EUGENE MIRMAN
God Is a Twelve-Year-Old Boy with Aspergers
Unlike his contemporaries Patton Oswalt and David Cross, Mirman doesn’t make you hurt laughing. Instead, he delivers a good chuckle once in a while. Not as crass as Cross or Oswalt, Mirman’s style is that of nervous disgust managing to score some big laughs with everyday absurdities. He takes on airlines, vaguely racist polls and online banner ads. Although Mirman never really hits a home-run joke, his greatest attribute is small, concise one-liners and audience participation, creating a ripple effect of sustained laughs. A good example is his unexpected argument with a bear as well as his series of angry letters, in which he gets the audience to pledge a boycott in the name of Eugene “Horse Cock” Mirman. At times his material might feel a little contained and self-serving, but it’s the length of the set that’s most disappointing—a slim 35 minutes. If I had paid for the show, I would want a little more. (Sub Pop, www.eugenemirman.com) Kent Davies