Mario Cantone has had a busy fall, with benefit performances in New Orleans and one coming up in St. Louis. He also shot two episodes of the Anne Heche television series “Men in Trees” in Vancouver, British Columbia, did a weekend for the Comedy Festival in Manhattan, and a few dates at the Borgata in Atlantic City.

Oh, and there’s the feature-film adaptation of HBO’s “Sex and the City,” which he’s been filming in, well, the city.

Cantone says he has “a handful of days” left to shoot and plans to be finished Dec. 6.

Before then, on Dec. 1, he’ll come to Peekskill’s Paramount Center for the Arts for a one-night stand of standup comedy.

As part of the refurbished movie palace’s “Comedy @ The Paramount” series, Cantone will perform an updated version of “Laugh Whore,” for which he was nominated for a Tony in 2005. (Billy Crystal won for “700 Sundays,” that year.)

Cantone admits comedy seems to come easy.

“Some people write material to within an inch of its life,” he says. “Not me. From what I gather, I’m naturally funny.”

Before this fall, it had been about a year since Cantone had done his stand-up act. Then, having committed to the New York Comedy Festival, he began to get back in comedy shape.

He says he worried about his festival appearances, but then he came to the conclusion that he should allow himself to fail. Giving himself that permission relieved the stress of the moment.

He went on.

He didn’t fail.

An epiphany.

Had Cantone not been so busy this fall, he might have been cast in his friend Joe Mantello’s revival of Terrence McNally’s play “The Ritz.” The part – of the wildly gay character, Chris – went to Brooks Ashmanskas, for whom Cantone has great respect.

“I love Brooks,” he says. “I couldn’t have done what he did. My gayness is much more volatile. He knew how to make that Mary kind of gayness funny.”

Funny, he says, and moving.

“At opening night for ‘The Ritz,’ John Robin Baitz and I sat down and he said, ‘Your humor comes out of anger and rage and defensiveness and getting back at people. Brooks’ humor comes out of fear, which works here.’

“And he was right. I would have had to invent a whole character,” Cantone says. “It would have been a lot of work.”

Cantone’s work is at its best when he’s angry, and there seems to be nothing he won’t talk about. Except, of course, the “Sex and the City” storyline and any details from the set.

Due in theaters in time for the Memorial Day summer movie kickoff, “Sex and the City” finds Cantone reprising his role as Anthony Marentino, the confidant of Charlotte, played by Kristin Davis.

He says the vibe is different on the set of the feature-film version of the long-running HBO series.

“They’re being more careful, taking their time with it,” Cantone says. “It feels different, much more high-end. You can feel the budget. Everybody knows it’s a big-budget movie.”

Mario Cantone
Where: Paramount Center for the Arts, 1008 Brown St., Peekskill
When: 8 p.m.
Tickets: $28 to $38
Call: 914-739-2333
Web: www.paramountcenter.org
Next: Upcoming comedy shows at the Paramount include Paula Poundstone on Dec. 14 and Sinbad on Feb. 2. Both shows are at 8 p.m.