Loudon Wainwright III is many things. To some in my generation, he's known as a minor comedic actor, having appeared in M*A*S*H and Judd Apatow productions like The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up and the short-lived college comedy Undeclared (as well as more dubious cinematic fare like 2009's G-Force - the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced family romp about CGI gerbil secret agents). Decades earlier, Wainwright was a singular and widely admired folk talent that critics eagerly labeled "The New Dylan," back when that honorific was still fresh and hadn't been devalued through overuse by unimaginative journalists. Others might know him best as the patriarch of a preternaturally talented brood (his son Rufus and daughters Martha and Lucy are acclaimed singer-songwriters in their own right).

When Wainwright comes to the Washington Center for Performing Arts this Friday, the focus will be on Wainwright the musician - the sharp wit with a Dickensian knack for finding beatific ways to paint depressing subjects, the pained voice that savors every barbed and rhyming punch line, the raconteur, the pundit, the lyrical prankster in the mode of Nilsson and Newman.

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Loudon Wainright III

w/ Shawn Colvin
Friday, Jan. 21, 7:30 p.m., $19.25-$46.50
Washington Center for the Performing Arts
512 Washington St. S.E., Olympia
360.753.8586