He’s as tactful as possible in describing his family’s reaction to the sharp turn in his career path. "My dad was the least negative about it," he finally allows.

The new job description involved competing in two seasons of Last Comic Standing, riding shotgun on Dane Cook’s nationwide comedy tour, and signing a deal with HBO to have that tour made into a documentary series called Tourgasm, which begins airing June 11.

He’s still a little bewildered by it all. "I have a friend who’s still in accounting," he says. "I made better grades than him, I studied harder, and now he’s the one still in it, and I couldn’t be farther away."

About his rise up comedy’s corporate ladder, the 34 year-old Gulman can only say, "Thankfully, I wasn’t lucid enough to see how difficult it was going to be." Paying his dues involved quitting the accounting firm and taking a job as a substitute teacher at his old high school in Boston. He spent his days off driving hundreds of miles to the nearest open mic, telling jokes to anyone who would listen.

"It’s like Alan King said – once you get that first laugh, there’s no going back," Gulman remembers. "I was like a junkie for laughs. I was telling jokes at the bar. Literally. Holding a cordless mic and standing right there at the bar, riffing on anything I could think of."

After a couple of years, he started to make money. As he went on to record his debut comedy album (2005’s Conversations with Inanimate Objects) and land appearances on the Tonight Show and Late Night with David Letterman, he was grateful for the work ethic that made him study so hard in school.

Of course, that same work ethic also makes him a bit of a nerd in the comedy world as well. "It’s a paradox. My stage persona is pretty much someone really amped up on coffee, but a lot of us comics are really moody, and we love to talk in a serious and technical matter about telling jokes. As crazy and fun as the Tourgasm show is, it’s also compelling because we do talk a lot about the craft of standup."

He still lights up like a big (6’6" tall) kid when asked about the crazy and fun parts. "We had a blast on the road. We played hockey, went horseback riding – my horse actually took off with me on him. I couldn’t get him to stop. We saw Times Square, Seattle, Niagara Falls. We got to play Penn State in front of 9,000 people, which was my biggest crowd ever. It was amazing. We did 25 college shows in 28 days."

When it’s suggested he never had to work that hard as an accountant, he quickly offers another perspective. "When you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life. We’d do a show and then sleep until really late and hang out by the pool, and I could hardly believe this is what I’m doing for a living. I’m so lucky that I’ve been able to create for myself the vision of life I had as a kid. I’m on permanent summer vacation."

That vacation involves a lot of travel these days. The national tour may be over, but Gulman now flies back and forth between homes in Los Angeles and New York City, pitching show ideas to network executives and working on a DVD of his stand-up show called Boyish Man.

"L.A. is great, but it’s only got two comedy clubs. Stand-up isn’t as celebrated there as it is here in New York, so I’m living here for a few months, trying to get on as many stages as I can. I always feel I have to be doing something. I have to keep working."

Just when his inner nerd is threatening to take over, the big kid emerges once again. When asked to verify the item on his bio stating he goes through a jar of peanut butter every two days, he admits to eating it right out of the jar with a spoon, like ice cream. "I did eat several spoonfuls today, actually. I like to mix it with cereal and milk. Sometimes I’ll mix in yogurt on top of that." He laughs. "People get grossed out when I tell them about it, but then they try it and tell me it’s pretty good!"