BEST BETS Thursday 9/28

COSTA MESA

8pm

Music

Hailed when he played both Chopin concertos at 12 and acclaimed as the successor to Vladimir Horowitz when he was 21, Russian pianist Evgeny Kissin continues at 27 to maintain his rank among the elite. Kissin will play Beethoven’s “Tempest” Sonata, Schumann’s “Carnaval” and Brahms’ Sonata No. 3 at this recital, sponsored by the Philharmonic Society of Orange County.

* Evgeny Kissin, Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. $25 to $45. (949) 553-2422.

BREA

8:30pm

Comedy

As a stand-up comic, Joe Rogan is nothing like the genially dopey technician he played on the NBC sitcom “NewsRadio.” A student of the human condition, Rogan is brutally honest on stage. How honest? Promoters even post warning notices about the explicit nature of his act. “Good comedy,” Rogan says, “is uncensored because people’s thoughts aren’t censored.”

* Joe Rogan, Brea Improv, 945 E. Birch St., 8:30 p.m. Also Friday, 8:30 and 10:30 p.m.; Saturday, 8 and 10:30 p.m.; Sunday, 8 p.m. $12 to $15. (714) 529-7878.