Even in a neighborhood full of weirdos, Reggie Watts may be the most recognizable man in Williamsburg, where he’s lived for six years. His unique musical comedy hasn’t made him a household name across America yet, though he is the co-star of IFC’s “Comedy Bang Bang” and a regular on “Conan” and “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon.”
But the 6-foot-tall Watts is hard to miss with his huge, well-maintained Afro, thick beard and trademark suspenders. His humor style stands out dramatically, too: His act consists of playing a keyboard, creating musical loops and riffing on spontaneous topics that range from Dr. Bronner’s soap to the “difficulties of brown-ness.”
Watts can be seen Fridays at 10 p.m. through Dec. 20 as the Paul Schaffer to Scott Aukerman’s David Letterman on “Comedy Bang Bang.” The meta-talk show format is way more suited to his talents than other comedy venues.
“It’s something I have to be careful with,” Watts says. “I don’t want to be on a prime-time normal sitcom. This show is pretty strange.”
This week, however, Watts is in Manhattan to headline a sold-out show at Irving Plaza on Wednesday. He’s lived in Williamsburg for just a few years, but visited plenty of times before and prefers the neighborhood spots that remind him of the relative old days, before the neighborhood tipped into chain stores and condos.
“I think those kinds of places are important to keep visiting and talking about and keep them in business,” he says.
Here are a few of his favorites:
1. Verb Coffee, 218 Bedford Ave.
“It’s just a great, very punk-rock kind of place. It still has the spirit of old Williamsburg. By ‘old,’ I mean Williamsburg of the last 14 to 15 years. It makes me feel comfortable. I go there as much as I can when I’m in town — three times a week. I usually just get the same thing, an iced soy latte, maybe a bagel with Tofutti cream cheese.”
2. Millers Tavern, 2 Hope St.
“That place is really awesome. They have really great hearty food at reasonable prices: great oysters, great salads. They always play albums. It was the first place I noticed that will play an album straight all the way through. It’s a place that I go to with friends a lot or sometimes with a girlfriend. It’s really nicely appointed. It’s got a very Williamsburg turn-of-the-century, somewhere between the late 1800s and 1930s, design aesthetic. There’s these booths in the back that are really cute and quiet.”
3. Bedford Avenue mini mall, 218 Bedford Ave.
“Sometimes I go to Hello Beautiful salon to get a comb-out or just to say hi. There’s that kind of weird digital knickknacks place that’s in there, and a Japanese-owned business that has records and mugs and iPhone cases, modular synthesizers.
“There’s [also] the ’90s-style Internet cafe: ‘We have free WiFi!’ ‘Use our computers! Would you need to print something, we have dot matrix printers.’ ”
4. Commune salon, 191 Grand St.
“It’s my usual salon. It’s awesome, it’s all Japanese-run. They’re just really into their jobs — there’s just a lot of pride in what they’re doing. I go get a shampoo and comb-out every week. Japanese hair is a little bit thicker, so they kind of understand the textures that they’re working with.”
5. Waterfront, near North Fourth Street Pier Park
“It was stupid how fast it changed. I have some friends that live in a place that’s Kent in an old school factory building, filled with makeshift loft places. That was kind of my introduction to Williamsburg. I went to that building for a Fourth of July party. We went to the roof, watched fireworks, met friends there. Back then you had this really beautiful view of the city.
“Now, you have basically a kind of shallow reproduction of Miami. Which doesn’t make any sense at all. Those [condos] went up, and we were like, ‘What the f - - k?’ It all changed — it used to be more dangerous down there. We used to climb into an abandoned building and play Frisbee. Now there’s a lot of baby strollers and guys with buttoned-up shirts, which is terrible. It definitely makes me a little sad to see what has happened down there.”