Actor and comic Judah Friedlander will bring his stand-up comedy act to Tulane’s McCallister Auditorium tonight before before swinging through the Bywater’s New Movement Theater for another performance tomorrow evening. The comedian–who bills himself as The World Champion–will be promoting his illustration-filled new book If The Raindrops United.

Laymen may recognize Friedlander as the character Frank Rossitano from NBC’s hit comedy 30 Rock, which went off the air in 2013 after seven seasons. He also recently appeared in the Netlifx program Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp (14 years after playing a role in the original Wet Hot American Summer film). However, Friedlander is most at home behind the mic, where he delivers deadpan line after hilarious deadpan line while sporting his trademark trucker hat.

This week’s shows will be a new experience for Friedlander, as he showcases his stand-up prowess in the Crescent City for the first time ever. I caught up with the comedian to talk about his new book, what it means to “stand for president” and more.

I hear that you’re doing these stand-up shows to promote a new book of new comics and illustrations.

If you go to Amazon, and just look at my book on Amazon, they have about six drawings from the book, or four drawings from the book. And then, if you go to my website: JudahFriedlander.com and click on “If The Raindrops United”, you can see some more drawings. The book, it’s got 200 drawings and cartoons that I did. They’re mostly one-panel cartoons with a drawing and then with a caption at the bottom. And while the majority of the book is comedy–95% of the drawings are comedy–about half of those are serious. It’s dark satire, you know. It deals with different issues like gentrification, classism, racism, fascism, other government oppression, gun control, mass incarceration. So a lot of them are heavy cartoons, even though they’re drawn in a simple style. That’s half of them that are kind of like that, then the other half is just pure comedy of absurd and bizarre stuff. Also, I did The Daily Show last week, and they interviewed me, and we talked about four or five of the drawings on there too. You could see that too, if you want to get a flavor for some of the heavier stuff. Because we were mostly talking about drawings that deal with, uh, racial issues.     

What can we expect from the show at the New Movement Theater?

So, basically, I’m just doing my stand-up show. It’ll be me doing stand-up for an hour. I think there might be one or two people opening. I’m not sure, it might just be me. Then, after the show, everyone who comes to the show also gets the book. Kind of like a 2 for 1, you know, basically, uh, I think the show’s 20 bucks and the book sells for $16.99. So, depending on how you want to look at it, you’re seeing a stand-up show for 3 dollars and 1 penny, or you’re getting the book for 3 dollars and 1 penny. It’s kind of like a 2 for 1. It’’s just a special thing I’m doing, since the book is out, yo get the word out there and have people enjoy the book. So it’s a good deal.       

You mentioned that the book deals with a number of rather serious political and social issues. It’s my understanding that you’ve been running for president for some time. Do these issues somehow play into that?

Well, almost. I’m “standing” for president. I’m not “running” for president. “Running” means you’re scared. I’m “standing” for president.   

Ok, you’re standing for president. How are these issues worked into your platform?

In my stand-up act, usually towards the end of the show or at some point in my show, I sort of turn it into an impromptu town meeting where I ask the audience if there are any issues about this country that they’re concerned with. And then, on the spot, I give them answers. So, yeah. But it’s a comedy show, I’m not really running for president.

Do you have any history with New Orleans? Any good stories from past trips here?

No, but I’m actually really excited about this. I’ve heard a lot of great things from other comics about the New Movement Theater, and this is a city that I actually have not done stand-up in before. So I’m really excited and looking forward to checking out the city as well. I have a couple friends who used to live in New York who live there, so I’m interested in checking out the city and I know it not only has a great history, but a flawed and very interesting history as well. Especially with Katrina and everything. I’m like a local history buff, and an American history buff, so I like learning about the places I go, where they’re currently at, what their history is and hy they’ve changed the way they have. I always like learning those things.

What would you tell someone who’s familiar with your work from 30 Rock, and your other film and TV appearances, but who’s never seen your stand-up before?   

I consider stand-up to be what I’m best at. I’ve been doing it over 25 years, pretty much every night, and I think it’s the most creative and innovative and progressive stuff that I do. The past few years, my stand-up act has been been dealing with, and talking about, more human rights issues. I don’t really call myself a political comic because I don’t talk about specific candidates, and what they have to do to get more votes, like all the TV news channels there. I like to talk about the bigger issues, and I like to do it in a way that is a mix of blunt and subversive and just absurd and twisted,so that no matter where someone falls in the political spectrum, they’re still going to be laughing at it. I’m not someone who likes preaching to the choir. I’m not saying I don’t like those people, but I like finding comedy in tough and dark places. Donald Trump, for example I would never do a joke about his hair. I would much rather do a joke about some of the bigoted policies that he has.  I never like going for the easy or the obvious.

I think people that saw me on 30 Rock will find that I look a lot like my character on 30 Rock, but there’s a lot more depth to what I do on stage in stand-up.And more jokes! There’s more jokes too. Let’s face it, Frank, who I played on 30 Rock, he complained a lot. Frank was a whiner. He was always whining at Liz Lemon. Always complaining. I don’t do any complaining.

Judah Friedlander will do a free show at Tulane’s McAlister Auditorium on Wednesday, November 4. He will then a special stand up show and book signing at The New Movement Theater on Thursday, November 5. Tickets for that show are available here.