As one of the rare modern comedians whose humor doesn't need a censor standing over his material when children enter the room, Brian Regan says he's only doing what comes naturally.

And what comes naturally isn't gauged to shock, polarize or leave audiences feeling as if they need to take a shower afterward.

Or end up riddled with the annoying bleeps that dominate most of the routines of most of the denizens of Regan's familiar Comedy Central stomping grounds.

Then again, he isn't above touching a button that may make you go "ouch" momentarily.

Which, Regan quickly adds, isn't the same as punching the ones that make you go "I can't believe he just said that! Bobbie Sue, leave the room!"

Let him explain.

"It was never a conscious choice," the 42-year-old Florida native insists as he wends his way to the heartland for an 8 p.m. show Friday at the Peoria Civic Center. "I just always like to talk about what I like to talk about. As a comedian, I discovered that about 95 percent of it was clean."

Meaning, hustle the kiddies out of the theater for the remaining 5 percent?

"That 5 percent used to be a little bit dirty, where I explored some stuff that maybe wasn't quite so wholesome," Regan confesses. "After a while, though, I thought, 'If I'm already 95 percent clean, why not go for 100 percent?' I like a challenge like that anyway. And it was a challenge when I first took it on."

But that's changed over time.

"Anymore, that's how I think and that's the stuff I come up with as a comedian. That stuff tends to be the everyday things - just the common experience."

Regan insists he isn't trying to be holier-than-thou in his approach.

"I believe in freedom of speech, and I'm 100 percent cool with all kinds of comedy that gets explored, including the dark, weird, twisted stuff. But I happen to like the kind of comedy I do as well."

Nor does he feel straitjacketed by omitting the obscene.

"I never really went into those areas anyway, so it's not like I'm going, 'Darn it, there's another dirty joke I can't do on stage!' If I do get dirty and dark, I do it with people close to me."

And now the world knows: Brian Regan has his down-dirty-and-dark side.

"Oh, yes, with my wife and friends, I'm much darker and more twisted. In fact, my wife said the other day, 'If your fans only knew …!'"

Regan deems his offstage riffs as "sort of like the gallows humor police or people who work in emergency rooms use to keep their heads on. Even though they deal with tragedies, they still like to make fun of what they're doing."

Still, as mentioned, Regan isn't above pinching his audience to elicit a knowing "ouch!"

"I like to be able to push some buttons, even if no one has to cover their ears," he says. "So I'll do, say, a joke about Dr. Kevorkian and suicide machines, which might make the audience go 'ouch, that's not so wholesome!' "

But that's the exception to his personal standard.

Some of Regan's onstage philosophy of keeping it clean has, he confesses, made him ripe for parody by impressionists.

He says he was performing at a comedy club in Houston, where one of the local comedians offered the audience an alter-ego version of Brian Regan he dubbed "Brian Zegan," who was exactly the sort of dark and twisted comedian onstage that Brian Regan professes to be offstage.

Comedian-impressionist Frank Caliando has also taken on Regan in his act, which somewhat baffles the subject because "I don't think I'm famous enough to be impersonated."

Regan finds some of this impersonation business a bit troubling.

"It's interesting," he says, "because I've always tried to be careful to never become a caricature or cartoon of myself, which I think is a danger for a lot of comedians. They start to hear how they're being defined, and they start moving toward becoming more and more of that thing, as opposed to becoming broader in their approach to comedy."

Regan's resistance campaign has been to head the other direction once he thinks someone has him figured out.

"There was a time when I did a lot of jokes about feeling stupid, then I started reading things about Brian being the guy who feels like an idiot. I didn't want people to start thinking that's who I am."

Out went the "feeling stupid" jokes.

There was another time when he was noted for nervously navigating the stage with a half-crouched posture.

He soon straightened up and stood tall.

"It's weird," he continues, "because maybe that has hurt me in terms of being able to ride some kind of rocket ship to success more quickly. But in the longer term, I think it's helped me."

Meanwhile, Regan has been plugging away over the past 20 years of his key success, logging quality time sitting opposite kings of late-night comedy like Jay and Conan and Dave, while starring in his own one-hour Comedy Central specials (which, in turn, have become big DVD sellers) and turning up regularly on radio's "Opie and Anthony Show."

In terms of peer approval, Dennis Miller has called Regan his favorite stand-up comedian and he's a longtime touring associate of Jerry Seinfeld.

For his Peoria Civic Center show this weekend, don't expect the "Brian Zegan" side of Brian Regan to pop forth, Jekyll-and-Hyde-style, all dark and twisted.

He promises to keep it clean as a whistle, with a pinch or two for good measure.

"Though who knows?" he chuckles. "Somewhere down the road, maybe I'll realize I have that 'dark album' in me …"

Until then, keep your ears uncovered.

And Bobbie Sue's, too.

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If you go

What: Brian Regan

When: 8 p.m. Friday

Where: Peoria Civic Center Theatre, Peoria

Tickets: $37.50

Box office number: (309) 673-3200