As an actor, he's known for his work on TV shows such as "Ed" and "Reno 911," and films like "Wet Hot American Summer."

There's also Black the comedian, who got his start with the MTV sketch comedy show "The State," as well as the comedy troupe "Stella" and appearances on VH1's "I Love the 70s/80s/90s" series.

"I would say I'm either a funny actor, or a serious comedian. By serious I don't mean skilled, I mean self-loathing," he said.

Tonight, Black, 35, will perform with Michael Showalter at The Station in Portland at 7 p.m. Showalter is also a part of "Stella," another alum of "The State," and co-wrote "Wet Hot American Summer" with David Wain, the third member of "Stella."

Speaking by phone from his home in Connecticut, Black discussed his career, doing comedy, and lemon-lime soft- drinks.

Q:You're performing this weekend with Michael Showalter, and obviously you guys have worked together for some time. Would you consider him a friend?

A: "I would say he's more than a professional acquaintance but less than a friend. Considerably less than a friend."

Q: What do you mean by that?

A: "Well, like, I wouldn't loan him money. I wouldn't trust him to take care of my children."

Q: Would you say this is a good time to be working in comedy?

A: "It's a great time to be working in comedy. There's so many outlets for comedians right now, mostly because of the explosion of the Internet. There's no shortage of places for you to be seen.

"In terms of live comedy, yeah I think it's a good time. I think the people are receptive to stand-up in a way that they haven't been since the late '80s when it kinda died off."

Q: Why do you think people can't let "The State" go away?

A: "I think because it's like a lot of things that sort of percolate in the 'culto-sphere;' they are well remembered by a small coterie of aficionados, and those people develop a sort of slavish devotion to it, because it feels proprietary, it feels like it's their thing. And I'm glad, I'm glad people feel that way."

Q: You're talking about the culto-sphere, I guess.

A: "That word is trademarked, incidentally I simultaneously made it up and trademarked it."

Q: Along those same lines, a lot of people probably know you from your work on VH1's "I love the 70s/80s/90s." How does someone get involved in something like that?

A: "It's a funny story. They called me up and said, 'Do you want to do this?' and I said OK. And that's pretty much the end of the story I guess it wasn't that funny."

Q: So what's it like taping or filming one of those segments?

A: "You sit in a room for about four hours, they pepper you with questions about the Garbage Pail Kids or whatever it is, and you just say whatever comes to mind. It's pretty painless as far as work goes.

"I mean, it's not like the 'Deadliest Catch,' I don't know if you've seen that show."

Q: I have, and it's riveting.

A: "Yeah, those guys work a lot harder then I do when I do commentary about Raggedy Ann and Andy. Although sometimes the air conditioning is a little too cold. So I guess in that respect it's not too different from fishing for king crab on the Bering Sea."

Q: How do you feel about doing the Sierra Mist commercials?

A: "Best job I ever had."

Q: Would you care to elaborate?

A: "Well, look, I like lemon-lime soft drinks, and for someone who likes lemon-lime soft drinks you're not going to do much better than that. And I like the people that I work with, and it's fun, the catering is always very good, and it pays a lot better than basic cable."

Staff Writer Justin Ellis can be contacted at 791-6380 or at:

jellis@pressherald.com

For more of the Q&A with Michael Ian Black, go to Justin's blog at:

www.pressherald.com