Barron documents and dissects the small things in life, be they bodily functions, cliched phrases or nervous interaction.
If he had a mantra, it would be along the lines of "there's mirth in the mundane".
"A friend of mine said the other day that I was like a voyeur on my life. I don't really do anything; I just sit around and watch," Barron explained from a Sydney hotel room last week.
The son of a sheep farmer, Barron grew up in Longreach, Queensland.
He moved to the Gold Coast where he became a roof-tiler, then to Sydney where he decided to walk on stage at the Harold Park Hotel one night in 1993 and told everyone how he'd been struck by bird poo earlier that day.
Since then, Barron has toured Australia, New York, Los Angeles, London, New Zealand, Ireland, Singapore and Edinburgh.
He has twice been invited to the Montreal International Comedy Festival, has appeared on The Footy Show in Australia and Rove Live more than any other comedian.
He likes words; always has done.
He zeroes in on how they are used and, possibly more importantly, misused.
"My brain just dissects it a bit," he says.
"Sometimes when you look at a common expression . . . When somebody says something like, 'Oh, relationships are about compromise,' I'll ask, 'Why? Really? What makes you think that?'
"If someone rolls their eyes when they are talking to me, I'll stop the conversation and ask why are they rolling their eyes. I should have been a psychotherapist . . .
"Socially, at parties, I'd be the guy in the corner who might have drunk too much, who people thought was weird and perhaps should be taken home."
As it transpires, plenty of people have taken Barron home.
His debut DVD, Carl Barron Live, is the highest-selling stand-up comedy DVD in Australian retail history, having sold more than 200,000 copies since its release in 2003, with 2005 follow-up Whatever Comes Next eclipsing 150,000 sales and this year's Walking Down the Street 60,000.
Though he did not think about his upbringing too deeply until he began honing his stage routines, Barron says his childhood has provided plenty of material.
Now in his 40s, Barron draws on his experiences.
"You have got a different story to tell when you're a 25-year-old comic as opposed to a 40-year-old, or when your 50 or 60. You have a different take on yourself."
• Carl Barron performs at Memorial Hall, Queenstown, tonight.
