. Unlike the long-passé musical designation, though, alternative comedy is thriving, thanks to the popularity of comedy in all forms. Its epicenter is New York, natch, but L.A., Seattle, Austin and Philadelphia have thriving scenes as well. So while stand-up acts like Chris Rock and Dane Cook draw audiences of thousands for big-budget arena tours, alternative forefathers like David Cross and Eugene Mirman play to small crowds at rock clubs and music festivals.

As does Reggie Watts, a Seattle-to-New York transplant who returns next week for four shows at the Triple Door (7 and 10 p.m. today and Saturday, $19-$23).

"If some of those comedians got up in front of a mainstream audience, [people would] be like, 'What the hell are you doing?' " Watts said over the phone from his parents' home in White Falls, Mont. "They'd have questions about what's going on. It's not above anybody's head, but I think the mainstream is fed a certain thing and that's what they're used to. When they see someone being weird, they don't know how to react."

Watts raises being weird to such ridiculous, unpredictable heights that the only natural reaction is laughter. His is a form of comedy that mines the humor inherent in making noises with your mouth. He is perhaps Seattle's most versatile vocalist and second-most-popular beatboxer ("Blake Lewis is ill," Watts admitted).

His stage show consists of Watts — sporting a bouncy, Sideshow Bob 'fro — a microphone and a sampler. He records a mouth-made bass line with the sampler, then a drumbeat, then a cymbal, then a guitar, layering them all via sampler. Then he sings or raps over his mouth-made music. Usually the song is improvised; often it's sung in a German or Cockney or Ebonic accent, or sometimes all three. Watts frequently loses himself in the performance, spazzing out like a Tourette's-suffering drunk with cabin fever and a terrific singing voice.

This process is usually very, very funny. It's original, in that there's little reliance on traditional joke/punchline structure or clichéd "ever notice?" Seinfeld-isms. It is never mean, however. Unlike most of his peers, Watts avoids irony and condescension.

"If you don't love something and you're making fun of it, it comes off as being mean or hateful," he said. "Anything I'm being silly about on stage is a celebration of stuff that I love. Inherently there's something silly about things that people take seriously." When Watts spoofs hip-hop stereotypes, he does so in a rap song. His use of the form to make fun of the form comes with love, and it's that much funnier because of it.

"Comedy comes from people who are naturally inclined to do something really well, and they do it well enough that they can make fun of it and it doesn't come off as hacky," he said. The "alternative" enters the picture when someone like Watts — who first gained fame in the late '90s as a wailing soul singer in Seattle band Maktub — turns his talents toward something other than what's expected.

"It comes down to the spirit of rock 'n' roll," he said. "Not to sound too cheesy, but rock 'n' roll is a state of mind to me, more than a distorted guitar sound. It's a fearlessness to rock a stage ... to confront some stuff. Alternative comedy symbolizes that."

Watts is a new breed of rock star/comedian hybrid, but the crossover doesn't always add up to big laughs.

"I was on tour with Maktub in L.A., and we were getting empanadas and I was beatboxing and my band mates complained about it and I was so insulted," he said. "It was the first time anybody had said something, like, could you kinda like chill out on that? I was like, damn, that's not cool."

Other must-see shows this week:

• Nas, Queensbridge's godfather of hyper-literate street rap and purveyor of controversial album titles, plays Showbox SoDo tonight. With D. Black, Grynch, DJ Nphared. (8:30 p.m., all ages, $37.50-$40). For more on Nas, see accompanying story.

• Wha?? It's really been 20 years of the Posies' wry, laser-sharp pop? Apparently we are all very old. The band celebrates the two-decade mark tomorrow night at Neumo's (8 p.m., $12).

• Seattle has Kay Kay & His Weathered Underground to fill our baroque-pop quota; Indianapolis has Margo & the Nuclear So and So's. The eight-piece ensemble plays Chop Suey Tuesday (8 p.m., $10).

• As long as he's not lapsing into emo, Vancouver MC Josh Martinez is funny, funky and horny. He plays Nectar Wednesday with Gabriel Teodros, Rudy and the Rhetoric, Abadawn, Can-U and DJ Jopa (9 p.m., $8).

Jonathan Zwickel: zwickelicious@gmail.com