SOUTH HAVEN — Heywood Banks was walking into a hotel just as two women were walking out.

“As they passed me I heard one of them say ‘… and then they had to Taser her again,’” Banks says by telephone from his home in Howell, Mich. “That was the best line of eavesdropping I’ve ever had. Of course I had to start speculating on what had happened.”

That speculation turned into “And Then They Had to Taser Her Again,” the latest song in Banks’ comedy arsenal, which also includes “Toast,” “Big Butter Jesus” and “Trauma to the Groin.”

“You hear something like that and stuff just sort of pops in your head,” says Banks, who will perform Saturday at Foundry Hall in South Haven. “You have no idea where it really comes from. I’ll just be singing a song for my dog or making something up for my wife and there might be something in there that I tuck away and use.”

“Big Butter Jesus,” for example, is an ode to the pale yellow 62-foot statue of Jesus Christ in front of the Solid Rock Church along Interstate 75 in Monroe, Ohio, while “Toast” is a tune about Banks’ love of toasted bread. But when he sings lyrics such as I can’t believe it’s not Jesus/ Oh spread the word or shouts Yeah, Toast! while banging on a toaster with a fork, it somehow becomes unforgettable.

“I really had three choices in life,” Banks says. “I could have been a brain surgeon, I could have been a member of the special forces or I could have been a doofus. I went for doofus.”

Banks, whose given name is Stuart Mitchell, grew up in Birmingham, Mich., where he quickly became disinterested in school.

“This was the pre-Ritalin era,” Banks says. “It was always ‘Stuart does not pay attention in class’ or ‘Stuart just looks out the window.’ So I guess you could say that my career is actually based on a combination of bad scholarship and a lack of direction.”

He picked up the guitar at age 14 when, he says, “I started to realize I was not the chick magnet I was hoping to be,” and had the rather serious ambition of becoming a folk singer-songwriter while attending Western Michigan University in the late 1960s and early ’70s.

Playing in local Kalamazoo clubs, Banks soon discovered that people responded much better to the occasional funny tune than his attempts at being the romantic troubadour. That’s when he ditched Stewart for Heywood and began writing about nose hair clippers, wiper blades and fly’s eyes.

In the summer of ’87, when Banks was performing in an Indianapolis comedy room, he heard about a local radio program called “The Bob & Tom Show.”

“I had this young kid, George Lopez, opening for me,” Banks says. “And he was calling into this radio show making up these funny bits. When he went out on stage he just got this huge cheer. Of course now he’s a genius, but back then he was just starting out. Chick, the comedy club owner, said to me, ‘Heywood, you’ve got to go on “Bob & Tom” and really kick ass on that show.’ So I went on the show, and they just liked me.”

Twenty years later, Banks remains a frequent guest on the now nationally syndicated morning radio program, which can be heard on WZUU-FM 92.5 in Kalamazoo and WRBR-FM 103.9 in South Bend. The television version can also be seen weeknights on WGN America.

“I’ve been on everything from an HBO comedy special to MTV,” Banks says, “but ‘Bob & Tom’ really is the main engine behind what I was able to do. Being connected to a show like that just sort of gives you a trajectory.”

“Trauma to the Groin,” off Banks’ 2008 CD, “Big Butter,” has received considerable airplay on “The Bob & Tom Show,” which is still broadcast out of Indianapolis. He is scheduled to pen another four songs for the program this year.

“Most people who write songs try it out on their friends and family first and then perform it in front of a group of people,” Banks says.

“They may work on it a little more, and six to seven months later they will play it on the radio. I’ll write a song the night before and play it on ‘Bob & Tom’ the next day. The second time I play it is on the radio. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t go so well.”

Banks’ onstage comedy set is interspersed with these inventive songs along with his humorous observations of life.

“It’s an adult show you can bring the kids to,” Banks says. “They’re not my kids, so why should I care? A ticket’s a ticket, right?”

While Banks’ material may be somewhat twisted, he says he never resorts to the blue comedy that fuels the acts of many of his peers.

“Look,” he adds. “I was a folk singer. Nobody ever sung ‘Puff the f—— dragon.’”

It’s a formula that seems to work. In addition to “The Bob & Tom Show,” and his frequent touring schedule, Banks has appeared on A&E’s “Evening at the Improv,” CNN’s “Hollywood Minute,” “Caroline’s Comedy Hour,” “Entertainment Tonight,” “Showtime Comedy Club Network” and “Dr. Demento.”

“I’m always touring,” Banks says. “In comedy you are either employed or unemployed. Every day, I’m on the phone booking gigs. Other than that I don’t do anything. I hang out. I go feed my chickens. I cut the grass.”

He also works on new material. His next song has the working title of “My Mother’s Gigantic Brazier.” And he also has a side project in the works.

“I’m thinking of starting a five-piece banjo group,” Banks says. “If one banjo is amazing, imagine the sound of five banjos! But instead of the number five we’re going to use the letter V, like the Roman numeral. Then we could call ourselves BanjoV.”

jbonfiglio@TheH-P.com