LA Weekly

Throughout the years, alter-lounge crowds have been spellbound by Mary Lynn Rajskub and her uncomfortable-girl stage antics, an act that has satirized the pretentiousness of performance artists. However, Rajskub’s reputation as Chloe O’Brian, Kiefer Sutherland’s techno right hand on 24, has taken on an alternative life, and she gets personal about this in her one-woman show ... It Was Then That I Carried You. While Chloe has empowered a legion of nerds to confront authority, Rajskub isn’t bothered when they touch her in public. She occasionally needs a hug from a stranger. Rather, it’s that time at the White House when Rush Limbaugh slobbered her that she minds.

“Rush was moderating a panel discussion about terrorism with the cast of 24. He bends down to kiss me, on what I thought would be my cheek, but it was my lips. Before you know it, the flashbulbs went snap-snap and there’s a photo of us on the Internet,” says the actress. “Everyone was asking me, are we going out?”

Carried You also hits upon other Rajskub surrealist staples, such as life with her ex-boyfriend and dead poodle. Unfortunately, Rajskub’s band, the Girls Guitar Club, won’t be making a cameo: The girls broke up after Rajskub went deaf from playing with musical partner Karen Kilgariff. But despite Rajskub’s glamorous red-carpet appearances and movie roles opposite Tom Cruise and Harrison Ford, she reminds you in the middle of a conversation that fame hasn’t gone to her head. She’s still that geeky girl from Largo we continue to have a crush on, long before Middle America discovered her.

“My dog just took a dump in my bathtub,” blurts out the comedian.

The Comedy Central Stage at the Hudson Theatre, 6539 Santa Monica Blvd., Hlywd.; Wed., Dec. 13, 8 p.m.; free, resv. recommended. (323) 960-5519.