Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival's ‘Pretty Good Friends’ had Wyatt Cenac, Karen Kilgariff, Nick Thune, Jessi Klein, and musician Robyn Hitchcock, plus Mirman himself....
Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014

The alt-comedy world has been booming as of late, with television programs like Portlandia and @Midnight, not to mention solo comedian-driven shows Louie and Maron. Eugene Mirman has his own show, Bob’s Burgers (the only non-Simpsons, non-actually-Family Guy program left standing on FOX’s Sunday ‘Animation Domination’), but before that he began the Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival, which returned to Brooklyn’s Bell House (QRO venue review) and Union Hall (QRO venue review) for another year, September 18th to 22nd. The events included ‘The Talent Show Presents…Gowanus Idol’, ‘5 Comics To Watch Get On Variety’s ’10 Comics To Watch’ List’, ‘Derrick Brown’s Comedy & Poetry Extravaganza’, two nights of ‘StarTalk Live!’ (first night with Bill Nye, the Science Guy, the second with Neil deGrasse Tyson of also-was-on-FOX Sunday Cosmos), and more, such as ‘Pretty Good Friends’ Saturday, September 20th, with Wyatt Cenac, Karen Kilgariff, Nick Thune, Jessi Klein, and musician Robyn Hitchcock, plus Mirman himself.

Eugene MirmanThat night, like always, Eugene Mirman opened evening. Perhaps because he has to come up with material for every night that he hosts, Mirman always seems to have papers and stuff on stage with him – not Carrot Top or anything, but funny comments or questions he’s given. This night he had the questions he sent to ‘Ask a Pastor’ via a ChristianMingle knock-off he can’t unsubscribe to, such questions as, “Why am I not allowed to use the bathroom at my friend Max’s house?” “I like to think of my dick as a police baton – any advice?” And how to decide a disputed baby – cut in half or paternity test? “Does The Bible have any advice on this situation?” Those and other jokes (like seeing a six-year-old wearing a fedora, “I know you’re supposed to say something when you see child abuse…”) were a bit randomly collected, but served nicely to ease into the stand-up sets.

Jessi KleinThe first set of the night came from Jessi Klein. Head writer at The Amy Schumer Show on Comedy Central, her set was very ‘bawdy female’ like that show – all about relationships, sex, exes, getting older and Fallopian procedures. Interestingly, she began with material about her marriage (husband being proud that the girl he was checking out at the supermarket surprisingly turned out to be his wife) and even babies (including gynecological procedure that involved being filled down there with Diet Coke & bombing when suggesting she & the doctor & nurses get high later) before she did her jokes about dating – and then shifted to talking about getting older (like how Julia Roberts’ shopping snub scene in Pretty Woman now looks justified, because Roberts was really dressed like a hooker).

Nick ThuneAfter a short video Mirman made of himself as Batman came Nick Thune (who appeared on @Midnight only a few nights later). His set was particularly cohesive, basically just one long story about having a baby – perhaps because he had to come up with new material after the prior night’s show, something he joked about at the start. His story was about wanting to have a boy, not, “I don’t care if it’s a boy or a girl, I just want it to be healthy,” but, “I’ll take an unhealthy boy…” He was convinced it was a boy, only to be shown up by a doctor who mocked Thune’s pointing to a penis on an ultrasound, the doctor saying, “If [your husband] thinks that’s a penis, I want to know who got you pregnant…” However, later another doctor told him it was a boy, with ultrasound photographic proof, so Thune spent hours tracking down earlier doctor’s contact info, just to e-mail the doctor the photo and say, “Let me know if you’re hiring.” Perhaps the best set of the night, it was really impressive how Thune was able to make one long story his whole set, and an engaging one despite it being about something many/most people haven’t been through.

Karen KilgariffAfter two sets devoted to relationships, Karen Kilgariff nicely changed things up by not just varying her material, but also by playing a guitar with funny songs. She even had jokes about being a musical comedian (the song where she whistles wasn’t meant to be making fun of Andrew Bird – QRO photos of him at Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2011 – but it became that after he said he didn’t care), even a song about literally buying a guitar. The nature of being a musical comedian meant that her set was a handful of different subjects.

Wyatt CenacMirman came on to ask for questions – and then mock the questioners (he did explain the bouncy castle outside) – before Wyatt Cenac (and his sweater). A regular at this festival, he revived last year’s New York theme when talking about riding the subway (it equalizes everyone and brings them together – to ignore the folk singers and pole dancers and kid selling Twix bars for a basketball team that does not exist; also that you shouldn’t get on an empty car, because it’ll smell like dookie…). He also did numerous jokes about Instagram and how everyone’s on it (even hashtagging a funeral), but his real theme was people judging him on his appearance, self-described as, “homeless Tiger Woods,” “cool jazz teacher,” and “every point guard in the seventies.”

Robyn HitchcockWyatt Cenac once worked on The Daily Show with the likes of John Oliver, who performed at a music festival in New York years ago (QRO recap) and remarked about the middling record of comedians playing music festivals – that script was flipped at this comedy festival as the show closed out with musician Robyn Hitchcock. It could have been a kind of awkward close for the mostly seated crowd (save for a few Hitchcock fans that you could tell came specifically for him), but the signer/songwriter had a charming personality, including jokes in between songs, and songs like “My Wife and My Dead Wife” that worked well in the solo acoustic setting.

An early show at Bell House, folks did have to clear out after a few songs from Hitchcock so the place to get set up for the late Eugene Mirman show, ‘You Never Know Who Might Stop By’, which sold out despite virtually no announced performers. ‘Pretty Good Friends’ itself had folks sitting on the floor as all the seats were taken. It didn’t need the star power of Neil deGrasse Tyson to get folks in, as the festival has delivered for years now, and 2014 was no different.

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