Andrew Mayer

Age: 30

Hometown: Athol


Think of: He bears a passing resemblance to a young Jake Johannsen, with whom he shares a love of minutiae and everyday strangeness. He cites Demetri Martin and Dane Cook as influences.

What caught our eye: Silly and imaginative bits about things like a reality show called “So You Think You’re a Bear” and the increasingly ridiculous “Air Bud” sequels.

Light bulb moment: When he was 10, Mayer spent two months in traction for a broken femur, and his father gave him stand-up comedy tapes to help him sleep. The summer after he started college, he took a stand-up course with his father at Mount Wachusett Community College and started writing more seriously. Winning a contest at the Rhode Island Catch a Rising Star helped cement his decision to pursue stand-up more vigorously.

Biggest thrill: He loved performing at the Bridgetown Festival in Portland, Ore., but making the Boston Comedy Festival finals in 2014 and getting to play the Somerville Theatre was special. “It was a packed theater, and I don’t do a ton of shows like that, so that was a real treat,” he says.

Biggest surprise: As a 19-year-old just starting to do comedy, Mayer thought he was going to blow up right away. Then he found out how much of a grind stand-up comedy can be. “Even just when people go, ‘How’s comedy going?’ you can’t really explain, ‘Oh, I wrote a joke that I’m really happy about, and that’s what’s been going on for the last month.’ It’s meaningful when you’re in it, but there are so many small steps along the way.”

Inspired by: It’s the little day-to-day things that either scare Mayer or make him happy, and those find their way into the act. “I’ve been talking lately about a guy I saw walking down the street swinging both his arms in the same direction at the same time, and how terrifying that is to see. It might have ruined my day,” he says, adding, “If I’m in the shower and can blow a bubble off of my bottle of body wash that floats around the shower for a little while, I will be unreasonably happy for the entire day.”

Aspires to: Before he got engaged last fall, Mayer was working to be a road comic. These days he’d prefer something a bit more in balance. “The concept of having functional friendships and a relationship that doesn’t suffer based on comedy is appealing to me,” he says.

For good luck: “The thing I would do before most shows was listen to a song by the Aquabats called “Look at Me (I’m a Winner)!” It’s just so absurdly over-the-top happy as a song. I don’t know if I did it for luck or a ritual, but I felt like it got me into a good mindset to be in front of people.”

What people should know: He’s generally a happy guy, and he doesn’t have an ax to grind onstage. “I feel like it’s an angle that’s not taken all that often, to be positive about things. Most of it is very silly. I like pushing people’s boundaries that way instead of what they can tolerate.”

Coming soon: Mayer and Will Smalley host “Two Kids in a Trench Coat” every third Wednesday of the month at the Milky Way Lounge in Jamaica Plain, and they are planning to debut a podcast of the same name this summer. Mayer will release his debut album this fall. - Boston Globe