Star of ‘24’ hits stand-up circuit

Most characters on Fox’s “24” are either up to no good or trying to save the world. Jack Bauer’s breathlessly urgent demands define the dramatic appeal.

Then there’s Chloe O’Brian. Since season three, actress Mary Lynn Rajskub has given her computer whiz character a quirky sensibility, a perpetual scowl and a sardonic attitude that made her an immediate fan favorite.

Her natural comedic drive helps. She’s worked on sitcoms. She’s been on sketch shows. And she’s now a regular stand-up comic, returning to Laughing Skull Lounge this weekend, a year after her first visit.

“I honestly think it’s too soon for me to come back,” Rajskub said by phone earlier this week. “I was just there. But I had a really great time. I love the club so much.”

She’s a storytelling conversationalist on stage: “It’s a lot of silly personal stories. Me having worked at the Hard Rock Cafe, going to the Playboy mansion. I talk about my son and husband a lot.”

And she’ll bring up “24” — of course. How could she not?

Rajskub was thrilled the show came back this summer after a four-year hiatus. And Chloe has been as crucial as ever to the plotline, which concludes this Monday after 12 episodes. The show has run in real time the first 11 hours but will leap forward for the finale.

“The 12 episodes worked really, really well,” she said. “It made the story streamlined and compact.”

Since we last saw her at the end of season eight, Chloe has gone rogue, no longer a loyal government employee. Her son and husband had been killed in a car accident. Bitter, she signed on as a hacker with a WikiLeaks-type leader named Adrian who evokes real-life whistleblower Julian Assange.

She opened the season in London, captured by the CIA, who were torturing her for information about her boss.

“I knew she’d have some sort of evolution,” Rajskub said. “I thought it was pretty clever. They had me start out in this awful place. It was fun to play. You get this adrenaline rush. You get to release all this pent-up emotion.”

Once Jack saves her, she helps him save London from terrorists.

“She and Jack have this real relationship,” she said. “She is a bit under his command when he needs her. Although she was part of this WikiLeaks organization, she was very quickly drawn back into helping Jack. It’s not an abusive relationship. It’s just strange, a little twisted.”

Chloe’s tech skills are as sharp as ever though her worldview has gone dark — along with her hair and makeup.

“I was really into it at first,” Rajskub said. “Now I”m over it. I’m over the dark, short hair. I’m done with this look. It’s something I would never have done in my real life.”

And she poses this question: “Why am I wearing so much eyeliner?”