If you’ve watched any comedy in the last decade, chances are you’re familiar with Eugene Mirman. He’s been absolutely hilarious on” Delocated,” “Archer,” “Flight of the Conchords,” and, of course, as Gene on “Bob’s Burgers”…just to name a few. His last stand-up special, “An Evening of Comedy in a Fake Underground Laboratory,” is also available right now for only $5. He sat down with us recently to talk about some of the most memorable moments he’s had while doing stand-up. Be sure to check him out live at a venue near you.
MANDATORY: You had mentioned before that you had a few bizarre fan encounters. Can you tell us about one of them?
EUGENE MIRMAN: I never had anything like someone mailing me a pig’s head, but several where people have known way too much information about me. Most of the time fans are really sweet and have emailed me really nice things. One time I was doing a comedy festival in Boston and one of the things we did was we built an eye contact booth, which I would sit inside of and basically all you could see was my eyes. It was a weird thing because most people don’t really build a booth specifically for eye contact. It was in the front of the venue and when people were coming in, they would see that it was me sitting in there and laugh then walk away.
However, there was one girl who came up to me and said “I want you to know that my dad had cancer and when he was really sick, he watched your special and it cheered him up.” As she walked away I thought “Oh my god, that’s really powerful” but then she immediately ran back and said, “Oh but he’s fine now, he didn’t die!” and then ran away. It was really funny because she realized she had made it sound like my special was the last thing her dad watched before he died and had to clarify it with “Oh no he’s great now, he’s fine, but you still cheered him up.” It was a very odd but very sweet encounter. I’d say there have been more things like that where people are positive than anything horribly negative.
MANDATORY: It would be terrible if the same girl showed up two years later to let you know that her dad is now actually dead.
EUGENE MIRMAN: But she adds on that he still really liked the special. Just to be clear, he really enjoyed your work.
MANDATORY: What about hecklers? Have you had any that really stood out to you?
EUGENE MIRMAN: Well the real problem is that most hecklers are just extremely drunk people talking really loudly and they get so loud it’s hard for you to focus on what you’re saying. It would be very hard if, right now, there were a bunch of drunk people yelling at us during our conversation. It takes people out of the show and it can ruin an event that people paid money for, that’s the real problem. That being said, it can be funny. One time I had a guy at a show in Atlanta and he was so drunk that he kept passing out and it basically looked like he was drunkenly telling his own dick a story. It was really funny because he was just collapsing into his lap. He eventually had to be thrown out though, because he just wouldn’t stop. He just had to tell this really great story to his dick.
I mean it’s certainly funny the moment he gets thrown out when everyone starts clapping, but he had been doing it for 15-20 minutes just ruining the night for everyone around him. It’s fun for some people, I guess, because it’s not planned. Like in England, it’s a much more interactive culture of stand-up so some comics ask them for things or suggestions and everyone jokes around. That’s very different from a person who just wants attention and thinks that they’re funny.
One of the weirdest moments was when I was performing in Miami and this lady kept yelling at me while I was on stage. After I was done she came up to me and said, “I really liked your stuff, it’s just that I wanted the band that was performing after you to play earlier.” I was like “That isn’t really how it works.” She explained this really ridiculous philosophy that was essential Ayn Rand except she had definitely never read Ayn Rand. She basically said “No, I believe everyone should be shitty to each other as long as it’s funny.” or something to that effect. Probably not quite that advance.
MANDATORY: Finally, for those that haven’t heard your album, An Evening of Comedy in a Fake Underground Laboratory, what can you tell them about it?
EUGENE MIRMAN: They can expect to hear some stand-up comedy and they can expect to be surprised, because comedy is a surprise. I don’t know, there are some goofy things on it too.
Also I have a comedy festival in Brooklyn, September 26-29th, and there’s still a few tickets left so if you’re going to be in the area, come check it out.
