Life after sitcom

March 18, 2015 at 12:05a.m.

If you go

Who: Steve Byrne

When: 8 p.m. Thursday; 7:30 and 10 p.m. Friday; 7 and 9:30 p.m. Saturday; and 7 p.m. Sunday

Where: Hilarities 4th Street Theatre, Cleveland

Tickets: $23 to $30; call 216-736-4242

Similar to a former student returning to his alma matter for a night of debauchery and fun, comedian Steve Byrne knows when he books gigs in Northeast Ohio he better bring plenty of aspirin.

“Every time I go back I have an absolute blast, and I wake up the next day regretting the fact I went out,” said Byrne, calling from Los Angeles.

Byrne, a 1997 Kent State University graduate, said he can’t wait to return to Cleveland for shows Thursday through Sunday at Hilarities 4th Street Theatre.

It’s been a busy few years for the funnyman, who created and starred in his first sitcom, TBS’s “Sullivan & Son.”

The show lasted three seasons, but Byrne recently found out it wasn’t picked up for a fourth. Still, he’s not complaining.

“At the end of the day, I was fortunate enough to get three great seasons out of it,” Byrne said. “I relished every second of it. Every day I pulled onto the Warner Bros. lot, it was an absolute blessing.”

Byrne added that “Sullivan & Son,” despite the fact it averaged 2 million viewers per episode, was doomed due to a lack of critical respect because it aired on TBS. Still, he views the time spent on the show as a priceless education, which is already paying dividends as he finishes writing two other television show ideas.

The comic is also busy writing his next comedy special, which is the follow-up to last year’s “Champion.” The new special will be filmed in the next year and will appear on Netflix.

“I think my last two specials I got a little personal talking about identity and race, but this is more introspective where I’m talking about my role in humanity as a man who has recently turned 40,” Byrne said. “I’m almost imparting words of wisdom to somebody who is maybe half my age. That’s the thesis of it moving forward, and I think it’s definitely my best work yet, by far.”

Byrne is very confident about the new material he’s bringing to Cleveland, which he says includes two of the best jokes he ever wrote. The veteran standup views each of his specials/comedy albums in the same way a recording artist looks for hits.

He feels his last few albums have each had two or three great jokes (or hits), and now he’s just happy to add to his greatest-hits collection in the same fashion that defined George Carlin’s career.

Invariably, this former Golden Flash is doing just fine, which brings us back to Byrne’s Cleveland traditions. It turns out there’s another ritual that’s tasty and will require his attention — Panini’s.

“Oh yeah, that’s where the night will always end,” Byrne said. “It’s not a successful night unless you end up there because it’s never a destination. It’s like, ‘We’ve got to go. I’m so bombed — I need something to soak up the liquor. We got to go to Panini’s.’

“That’s where I’ll end up, absolutely.”