Ron Feingold’s 35-year stand-up career has taken him to concert openings, on cruise ships, and to venues large and small across 46 states. But Colorado Springs will always be home to him.

“I’ve always had an emotional connection to Colorado Springs,” said Feingold, an Air Academy High School alum. “It’s one of my happy places.”

Feingold brings his unique blend of stand-up comedy and a cappella music back to Loonees Comedy Corner on Friday and Saturday. The comedy club is where he began his unofficial education in stand-up.

“When I was 16 – it was Jeff Valdez’s Comedy Corner back then – I used to sneak into the club, something I only admitted much later,” he said. “I would hang out in the background and watch the shows.”

Feingold has spent most of his life on stage in one capacity or another. A self-described “theater geek,” he performed in high school plays, musicals and skits. But the comedy bug bit him in 1990 while he was studying psychology at Colorado State University.

He performed his first set at a stand-up comedy contest at CSU and placed third.

“That’s when I knew that this was what I was meant to do,” he said. “The day I graduated (from CSU), I hit the road as a stand-up – much to my parents’ dismay.”

Every career comedian has at least one story about a brutal stand-up show that resulted in boos and jeers. For Feingold, that nightmare took place at an outdoor concert venue in northern Minnesota in front of a crowd of 14,000.

“I opened for REO Speedwagon, Loverboy and Grand Funk Railroad,” he said. “Sounds like a great gig, right? But nobody wants to see a comedian at a rock concert.”

With roadies moving equipment on and off the stage behind him, and a hostile crowd in front, Feingold never had a chance. He left the stage as audience members hurled curses, insults and rocks in his direction.

The experience might have discouraged a less determined performer.

“It was tough,” Feingold said. “But it made my skin thicker.”

He kept at it, eventually drawing upon his varied theater experience to carve out his own niche – a musical comedy show with a cappella songs and parodies.

“If you’re passionate about something, it’s not work. It’s just what you do,” Feingold said. “That way it feels justified, and meaningful, and part of your existence.”

Feingold has parlayed that passion into a career that has spanned more than three decades and a comedy streaming platform called Open Bar Comedy. The platform has 165 recorded shows featuring some of the country’s funniest comedians and currently has more than 37,000 subscribers on YouTube. Loonees Comedy Corner is one of Feingold’s Open Bar partners.

“The club is like family to me,” he said. “We’re business partners but we’re also family members. That sense of family is what keeps me coming back.”

IF YOU GO

What: Ron Feingold’s “Comedy A Cappella”

When: 7:30 and 9:45 p.m. Friday

Where: Loonees Comedy Corner, 1305 N. Academy Blvd.

Price: $15 for general admission, $40-$80 for front-row VIP seating; (719) 591-0707, looneescc.com