Two Gallaghers: One a Fool, One a Philosopher : Monologuist: The poignant and funny ‘Letters to Declan’ at the Brea Improv looks at one man’s role as father, as son, as human.

For someone with no answers, no candy bar named after him and no clue about life, Jack Gallagher is doing OK for himself.

And he’s amazed that people are paying to see him explain that he doesn’t know a whole lot. But he’s learning as he goes.

His “Letters to Declan,” a one-man show running through Sept. 12 at the Improv in Brea, is his bittersweet, humorous and poignant look at growing up, hitting middle age and raising a child. Take your pick.

“I didn’t think I’d be able to pull it off,” Gallagher said during a recent phone interview from Sacramento, where he lives with his wife, Jean, an education consultant, and Declan, their only child.

“I’m thinking, ‘Does anyone care about what I have to say?’ I set out to write a show that is entertaining, and I’m glad to see I’m not the only one who feels this way. This has lifted me above stand-up.”

And it might lift him to ABC, which recently signed a development deal for a possible sitcom based on the show.

“I like the fact that I’m doing something different than before, doing something other than comedy,” Gallagher said, “doing a show that has been pretty successful. I like the reaction I’m getting. Somebody always comes up and says how much they got out of the show.”

Equal parts sensitive-is-good and funny, Gallagher’s piece is never too deep, never too dark. He stops the slide short of someone such as Dana Gould, whose truly dark, introspective one-man offerings try to blend nervous breakdowns, rocky relationships and tragic instances with lighter moments of growing up. Gould’s act transcends comedy and lands more in the one-man theater category.

Gallagher, however, walks that fine line without falling off. Juxtaposing humor with darkness is risky writing. Pulling it off live is even riskier. But Gallagher (who is not to be confused with the watermelon-smashing comic with the singular same name) pulls it off seamlessly.

He stops just when he catches the audience leaning toward the door. When he’s talking about how his son wasn’t breathing at birth, for instance, and had to be rushed to intensive care, the audience gets Gallagher’s first intense feelings of fatherhood, but it doesn’t get the details of Declan’s troubles. Instead, with two quick lines, Gallagher has segued into a light look at his formative years.

The focus of the piece is Gallagher as a son and a father. He thought that letters would be an effective way to record his feelings as Declan, who will be 2 in October, grows up.

Gallagher glues the show together by reading the letters written at various stages of his relationship with the boy. The 75-minute show, which he wrote last year before unveiling it in San Francisco in February, also incorporates slides and tapes to move it along.

“I have close to two dozen (letters) in the computer already and will probably give them to him when he’s 18 to 20, when I feel like he can get something out of them,” Gallagher said.

Gallagher, who just turned 40, grew up in with three older sisters and a younger brother in an Irish-Catholic family in West Bridgewater, Mass.

He admits that he wasn’t the brightest person in his class. Nor was he the swiftest afield. He was, however, the funniest. This piece accents his learning curve.

From the time he was 13, Gallagher knew he wanted to be a big star, and that dream included a spot on “The Tonight Show.”

A few years later, at an open-mike night, he got his first hint that the goal was attainable.

“My friends told me to try it. I tried it and realized I could make strangers laugh.”

After that, he made lots of strangers laugh as he worked the burgeoning club scene in Boston while teaching in Manchester at a private boarding school for kids with dyslexia.

In November, 1985, class-clown Jack Gallagher made “The Tonight Show.” He killed the first time but was slain on his return appearance. He hasn’t been invited back.

“I didn’t prepare enough the second time,” he says now. “I was so cocky that I had done so well the first time that I just got a huge head. I slapped the second show together, and it wasn’t funny. It grounded me a little bit.

“It was laziness. I took it for granted.”

Still, his initial audition for the show reveals volumes about his tenacity to succeed. He was passed over four times but never considered accepting the rejection. It inspired him. He worked on his material. And kept working. Finally, pay dirt.

From “The Tonight Show” to last year, he headlined throughout the country, did a few TV shows and had a role in the movie “Shakes the Clown” before developing “Letters to Declan.”

“Mark Anderson (who owns several Improvs) was looking for something to replace the traditional three-man show, with a headliner and two warm-up acts. I had being working his club, and he liked my stuff.

“I was reluctant at first, but I had been stuck in the three-man thing myself. I was looking for another challenge.

“I started writing about how our baby-boomer generation was a generation of whiners. At the same time, I had these letters to Declan. And they seemed to fit.” (Gallagher surrounds himself on stage with oversized baby blocks and a writing desk). “Four are actual letters, condensed, and two I wrote for the show. Then I worked in what I wanted to talk about.”

What he talks about includes a clerk in a muffin shop who couldn’t work the cash register (“C’mon, pal, this doesn’t have to go through escrow. . . . Just push the big button with the muffin on it.”)

The show’s format also allows him to talk about personal things--his rift with his father, a sister’s death, a stretch when he was less than an ideal husband that nearly led to divorce and a drive to succeed that almost left him with nothing.

“I had never talked about that stuff. I was able to include the reason why I was doing these pieces. I found I could talk about things that mattered to me. It adds to the piece.”

But, he was quick to add, “I’m human, and I have no idea what I’m doing. Hell, even the President gets up every morning hoping he doesn’t screw up too terribly.”

* Comedian Jack Gallagher performs his one-man show “Letters to Declan” tonight at 8 and 10:30 at the Improv, 945 E. Birch St., Brea. Continues Sundays and Thursdays through Sept. 12. $7-$10. (714) 529-7878.