Few comedians are better at wordplay than Brian Regan.

He’s a performer who knows how to craft a bit, where to put the emphasis to get the maximum laugh and doesn’t waste a word along the way.

But he’s also a very physical comedian, one who acts out many of his jokes, getting a laugh as much for his facial expressions and body language as he does for the words that accompany them.

He may be working without one of those tools when he performs Saturday at Packard Music Hall. During an interview on Tuesday, Regan mentioned he hurt his calf on Thanksgiving. One leg is in a boot, and he was going to get an MRI later in the day. He didn’t want to cancel his shows this weekend, but walking is a challenge.

Then again, Regan is a man who likes a challenge. Earlier in the interview, he talked about working on new material. Despite decades of experience, eight comedy specials and countless accolades from his peers as one of the best in the business, Regan said it’s still “a roll of the dice” when he tries out a new joke or bit for the first time.

“Part of what is fascinating to me about standup comedy is there are no guarantees. If everything always got a laugh, it would be boring. I equate it to like a bowler. If a bowler could bowl a 300 game every single time, I would think that would get kind of boring after a while. The only reason a 300 game is exciting is because it’s hard to do. And it’s that way about comedy. Comedy is not easy, but I love it. There’s a craft to it, and everything has to work out right for there to be a laugh at the end of a joke, and when it happens, it feels great. And when it doesn’t happen, you shrug and go, ‘OK I did my best on that one, but I gotta move on.'”

Occasionally, he’ll revisit an idea that didn’t work the first time. Years ago he was thinking that three-way lightbulbs are goofy and tried applying that concept to other items. He did a joke about a gun in which each time someone pulled the trigger, it increased the caliber, but it never connected with the audiences. Years later he did it, acting out using a refrigerator where you had to keep opening, closing and reopening the door until the bulb got bright enough to see what was inside.

Maybe when the bit involved a gun, audiences were not sure if laughing at it aligned with their views on gun rights. In recent years, many comedians have complained about changes in audience members’ sensibilities. If they find something in a comedian’s act offensive or if it disagrees with their political views, they’re more likely to voice their disapproval, both loudly during the performance and afterward on social media.

Regan would seem like the last performer to have this problem. Not only does he work clean, his act is apolitical. There won’t be a mention of any politicians past or present, and he’s more likely to express opinions about mushrooms and raisins (he’s against both) than gun control or abortion.

But even Regan admitted it’s something he thinks about when crafting his act.

“I did a joke years ago about feeling dumb because I got someone’s gender wrong,” Regan said. “In today’s climate, there would be a completely different connotation.”

It also has him doing thinking about the language he uses in a current bit about playing Barbies with his daughter.

“The idea behind the joke is when boys play, they have to have a score and winner, and girls just play,” he said. “I’m hesitant to say boys and girls play differently. I’ll say people play different and make it more about me than about gender. I’m walking a tightrope.”

Regan’s most recent standup special, “On the Rocks,” debuted on Netflix last year. As soon as that special was shot, Regan started crafting his next hour, and he said he’s about two-thirds of the way there, so the crowd on Saturday will hear mostly new material along with some elements of past specials.

While best known for his standup work, Regan appeared in all three seasons of the dark comedy “Loudermilk,” directed by Peter and Bobby Farrelly (“Dumb and Dumber,” “There’s Something About Mary”). With his success and family-friendly comedy, Regan seems like an obvious candidate to have been the star of his own sitcom, and Regan said he certainly was open to those opportunities, but “the planets just didn’t line up for me in that way.”

He’d be interested in taking a role that was offered to him, but Regan said he never was comfortable trying to impress and glad hand television and studio executives.

“I don’t want to go back to schlepping around auditioning. That wasn’t fun. If you have to schmooze for something, I’d rather not get it. I remember my manager, Rory Rosegarten, great manger, he held a showcase for his clients, a number of different comedians. He invited different industry people out in Los Angeles, and I had a really good show. Rory said, ‘I want you to stand by the door as people are leaving, maybe strike up a conversation and spark their interest in getting a development deal.’

“I said, ‘If that’s what it takes to get a TV show, then I don’t want one.’ I’m not standing by that door. Sorry, I did what I was supposed to do. I got on stage, I did my standup, and that’s it. If that ain’t good enough for them, then so be it. I’m not crossing that line into shmoozing.”

If you go …

WHO: Brian Regan

WHEN: 8 p.m. Saturday

WHERE: Packard Music Hall, 1703 Mahoning Ave. NW, Warren

HOW MUCH: Tickets range from $48 to $78 and are available at the Packard box office and through Ticketmaster.