The tweets came fast and furious after this year’s Fourth of July with reports that comedian Michael Ian Black had been sighted at the Jonathan festivities.

Black, who married Chaska native Martha Hagen in 1998, confirmed that he was indeed in town over the holiday weekend.

“Of course,” he said in a telephone interview. “How could I miss Chaska on the Fourth of July?”

Black and his family (he has two children) took part in the kiddie parade and visited the petting zoo set up at the Karen House. “They loved it,” he said.

Black noted that he and his family visit Chaska at least once a year, usually in the summer, though he recalled one winter trip to Minnesota.

“My brother-in-law has an ice house,” he said. “I lasted about 15 minutes.”

Black may not be a household name, but he is easily recognizable from a four-year turn on “Ed” playing bowling alley manager Phil Stubbs and from regular appearances on VH-1’s “I Love the….” series.

“I think I’ve appeared in every episode from 1970 on,” he said. A pretty impressive feat considering Black was born in 1971 and the show relies on the reactions to celebrities, products, events, etc. that were popular at the time.

“I was very astute en utero,” he explained.

Photo by Martin CrookTonight Black debuts his latest project, a new series for Comedy Central called “Michael and Michael Have Issues.”

“It’s about the real relationship with one of my best friends Michael Showalter,” he explained. The series follows Black and Showalter as they try to work together on a fictional comedy sketch show.

“They might be the only two people who can stand each other,” said Black, who wears multiple hats on the show including actor, writer and producer.

The early reviews of the show are good, but Black isn’t counting his chickens just yet.

“I don’t anticipate the outcome of anything,” he said. “I’m afraid to be optimistic.”

Black said a lot of hard work went into the show. “It was fun when it was fun. It was hard when it was hard. When you’re making a television show or a movie, there are a lot of long hours involved,” he explained, pausing to note, “I don’t mean to sound like I’m working in a coal mine.”

Though his first career ambition was to become a long haul trucker – “‘B.J. and the Bear’ was popular then so every 9-year-old wanted to be a long haul trucker,” he offered – Black realizes now that he was leaning toward comedy from a young age.

“I never thought of it as a career choice,” he said. “But looking back, I guess not every 13-year-old was sitting in the basement writing Rocky Balboa sequels one through 100.”

These days Black gets most of his funny stuff simply from paying attention.

“It’s about being receptive to the world around you,” he said. “If I’ve noticed it, chances are a thousand other people have, too.”

Being funny isn’t something Black takes for granted. “It’s a craft and I work hard at it and struggle with it.”

-Mollee Francisco, staff writer