Eugene Mirman

Brooklyn resident (and Russian immigrant) Eugene Mirman is a really great guy and comedian. After escaping the clutches of communism, he grew up in Lexington, MA (where the American revolution began through no fault of Eugene’s). He attended Hampshire College and designed his own major of Comedy — doing a one-hour standup act as his thesis. People made fun of him for it, because they were majoring in practical things, like playwriting and semiotics.

Since college, Mr. Eugene Mirman has appeared on television, which is still a relevant medium for another few years. Some examples include: his own half hour special on Comedy Central, appearances on Conan O’Brien, a recurring role on HBO’s Flight of the Conchords, MTV, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Home Movies, Lucy, Daughter of the Devil and the Adult Swim live action series Delocated.

In 2009 he was named the Best New York Comedian by The Village Voice and named one of the 10 best comedians of the last decade by Paste Magazine. He’s also one of 2009’s “Hot” Twitter-ers according to Rolling Stone Magazine (and also Delta Sky Miles Magazine — but, really, according to Rolling Stone mostly).

Mr. Mirman tours the US regularly, headlining shows all across America (and at times the UK and Canada). He’s toured as part of Patton Oswalt’s Comedians of Comedy, and opened for bands such as Yo La Tengo, Modest Mouse, The Shins, Cake, and more. Eugene also co-hosts a traveling variety show with John Wesley Harding (Wes and Eugene’s Cabinet of Wonders) which features musicians, writers, poets and comedians. It’s a lot of fun, you should come sometime.

In 2004, Eugene released his first comedy album, Suicide Squeezes’ The Absurd Nightclub Comedy of Eugene Mirman (named one of the best comedy albums of 2004 by Time Out and one of the best standup albums of the last decade by The Onion). In 2005 Eugene and Bobby Tisdale released Invite Them Up, a 3CD/1DVD compilation on Comedy Central Records of their charming now defunct East Village alt-comedy staple (also named by The Onion as one of the best albums of the last decade). Eugene’s most recent albums are available from Sub Pop records, including En Garde, Society! and God Is a Twelve-Year-Old Boy with Asperger’s.

Eugene is also the author of The Will To Whatevs, an outlandish self-help guide to modern life for Harper Collins in 2009. Along with Julie Smith Clem, Eugene co-founded Pretty Good Friends, which began as a weekly comedy show in Brooklyn, but grew into tours, large outdoor shows, and TV and radio projects. Out of these shows, Eugene and Julie also created (originally as a joke) the Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival, which is now a yearly institution in Brooklyn and beyond.

For six seasons, Eugene has voiced Gene on "Bob's Burgers," the middle child in the eccentric but lovable Belcher family.

There’s lots more, but who cares, right? Are you really going to be any more impressed to find out that Eugene once did one of those crappy VH1 talking heads things, was a suspected arsonist on the hour long drama Third Watch (holy shit! No way!?) or played a spokes-potato on Food Network during potato weekend in 2002? Probably not. But you should know that Pete Townshend (from The Who!) e-mailed Eugene in 2001 to say he liked Eugene’s Marvelous Crooning Child. That’s great.