While he might not have been able to best a teenage yodeler as a contestant on the sketchy “America’s Got Talent” this summer, the Bay Area’s Shawn Ryan sure knows how to entertain a crowd.

Don’t take my word. Check out “America’s Got ... Shawn Ryan,” coming soon to a cabaret near you.

Armed with rapier wit, rapid-fire quips, sassy tales and a wagonful of music, the tall blond minstrel is back on the road with a brand new show that he and a first-rate trio of musicians are taking coast to coast.

Ryan — who delighted wine country audiences with a couple of cabaret shows here last year  — launched his fall tour in San Francisco last weekend and is set to entertain an expected full house in the Rainbow Room at the Depot on Saturday night.

Ryan’s seat-of-the-pants performances are built around a structure of songs, as the young troubadour is first and foremost a singer. Yet he is also a stream-of-consciousness comic. He loves nothing more than a good song followed by five — maybe more — minutes of banter with his audience, chatting up, as well as poking fun at, life’s more mundane moments.

His secret is putting the audience at ease, encouraging those in the room to take part in the evening’s festivities. He sings “Getting to Know You” as he wanders through the crowd, hugging, kissing and commiserating with those on the other side of the footlights. But don’t get too comfortable, too complacent, for this impish entertainer quickly recoils and strikes with a venomous — albeit amusing — tongue if anyone dares to step out of line.

For the most part, however, Ryan sings his heart out and bares his soul. His self-deprecating humor registers with audiences because it just doesn’t seem possible that this genial, musical  raconteur is subject to the same petty b.s. that weighs in on the rest of us. It’s the little things in life that are funny and Ryan sure knows how to spin a mountain from a molehill.

Along the way — with a polished trio of musicians (pianist/music director Kelly Park, bassist Daniel Fabricant, drummer Brian Fischler) providing solid backup — Ryan delivers lively renditions of songs that run the gamut from Broadway to Disney films. He solicits requests from his latest CD, “Blue Skies,” and offers up such Tin Pan Alley classics as “Goody Goody” and “I’m Glad There Is You,” in a style all his own.

As his life is an open book, he eagerly answers questions solicited in writing from audience members prior to the start of the show. He offered candid and always amusing responses to questions about entertaining family and friends as a young boy, his marriage last May to a young man he fell in love with a year ago, as well as his experiences as a contestant on the NBC talent search series earlier this year.

Ryan was most generous at the opening performance at the Empire Plush Room in San Francisco last weekend. He and the superb trio spent just about two hours entertaining us.

And that’s what Shawn Ryan is all about. Sure, he’s a singer, and he knows how to tell a good story, with lots of laughs along the way. But the label we must apply to him is that of first-rate entertainer — one with whom we’d gladly spend an evening any time he’s in out neck of the woods.

Ryan is scheduled to perform at 9 p.m. Saturday at the Depot in Napa, just north of the railroad tracks that cross Soscol Avenue south of Third Street. Seats for the show can be made with dinner reservations at the restaurant. Otherwise, seats are available on a first come, first served basis. There’s a two drink minimum. To make reservations, call 252-4477.