Stormin' Mirman

From Russia with laughs

by A.D. Amorosi

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Published: Aug 7, 2007

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Eugene Mirman isn't just an absurdist comics' absurdist comic. He's the absurdist comic. 2006's CD/DVD package En Garde, Society! (Sub Pop) was exactly the type of project you'd expect from a man whose Web site features a Jethro Tull-singing baby picture. Currently, the Brooklyn-by-way-of-Russia writer and comedian is busy turning his gorgeously odd material into a book of bad advice for HarperCollins and a sci-fi talk show for Turner Broadcasting. Luckily, he hasn't forgotten his stand-up roots.

City Paper: I know you studied comedy at Hampshire College. Do you think school made you into a better improvisationalist?

Eugene Mirman: There are only two ways to get better at improvising, and you can't learn them in school. One: Perform more and take risks onstage. Two: Eat a pedophile.

CP: Have you had any particularly good or bad experiences in Philadelphia that may taint your performance?

EM: I've had a great time at my shows in Philadelphia. Once after a show of mine at the Trocadero, I went to the TLA and saw Ice Cube perform. He had a giant, inflatable "West Coast" hand behind him, and gave a speech about how all people are the same and to not fight. I am paraphrasing, and maybe poorly. I try to do the same thing each time I go back to Philadelphia.

CP: As your "position" or "celebrity" is heightened, how do you feel about the latest plights of Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears?

EM: I think they were pulled over or sent to a work camp for getting high while baby-sitting their own children? If it's something like that, then I think it is bad to be high with a baby. I guess I dislike that people pay attention to their antics and get outraged. Both Lindsay and Britney are better than other people and it is not for us to judge them. A fat, poor person doesn't know what it's like to be rich and high, and they should stop trying to guess at it.

CP: Are you looking for big media sell-in outlets? Would you do King of Queens-like sitcoms or voice a mouse?

EM: My standard is mostly whether I think I'd enjoy doing something. I never tried to be on a sitcom, but I'm on Flight of The Conchords and it's fun. Right now I'm about to start working on a documentary of going back to Russia for the first time since I immigrated to America. If it ends up being bought by a giant company, will that count as something big? Still, if someone offered me millions of dollars to voice a bear that gets into trouble, I would probably do it — unless it was an incredibly anti-Semitic bear. However, if this hypothetical bear movie didn't change my standard of living — i.e. unlimited hookers (dead or alive), countless rooms full of wine and duck paté, bags of lobsters everywhere, fancy cars filled with gold — I may just stick to little projects.

CP: What did Sub Pop give you when you signed?

EM: Sub Pop has a standard contract for all new artists. You get two hand jobs, a collapsible bike, $85,000 in 7-inch records, a photo-shopped picture of Lou Reed shaking your hand, a glass of pinot grigio, and you can pick one employee to fuck in a closet per year. They're really, really cool.

Eugene Mirman

Sat., Aug. 11, 9 p.m., $12
The Khyber, 56 S. Second St., 215-238-5888, www.eugenemirman.com

 

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