Talking about nothing of importance, changing the subject every few seconds is Steven Wright’s way.

It’s a Wednesday afternoon and Steven Wright is stuck in Durham, North Carolina with nothing to do. Three September shows were postponed thanks to Hurricane Florence, and now the rescheduled date is on hold as another storm approaches.

“I’m just gonna do my act, even if I’m in Woolworth – under my breath, in the toy section,” he says. “‘Security, there’s a man in Aisle 9 talking to himself.’”

It may seem as if humor comes easily, but the veteran comic knows otherwise. “Joking around with people is one thing, on stage it’s another,” Wright points out. “My batting average is one for four.”

Humor does come naturally, however – in a fine borderline between bizzare and genius kind of way. Wright returns to Monterey on Oct. 19, bringing that deliberate, almost dreary deadpan that makes the most absurd non-sequitur stand out.

Since his first appearance on The Tonight Show in 1982 and his Grammy-nominated first album in 1985, people have wondered just what kind of mind comes up with his memorable one-liners: “I have a large seashell collection which I keep scattered on the beaches all over the world. Maybe you’ve seen it”; “I’m addicted to placebos. I could quit, but it wouldn’t matter”; “I bought powdered water, but I don’t know what to add.”

Wright says he does not search for jokes. Instead, he keeps tabs on mundane details, the sort often overlooked. His greatest lines often waver between routine and absurd, yet leave fans pondering the gap between his mind and their own.

“Water, powdered milk – it’s combining these two things that have been sitting there, but have never overlapped,” he says.

Yet he points out that stand-up comedy is a process, one loaded with moments of failure when 800 people stare at you in silence, or weeks of frustration when nothing new comes to mind. He writes what he believes is funny and tests the material on stage.

“If it gets a laugh one night, I still don’t trust it,” he explains. “If it gets a laugh three nights, I’ll keep it. The audience is my editor.”

Wright clearly loves the unadorned stand-up routine and “thinking of weird shit.” He pauses and asks if anyone could imagine a theater manager saying something to the effect of, “Hey kid, I want you to get up there and talk for 85 minutes about nothing of any meaning… ”

Humor comes naturally to him, even as he is stalled in North Carolina. Mimicking a waiter, Wright considers another scenario: “A table for two, sir? Yes, but we’ll need 29 chairs.”

STEVEN WRIGHT 8pm Friday, Oct. 19. Golden State Theatre, 417 Alvarado St., Monterey. $39-$64. 649-1070, goldenstatetheatre.com