Kashian in on the Laughs

What: Jackie Kashian

When:  8 p.m., Thursday; 8 p.m. or 10:30 p.m., Friday; 8 p.m. or 10:30 p.m., Saturday

Where: ACME Comedy Co.

Cost: $15-30

Age: 18+ 

Instead of spewing high-falutin’ jokes about Newt Gingrich and Blue Ivy Carter, comedian Jackie Kashian prefers to play her humor farther from the TMZ chest.

The Wisconsin native, who did time on the Minneapolis stand-up circuit before high-tailing it to Los Angeles, prefers to riff on her family and friends.

“I’m unmoved by what Tim Tebow is doing, or anybody really. I hope it all works out for Brad and Angelina,” Kashian said, “but I don’t care. So I talk about the people that I know — the people that I know continue to do things that I find hilarious.”

Kashian kicked off her comedy career in 1984 as a heckler. She was a college student who had never seen any stand-up comedy in her life. After kicking back five shots of tequila, Kashian harassed late comedy V.I.P. Sam Kinison.

“He tried to shut me up, and I just would not,” Kashian said, “and finally the manager came over and said, sarcastically, ‘Open mic night is on Sunday. You got to shut it or I’m going to kick you out.’”

Kashian shut up, but she was listening — three weeks later, she got up on stage and did her first few minutes of stand-up comedy.

And Kashian’s been lining her trophy shelf with accomplishments ever since: She landed a half-hour Comedy Central special, she contributed a story to “This American Life” and she regularly produces a nerd-friendly podcast called “The Dork Forest.”

In a world ridden with podcasts, Kashian’s could easily blend into the rough. But “The Dork Forest” is a diamond. Entertainers like Jen Kirkman and Margaret Cho have been featured, but the nonfamous make appearances. The only criterion is that guests must be ready to talk about their “dorkdom” — the thing that they’re obsessed with beyond all reasonable measure.

Kashian recently interviewed Mad Men actor Rich Sommer, whose dorkdom is board games.

“Fifty-eight minutes on board games,” Kashian said. “He plays board games alone.”

When she was little, Kashian wanted to be a forest ranger. So it’s only logical that she should be navigating the unpredictable environs of nerd society. But the name of “The Dork Forest” really comes from a bit in Kashian’s stand-up routine that centers on how deep you have to go into the proverbial dork forest to reach certain dorks.

“I will hang out with everybody up to, but not including, the war reenactment guys. You’ve got to go by Beanie Baby people, and Star Wars guys and Star Trek guys and Renaissance festival freaks and Pokémon kids and sparkle vampires and Harry Potter himself to get to the war reenactment guys, who I don’t hang out with anymore, Kashian said. “I hang out with all the dorks in the world, but the war reenactment guys creep me out.”

Kashian has travelled all over the world to perform her jokes about video games, online dating and Stieg Larsson for American troops. You can walk through Saddam Hussein’s palace in Iraq with her via YouTube.  The adventure doesn’t stop there: Kashian has also been to Comic-Con. No matter where she is or what she’s doing, Kashian acts as a walking respite for the nerdy among us, a ranger in the real-life dork forest.