I've heard that Moe Syszclak (spelling?) - the barman in The Simpsons
- was based in part on a real-life standup comedian. What is this
comedian's name?

Someone told me he played in a local comedy club, so he must be
current (i.e have been doing comedy gigs in the last 10 years).

Hi whoo-ga,

Thanks for the question. I had a lot of fun with this one. The correct
spelling of Moe’s name is Szyslak. An actor named Christopher Collins
originally voiced Moe, but was replaced. Hank Azaria provides the
voice for Moe.

“Moe” Character Bios
http://www.thesimpsons.com/bios/bios_townspeople_moe.html

Madman Moe’s
http://moe.planet-hype.com/index.php?ID=voice

The inspiration for Moe, his name and life’s headaches come from an
amalgam of sources. From my research it doesn’t appear that the
character was based on a comedian. The character’s name is drawn from
the Three Stooges. The crank calls that Moe habitually receives from
Bart are based upon a tape of crank calls to a real life bar (the Tube
Bar) and a bartender named Louis “Red” Deutsch. The tape circulated in
the 1980s and acquired a cult following.

The Simpsons Trivia Page
http://math.ruca.ua.ac.be/~wpeeters/Simpsons/simptrivia.html

The incident subsequently inspired a film that starred the late
Lawrence Tierney. Several sources credit the tape as being the
inspiration for Groening to make Moe the butt of the crank calls.
“’Red’ was released on video in 1992 and has since become this bizarre
cult hit. It was Matt Groening at the Simpsons who admitted to me that
someone put my film on at some party and this inspired him to make Moe
the Bartender the victim of prank calls at the hands of Bart.”

“Lawrence Tierney Dead at 82.” Film Threat, 2/28/2002
http://www.filmthreat.com/GoreyDetails.asp?Id=176

“Flash! 24 Simpsons Stars Reveal Themselves,” by Joe Rhodes. The
Simpsons Archive, October 21, 2000.
http://www.snpp.com/other/articles/flash.html

Hank Azaria drew his inspiration for the voice from another source.“‘I
went in and gave them my take on Moe - actually, it was just a bad Al
Pacino impression. “Hi, how are you?” kind of a Dog Day Afternoon
voice.’”

Apu vs. Godzilla
http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/Studio/7543/interview3.html

You might also be interested in this:

The Moe Szyslak File
http://www.snpp.com/guides/moe.html

Search strategy:
Google & Google groups 
“matt groening” moe 
“moe szyslak”
simpsons moe inspiration
groening szyslak based
"matt groening" moe "based +on"
simpsons moe "based +on" comedian

I hope this answers your question. If you need additional information
or if the links do not work, please ask for clarification before
rating my answer and I’ll do my best to assist you.

Regards,
luciaphile-ga

Thanks for your help. The answer(s) you gave were pretty much what I
found; the reason I was confused was the guy who said the comedian
played locally was the owner of the comedy club! So, I can only assume
he meant Azaria or Collins.

Thanks for your time!