Let’s face it: Downtown Binghamton might not be the safest place and can be pretty scary, even during the day. But it’s even worse at night. Author Nick Jezarian has been there, literally.

“Those are the times, when you’re walking around, not your normal self, late at night with a bunch of friends, that you start to realize that it really is ‘The Twilight Zone.’”

Jezarian should know — after all, he too was once a student at Binghamton University. An English major and graduate of the Class of 1997, Jezarian has since found success as a founder of and contributor to the comedic Web site Yankee Pot Roast, a collaboration with fellow Binghamton alumni Geoff Wolinetz and Josh Abraham. The venture — which deems itself “The Journal of Literary Satire: Hastily Written and Sloppily Edited” — was formed, Jezarian says, out of the trio’s shared love of writing and pop culture, and its desire to “promote our writing as the three of us.”

This summer, the partnership reached new heights with the publication of its first book, “Underrated: The Yankee Pot Roast Book of Awesome Underappreciated Stuff.” It was an exciting time for the group, Jezarian said, but the success hasn’t gone to their heads. Jezarian said the book was heavily influenced by their college days here in Binghamton.

“We knew each other in school, and we would sit around quoting movies, talking to each other about comedy, things like that.”

According to Jezarian, it was these discussions and ideas that, with the encouragement of an editor who’d enjoyed Yankee Pot Roast, eventually birthed the idea for the book. Jezarian said the book was an attempt to “point out some things that are underrated, to shine a spotlight on them a little bit.”

In order to do this, Jezarian, Wolinetz and Abraham devised for the book what they call the “Underrated Formula.” By using this formula as a guideline, and applying them to a range of pop cultural items, the trio is able to argue for such underrated things as wide-ranging as Diet Dr. Pepper, Joe Rogan, Thurgood Marshall and the War of 1812.

Asked about the most underrated things here in Binghamton, though, Jezarian was hesitant.

“I feel like the most underrated things that I remember from when I was there are either gone or burned down,” he said. “It sounds crazy, but I think the city is beautiful once you start walking around it. It’s kind of sad now, because I bet it was a really beautiful, thriving place at one point.”

Jerzarian has a bit of advice for those who think they’ll never get out of Binghamton and amount to anything with their English degrees.

“I would say, No. 1, don’t listen to what anybody says. If you really want to do something, you should go after it. We’re an example of that,” he said. “Reach out to alumni — speak to as many people as you possibly can. As everyone gets further from school, they really do want to give back.”

Jezarian said that in order to succeed, recent grads should have “patience, enthusiasm and a willingness to learn.”

“Things happen for those people,” he said.

Needless to say, Jezarian, Wolinetz and Abraham have come a long way from their days here in Binghamton. Jezarian said he hopes that their success is a model of what students here in Binghamton can accomplish, if they are diligent and tenacious.

“Binghamton is a great place,” Jezarian says.

Even if he thinks it is “The Twilight Zone.”