Thirdgill’s a Stand-Up Guy : Comedy: While he’s happy to have landed a role on Fox television’s ‘In Living Color,’ he does miss his time onstage.

Troy Thirdgill, a comic who plays the Coach House tonight, is finding that success in comedy often means less time doing the thing you love best.

Thirdgill moved to Hollywood from his hometown of Portland, Ore., three months ago, and now is in the midst of the TV pilot season, a ritual that spurs an annual migration of comics hopeful of landing a lucrative sitcom role.

He has already had some luck, getting hired on as a supporting cast member for Fox TV’s successful “In Living Color,” prime exposure that Thirdgill hopes will lead to a bigger role in the show, or to a part on another series.

“I’ve been very fortunate,” says Thirdgill, 25, of his success so far.

But staying close to his new home for television work and auditions means less time in front of an audience, honing his stand-up craft, and he misses his time on stage.

“It’s been strange for me because I love comedy,” he said by phone at his Hollywood apartment.

He’s looking forward to the Coach House gig, although he admits that he had never before heard of San Juan Capistrano. His manager is driving him down for the show (“He knows where it is, thank God”).

He describes his style as storytelling--”I never tell jokes,” he says--with material based on the “things that happen to everyone. . . . I talk about dating, actual things that go on in the bars and stuff. The whole dating game, the whole process; it’s like where we go to mate, or something.”

His career got a big boost when he won a Portland comedy contest in 1989. After that, he started “doing road gigs and stuff like that.”

He attracted a manager last year, prompting his move from Oregon.

He likes Southern California, but he’s still finding it a bit of an adjustment.

“Actually, there’s no place like your hometown. It’s taking me a while to get used to Los Angeles.”

Comedians Troy Thirdgill, Chuck Martin and Francis DeLorenzo perform tonight at 9 at the Coach House, 33157 Camino Capistrano. $10. (714) 496-8930.