Eugene Mirman

gezyka wrote:

[size=100:7x8vh6m9]And finally, a Flight Of The Conchords inside scoop: Is it true that Jemaine is very small, and Bret must always let him be in the foreground so as to create the illusion that they are comparable in size?

They are actually both about the size of two babies. On set they are encased in a living gelatin that magnifies their appearance and makes the show possible. When we were on tour together, I’d generally carry Bret in a large Baby Björn.

[size=133:w6wbkhqc]That's What She Said--An Interview With Eugene Mirman
- L Swain



[size=100:w6wbkhqc]Eugene Mirman just released a new comedy record on Sub Pop called God is a Twelve-Year-Old-Boy With Asperger’s and it’s funny stuff. One of the problems with being a funny guy is that people always want you to do funny things. No one wants to just sit down with you and ask you mundane questions, but that’s totally my bag, so, a few days ago I interviewed Eugene Mirman over email. Here it is:

LS: Hi! So, how are those plates selling? If you are willing to sell a plate, what would you not sell with your face on it? While we’re at it, tell me about the Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival, please. Was it a success?

EM: The plates are sold out maybe, unless there are still some through my site. There might be. I would sell lots of things with my face on it, including — hats, a school bus, high-end instant soup, and an artists imagining of Zeus’ penis. And yes, the festival was a success. It was very fun. We had a whole roast pig the opening night, rented a limo to shuttle the audience [One limo! Sounds like quite a crowd! –ed.] from the venue to the subway and had lots of great comedians who shined a light onto societies ills and also joked around about sex and drinking.

LS: Sometimes you say hi to me and sometimes you don’t—what’s the deal with that?

EM: I can be spacey sometimes. Or maybe I’m trying to be mysterious and doing it wrong. Either way, sorry about that.

LS: I figure people ask you about comedy all the time, and I will later probably, but what interests me more right now is that you are Russian. That’s interesting. Tell me about it. I had a Russian boyfriend who moved here in the ‘80s and he had no friends and was stuffed in the trophy cases at school and stuff. Did that happen to you? Do you speak Russian? On a scale of 1 to 10, how much does being Russian affect your everyday life? Is it affect or effect? I’m pretty sure it’s affect but now I am doubting myself.

EM: I do speak Russian. I talk to my parents a few times a week. It affects me 2.5 on that scale. In the 80s it probably affected me 4.2. I wasn’t stuffed in a trophy case (I was never good enough), but in elementary school people called me a commie and blamed me when the Russians shot down a Korean airliner. Eventually what started as a youthful disdain of Ruskies transformed into a much broader disdain for me throughout my adolescence. I also was probably [most likely –ed.] annoying. It was most likely a destructive cycle that ended sometime around 11th grade. On a side note, a friend of mine recently told me that in third grade our teacher told her to stop being friends with me because I was a loser and as proof showed her my standardized test scores. They were indeed very low. [You can’t be a loser in third grade. It just doesn’t work that way. –ed.]

LS: You played a rapist in some schmaltzy TV crime drama. Do you still go audition for parts like that or do you have enough work to not do that anymore? I noticed that you have a night of crime drama comedians at your upcoming fest—that’s funny stuff!

EM: I was not a rapist — I was only a suspected arsonist. [I’m going to have to fire my fact checker. –ed.] I don’t really audition for stuff like that very much, and in general don’t really like auditions and try to avoid them (with good success). [So, you pay your bills solely with plate sales? That is amazing! –ed.]

LS: Tell me a funny story about each of these people: David Cross, Zach Galifianakis, and Bret and Jemaine? Which one of these is your favorite? Which of these people gets the most dates do you think?

EM: All those people are in relationships (or married!!!!), so they don’t date. However, I bet they’ve each had sex with at least eight people, which is awesome. It would take too long to tell stories about all of them, but once I know that David Cross, Jon Benjamin and Morgan Murphy got a hotel to let them into Zach Galifianakis’ room by convincing the hotel that Zach was a danger to himself. They were drunk and the convincing took about an hour. [He totally looks like a cutter. I’m surprised it took it them an hour. -ed.]

LS: I emailed Todd Barry to see if he had any dirt/info on you that I could use for this interview but he never got back to me. What do you think he was doing instead?

EM: He was probably making love to a wonderful woman with a beautiful tattoo. [Doubt it. –ed.]

LS: Tell me about the comedy scene in New York. Do you guys hang out a lot and do non-comedy stuff or is it all comedy all the time? Is there somewhere where you guys can be found regularly, like George and Jerry and Elaine at that diner?

EM: We all live in an eight-story brownstone (called a “Double Brownstone”) in Brooklyn and go to see movies, watch each others kids and write television shows and movies. It’s where most of the major alt-comedy decisions are made. [I think you’re pulling my leg. –ed.]

LS: Have you ever played Giggles here in Seattle? If so, did you try the Rita Rudner nachos?

EM: No. And as a result, sadly, no I haven’t tried the nachos. I can’t imagine I’m missing out on much, or are Seattle comedy clubs known for their amazing Mexican food? [Seattle, in general, is known for its Mexican food. HAR HAR HAR!!! –ed.]

