Paul Stroili: a man trapped between two worlds.

For comedian Paul Stroili, it all started with a well-intentioned comment by his wife. She said, "Paul, I'm so lucky to have found you. You're like this gay friend I can have sex with." Stroili, taking the comment in stride, realized his wife had identified him as being a man trapped between two worlds--trying to live up to a masculine image while knowing far too much about fine wine and linens. Stroili blames his upper middle-class Ridgefield upbringing for his dilemma, and his one-man show, Straight Up with a Twist, takes audiences on a comic journey through his experiences as a man hopelessly out of step with manliness--in his family, in the psychiatrist's office, in high school and college. Most impressively, Stroili plays all the roles himself, alternating between his chain-smoking, foul-mouthed, tell-it-like-it-is mother, his resigned Italian father, his sexually charged badda-bing brother, and his own awkward years. The comedian calls himself a "Renaissance Geek," as he explains, "a man who is very good at a lot of stupid little things that don't matter."

Now a Los Angeles resident, Stroili has performed the show hundreds of times, always improvising and updating the references (substance abuse problems now poke fun of Anna Nicole Smith as opposed to Robert Downey Jr.). But local references abound, from Danbury Hospital to self-aware theater classes at SUNY College in New York, and Fairfield County suburbanites will surely relate to Stroili's poorly closeted geekiness in the midst of country club affluence, where just being Italian is considered third world.

The mother character is one of Stroili's most polished; she's a German immigrant who is part of a self-help group for women who wish their sons actually were homosexual, and describes her child at birth as a balding Chihuahua with tuberculosis.

All the characters try to assess the root of Paul's problems as the show unfolds--he's gangly, pimpled, wears every horrible '80s fashion, including a fringed leather jacket which, as he says, "the Marlboro man would wear, if the Marlboro man smoked Virginia Slims."

Desperate to have sex with women, he overcompensates by becoming ultra-sensitive and knowledgeable about every topic that might appeal to women, finding himself, as his wife so aptly noted, resembling a stereotypical gay man in his anal habits and sharp eye for color. Needless to say, sex is not forthcoming.

Named "Pick of the Week," by the L.A. Weekly, and nominated for two L.A. Weekly awards, Straight Up with a Twist has resonated with audiences and critics who, secretly or openly, connect with his confused character.

"Guys would come up to me afterwards like it was an A.A. clinic," says the comedian, "whispering, I'm one, too." Women, he says, often return to the show with different men in tow, titillated by how much Stroili's "Renaissance Geek" resembles their husband, boyfriend, male friend or brother.

While Stroili's character has much in common with TV characters Frasier or Niles, there's an important difference. "Those guys are pompous and wear it [their geekness] on their sleeves," says Stroili. "We're just like regular guys who look at it more like an affliction than something we're proud of."

Brita Brundage can be reached at bbrundage@fairfieldweekly.com.