In a recent installment of his syndicated column, politically inclined comedian Will Durst wrote, “The situation on Capitol Hill has become so confusing, we’re going to need a nuclear physicist with a googleplex of serially connected molecular microscopes to precisely explain what is happening. Instead, you got me.”

Thank goodness we do. The New York Times has called Durst “quite possibly the best political satirist working in the country today.” And right now, Central Oregonians have the Emmy-nominated Durst in person; coming off of a four-day stint at Ghost Tree Golf Invitational in Sunriver, Durst will give a stand-up performance tonight at Greenwood Playhouse in Bend, a benefit for KPOV 106.7 FM (see “If you go”).

Speaking to The Bulletin by phone Tuesday, Durst raved about what rich political times we live in, especially from a comic’s standpoint.

“Man, the last four months has been lush like a tropical rainforest. Obama got Osama, and the Weinergate and then the crazy tea party people held the government hostage and the president succumbed to Stockholm syndrome. A lot is going on,” he said.

Durst believes that, for better or worse, Obama is a facilitator.

“He’s always been the guy in the middle trying to get the two sides to talk together. And that’s his political legacy. But now, he’s so middle of the road there should be a double yellow line down the center of his forehead. He’s king of the Roadkill Party.”

Durst, 59, said that he’s “here to translate” for the everyday American what exactly is, and isn’t, going on in the United States.

“I see what I do as a public service. I watch the national news every night so that they don’t have to. And I am a bipartisan smart-ass. I don’t do anything moderate,” he said.

Funny he mentions work. Over the years, he’s held down a great many jobs, from warehouse worker to bartender, talk radio host and technical writer (although he lasted just one day at that career). On his website, he lists 108 of them.

Of the technical writing job, he said, “It was supposed to be a brochure for instructions. They didn’t have a clear picture of what they wanted to do. I got there early in the morning, got a little tour, about 10 o’clock, they actually sat me down and told me what it was what I was going to be doing. Then the two guys who were partners got into a fight about what it was that they were going to be doing.”

When he lived in Waukesha, Wis., Durst lasted just one day at a pornographic bookstore, a dream job in that it was just two doors down from his apartment. However, he was fired from that position.

“The guy was very secretive, and was kind of a big old guy, smoked cigars,” Durst said. “He said, ‘Don’t tell anybody where I am.’ I said, ‘Where are you going?’ ”

“He said, ‘I’m going to the distribution center.’ I take over, and he calls me on the phone. He said, ‘Where’s Mr. (whatever his name was)?’

“I said, ‘You’re at the distribution center; you told me.’ ”

“He said, ‘I told you never to tell anybody where I was!’ We got caught in a logistical kind of a loop there.”

Asked if his lack of success at other jobs sent him on his path toward comedy, Durst replied that, “No, comedy was always the direction. These were so … I could jump the hurdles that were necessary to do comedy.”

More recent work has included blogging for the Masters Golf Tournament the last four years. “That’s hallowed ground,” Durst says. “I love that it looks like a national park.”

Durst posits an interesting theory about how one’s geographic location growing up affects one’s politics later in life.

“If you were born in Texas, you believe in the independent, entrepreneurial spirit, and it’s man versus nature,” he says. “And if you’re born in New York City, you kind of grow up thinking, ‘Hey, if we don’t all get along, we’re all gonna die.’ ”

Durst said he “tries to hit both sides” of the aisle in his act, but that doesn’t always win him points.

“I’m from Wisconsin, and they’re big union guys, but still, even there, I’m a commie, pinko, yellow-bellied bastard. But in San Francisco, I’m a Nazi, because they’re quite mad in San Francisco.”

If you go

What: Comedian Will Durst

When: 7 p.m. tonight

Where: Greenwood Playhouse, 148 N.W. Greenwood Ave., Bend

Cost: $20 in advance, $25 at the door, $50 VIP; $2 off tickets for KPOV members

Contact: www.cascades theatrical.org or 541-389-0803