LEWISTON - Audiences usually hush when Bill Picard takes the comedy club stage.

For a long moment, they look him over, gauging whether they can or should laugh with a man who sits in a wheelchair and has trouble keeping his muscles in check.

Then, Picard begins his act.

Using a computer to help him speak, he takes on sex, relationships and the goofy things that people ask him. Nothing is sacred.

"I bet you are asking yourself who the (bleep) is this?" he asked a recent audience, seconds after his introduction at Portland's Comedy Connection.

The question proved disarming. Picard beamed and the audience laughed.

"I am just a 36-year-old guy that makes fun of things and situations," Picard explained during an e-mail interview. "But having a disability and talking about things that people do not expect makes it funnier."

Picard has cerebral palsy. It's something he has dealt with all his life.

Despite the disability, the Turner native earned a four-year-degree in business administration from the University of Maine. He bought a home in Lewiston, where he is also a landlord, and talks to students around the Northeast as a motivational speaker.

The way he describes himself, he's a normal guy who merely does some things differently.

He began mining the differences when he went on stage, first as a student last year in a comedy workshop.

"Everyone thought that I was nuts for wanting to do this," he said. "A year later I am performing my eighth show April 12th at the Comedy Connection."

Picard uses his disability throughout his routine. Part of it is for the sheer fun, yet he threads something else into his bits.

"If I can get them laughing, they might remember something I said and open their eyes more," he said.

One of his best-received bits recalls some of the annoying questions he's heard over the years, such as "Does he get mad when we don't understand him?"

His computer generated voice reads the question, then, at the push of a button on his lap, it reads his comment.

"I love to play the part of 'Polly, the repeating parrot,'" he told the audience at a recent Portland show.

Picard smiled broadly, as if to give the audience permission to laugh.

They did.