Gregg Rogell realized comedy was his true calling as a senior in college with only 30 credits left to graduate.

After watching some guy stink it up on “Evening at the Improv,” Rogell decided he could do better. He dropped out and within a year of his debut at the Governor’s Comedy Shop won the “Funniest Person on Long Island” contest and the “WKGR South Florida Laugh-Off.”

Unlike some comedians who credit their families for their inspiration, Rogell said his family had little to do with his career choice, though he said his father was funny.

“My father didn’t realize how funny he was,” Rogell said. “He would try to be angry. He’d get so mad, it’s kind of hard to describe.”

Rogell rates himself from PG-13 to R, but he did get fired by Wynonna Judd recently.

Apparently, his matter-of-fact discussion of the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal didn’t sit well with the country diva.

“I don’t really work ‘blue,’ but I was talking about Bill Clinton and nobody said anything about watching my language,” Rogell said. “The audience loved me, but Wynonna freaked. She fired me, apologized to the audience and made everybody do a minute of silence to pray for my soul. It was a good set, too — everybody liked me but Wynonna’s priest, I guess.”

Rogell has played to bigger crowds than what are expected this weekend, but he is looking forward to being in Ames during Veishea. He’s never been in a riot and isn’t afraid of getting into too much trouble in Ames.

“I’m from New York; I’m not too afraid of a bunch of Midwestern college students,” Rogell said, “What are you gonna do, hacky-sack me?”

Rogell isn’t impressed with the state of entertainment these days. Most television shows and movies do nothing for him.

Comedy Central, though popular in some locales, does nothing to show off the most talented comedians, he said.

“There is very little that I like on TV or in the movies. If you’ve seen one ‘Dr. Katz’ you’ve seen them all. I think a lot of entertainment has gotten worse,” Rogell said. “The best stuff is live at the clubs. The only entertainment I get is watching stuff blow up.”

Rogell’s stagework usually consists of prepared material, although when in the clubs, he likes to mix it up with audience members. He doesn’t consider himself to be a mean-spirited comic, but his material does come with a body count.

“Most of the time I plow through my act with a little crowd work,” Rogell said, “I don’t think I ever made anybody cry, but I might have given somebody a stroke. Hopefully, I didn’t kill, but I definitely maimed.”

Rogell said he rarely needs to do research for his material these days. Comedy is all around, and one barely needs to turn on the TV to find scads of jokes ready to write themselves.

“There’s so much going on, and there’s so much hypocrisy in this world,” Rogell said, “Bill Clinton alone — I can write an hour of material on this guy. I don’t even need to watch CNN — I trip over it.”

Gregg Rogell will open for Dave Chappelle at Dew The Rec Saturday at the Lied Recreation Center at 9 p.m.