By day, Christopher Fair is a senior media communication major but by night moonlights as a stand up comic.

As a media communications major, Fair sees his comedy experience as an “advantage” and a way to get into his field of choice.

Citing the Daily Show’s John Stewart and Dave Chappelle among others as his favorite comedians, Fair uses his life experiences to create original jokes for his routines.

For the last four years, Fair has been perfecting his stand-up routine at numerous clubs around the DeKalb and Chicago area. Awaiting his third comedy showcase, “The Comedy Fair,” to hit The House Café April 6, Fair helps bring comedy to a not-so-established market in DeKalb. Acoustic singer-songwriters Nathaniel Carrol and John Mallinen will perform to warm up the audience before the comedians take the stage.

Northern Star: Do you use the same jokes at every show?

Chris Fair: I’ll usually do the same jokes, but each time, I try to spice up the act. I’ll add new lines and sometimes take stuff out. [But] when you have a good thing, you don’t take advantage of it. When you perform at a club, they want you to perform the stuff that kills.

Sometimes, I do jokes and don’t even know why. I’ll start to tell a joke and I’ll be, “Why am I telling this joke?” It’s like auto pilot ­- bad auto pilot. I need to learn how to get myself in a good auto pilot.

NS: What got you interested in comedy?

CF: I just noticed that when I talked and had conversations with people, they laughed at what I said, and I thought I should try doing this on stage.

NS: Do you have a background in comedy?

CF: I’ve taken some courses with Dobie Maxwell. They were held in Chicago at Zanies Comedy Club. The graduation was you got to perform at Zanies – like a graduation show.

I took the beginning and intermediate classes. I interned at this comedy club, Comedy Comedy at Walter Payton’s Roundhouse. I became a stage manager, which turned out to be a good experience. I learned how to run a live show. They also let me perform there quite a bit.

NS: What are your inspirations for your material?

CF: Everything in my act is basically true. I just say it so it’s funny. It’s based on life experiences.

Some things I thought of while a situation was happening. A lot of my interactions with my friends and other people will trigger jokes. It’s how I process what happened.

Most of my act is about speech impediments. I grew up with a speech impediment. [At a show], one of the judges wrote down “self-deprecation humor” – I just call it therapy. Taking something that was a negative – a hurdle in life – and turning it into a positive. There’s nothing more positive than making people laugh.

NS: Why did you want to put together this showcase?

CF: I go to school in DeKalb, but there are not a lot of open mics. When there are, I can’t even get people to come and see me, so I had to figure out a way to put together my own shows.

The House Cafe is totally unique to other places where comics perform. People come and pay attention to the stage. At places in Chicago, it’s just comics and their friends. So pretty much, it’s just comics [in the audience]. Comics are very critical of each other. They are the only people not cracking up.

NS: Since they’re so critical, have you ever had a comic come up to you and congratulate you on a performance?

CF: I had one good show where a comic, Robert Hines, who is hilarious, was there. I get off the stage after I do this killer set and he said, “That is all you! No one can take that away! That is you to a T!”

The Comedy Fair will be at the House Cafe, 263 E. Lincoln Highway, at 8 p.m. Friday and will costs $6 at the door. For more information, visit http://www.kickstandproductions.net.