Rather than merely hurling a barrage of shallow one-liners and disjointed non sequiturs at his audiences, comedian Robert Dubac prefers a more gradual, thoughtful approach to comedy.

He’s performed his one-man act “The Male Intellect: An Oxymoron?” for sold-out audiences throughout the country, including here in Sedona, where he’s been asked to return for a series of encore performances, beginning on Friday, Dec. 7, at the Canyon Moon Theatre, in the Village of Oak Creek.

Rather than merely hurling a barrage of shallow one-liners and disjointed non sequiturs at his audiences, comedian Robert Dubac prefers a more gradual, thoughtful approach to comedy.

He’s performed his one-man act “The Male Intellect: An Oxymoron?” for sold-out audiences throughout the country, including here in Sedona, where he’s been asked to return for a series of encore performances, beginning on Friday, Dec. 7, at the Canyon Moon Theatre, in the Village of Oak Creek.

This time, in addition to “An Oxymoron?” Dubac brings the sequel to his popular 90-minute act.

“The Male Intellect: The 2nd Coming” moves beyond the relationship-based material of “An Oxymoron?” delving into politics, religion, social hypocrisy and the search for truth, Dubac said.

“If you’re going to get up and say something, you should have something to say,” he said.

There’s a difference between information and knowledge, and there’s a book in everybody, but most of them aren’t worth reading.

Trained in comedy as well as dramatic acting, Dubac said he merges the two forms during his act — tweaking the material until each word is specific and makes sense.

Dubac has done his share of acting, mainly in television where he played roles on sitcoms like “Growing Pains” and “Different Strokes” in the 1980s.

But not surprisingly, life as an actor for hire on prime-time television was ultimately unfulfilling, so Dubac began writing his own shows, he said — not for television.

Dubac said he saw television becoming overrun with the mundane and the mediocre, so he began writing stand-up comedy acts, which kept him busy when the comedy club craze hit in the 1980s.

Dubac held on tight, gaining popularity in the rock ’n’ roll world, where he landed gigs opening for musicians like Jimmy Buffett, Linda Ronstadt and even The Police, before anyone knew who they were, he said.

The comedy club scene imploded later in the decade and Dubac returned to acting. Hoping to steer clear of television, he turned to the theatre.

Generally, theater audiences are more respectful and attentive than comedy club audiences who are often drinking, socializing, eating and hoping more for quick laughs and one liners than insightful social commentary.

“Everything is a quick sell these days,” Dubac said. “It’s ‘Black Friday’ 365 days a year …. The theater is the last bastion of smart freedom of speech.”

Dubac knew he’d need to raise the bar if he wanted to perform in the theatre setting, he said.

The material of the show had to live up to it, so Dubac wrote “The Male Intellect: An Oxymoron?” — a relationship-driven one-man comedy act, which pokes fun at the struggle between the sexes.

He’s performed the show for sold-out audiences all over the country, so rather than meddle with the act to include his new material, Dubac decided to write a sequel, he said.

“The 2nd Coming,” an edgier, perhaps more mature act, has never before been performed at Canyon Moon Theatre. However, theatre Producing Artistic Director Mary Guaraldi expects that act to sell out as well, she said.

Dubac is back by popular demand. He’s played to standing ovations at the theatre, Guaraldi said.

“People still bring up all the time how much they enjoyed his humor and insightfulness,” she said.

Dubac is an exceptional performer and he doesn’t usually perform in small theaters, according to Guaraldi, who said she believes he’s performing at Canyon Moon to help the theatre grow.

On Friday, Dec. 7, Dubac will return to the theatre to perform “The Male Intellect: An Oxymoron?” at 7:30 p.m. He’ll perform the show again on Saturday, Dec. 8, at 7:30 p.m., and on Sunday, Dec. 9, at 3 p.m.

The following weekend, he’ll perform the sequel, “The Male Intellect: The 2nd Coming,” on Friday, Dec. 14, and Saturday, Dec. 15, at 7:30 p.m., and on Sunday, Dec. 16, at 3 p.m.

Tickets to the performances are $30 each and may be purchased through Canyon Moon’s hot line at 1-800-838-3006 or at the various local ticket outlets on its Web site, www.canyonmoontheatre.org.

To learn more about Dubac and his work, visit www.robertdubac.com.

Tyler Midkiff may be reached at 282-7795, Ext. 122, or e-mail to tmidkiff@larsonnewspapers.com.