Gary Gulman is a tremendously funny comic whose bits are a clever mix of the absurd and observational.

He can start off with a novel concept — the folks whose job it was to give every state in the country a two-letter abbreviation, including the visionary who excels at linguistic contractions — and somehow end up talking about omelet chefs at hotel breakfast bars. Or a riff on sexual role playing with his girlfriend — the ol' college prof/student fantasy — and twirl off into the tooth-numbing root-systems of academia because commitment to the authenticity of the professor role won't allow him to break character.

A bit of trivia: Gulman is one of very few comedians to have appeared on every late night comedy television program — including Ingmar Bergman's "Through a Glass Darkly."

Catch the brilliance when Gulman headlines Friday at the Fox Theater in the Foxwoods Resort Casino.

Gary Gulman, 8 p.m. Friday, Fox Theater, Foxwoods; $26; 1-800-200-2882.