LS: What is an average day for you, Eugene? Tell me what it’s like to wake up and be you.

EM: I wake up, finish the second half of a vodka-infused watermelon, give my cat a shot of insulin (he has diabetes), write for an hour, make breakfast, do an interview, and then meet up with friends to work on weird projects. Sometimes I go to a birthday party at the end of the day. [That sounds really nice, except the part about the diabetic cat. That part sounds like a pain. –ed.]

LS: VERY IMPORTANT! What kind of shoes do you wear? What kind of ladies’ shoes are a deal breaker for you?

EM: Shoe shoes. Not sure. [You are trying to tell me that you don’t know what kind of shoes you wear?! For real? What if you wore these?] I don’t have a kind of ladies’ shoe that I outright have disdain for and wouldn’t feel comfortable making one up. I guess if a woman had shoes with anti-semetic stuff written all over them I wouldn’t date her. [Bingo! –ed.]

LS: Were you cool in high school? Did you have a lot of friends? Did you “party”? Did you do drugs? Do you do drugs now?

EM: I wasn’t cool, sorry. I was accepted eventually and had a nice time and friends. I don’t do drugs. I do get a lot of emails from people telling me I must have been really high when I made some video or something and I tell them that I wasn’t, that I’m just a bit of a weirdo. [What about all the cocaine that comedians do? Do the other guys from the double brownstone just take your portion? –ed.]

LS: Did you go to college? Where? What was your major? (If you did not go to college you can make up whatever you want here…)

EM: I went to Hampshire College in western Mass. You can design your own major there, so I majored in comedy. [That’s kind of like going to college, I guess. –ed] I did a one-hour standup act as my thesis. It was actually quite practical since I’m a comedian now, but at the time grownups thought what I was doing was birdbrained and frivolous.

LS: If you had to live in another American city other than New York where would it be?

EM: It would be in Seattle, Austin, Cape Cod, Boston, or maybe Northampton. Maybe Chicago too?

LS: What kind of candy do you like? Chocolate or fruity stuff? Are you a fan of sour patch candies?

EM: I am more of a savory person [Me too! –ed], but yes, I like all those things. I guess Reese’s Pieces, Butterfingers and Whoppers are some of my favorites. [Butterfingers suck, but otherwise I am right there with you. –ed.]

LS: If you had to get a 9-5 job what do you think it would be? What’s your skill set? Are you good at computers?

EM: I would be a weird professor or discredited scientist. Would it count if I worked at a company where I made weird stuff and put it on the Internet or is that too close to what I already do? [No. –ed.] What if I gave myself more formal hours? [Okay. –ed.]

LS: Do you look at the internet a lot? What are some things you look at?

EM: I like Zach Galfianakis’ show Between Two Ferns. I also love Michael Showalter’s show, The Michael Showalter Showalter. I look at some stuff, but not as much as when I temped at an office. I just watched a video Jon Benjamin made called Tech Talk. You can see it here.

LS: What’s the best movie you’ve seen this year?

EM: I forget.

LS: Do you watch Mad Men? 



EM: I do. I love it. I am delighted they named a character after me (probably not). [Are you talking about Grandpa/Baby? I had no idea he was named Eugene Mirman! –ed]

LS: Who is the most famous person you’ve ever met? Tell me how it all went down.

EM: I think the most famous person I ever met was Robin Williams when he came to the Sub Pop 20th Anniversary comedy show with Bob Goldthwait, and my friend Tony V, because they were shooting a movie in Seattle at the time. [I saw that movie. It’s pretty good. –ed.] But speaking of meeting famous people and Mad Men, I was once outside of the Knitting Factory in New York (after a benefit I did for homeless people — because I’m a really good person) and a guy came up to me and said, “Hey my name is Jon and I’m a friend of David Wain’s and I’m a big fan.” And I was like, “Wait? Jon? Jon Hamm?!” And he was like, “Yes.” And I was like, “I’m a REALLY big fan of yours! I LOVE your show.” It might have spooked him a little. [OH.MY.GOD. Is he as good looking in real life? Do you think he’d let me interview him? If you invited him over do you think he’d come? Did you know there is a Knitting Factory in Spokane??! -ed.] But he was very nice and we talked for a few minutes.

LS: I’m sure you are working on some new material. Please give me a sneak peek and we can work on it here, together.

EM: I am going to be in Copenhagen in December covering the UN Climate Change Conference for a Seattle-based non-profit called Grist. So I’m working on that. I’m trying to come up with titles for the series, so feel free to give me some ideas. [How about ‘Gettin’ Green with Eugene’? Or ‘Eugreen Mirman Reports Live from the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen’? Or ‘Reduce, Reuse, Eugene’? -ed.]

LS: And finally, tell me a story about Megan Jasper, preferably something embarrassing. If you don’t have something you can sub in a dirty or weird dream you’ve had about her or something.

EM: I have a great story about her, but make sure you run this by her, so that people don’t believe she is any less professional because of this. Probably five or so years ago Megan, Robin Taylor, me and a few other friends went to see Wilco and Flaming Lips at Madison Square Garden for New Years. Periodically, as people around us would shout out requests at the bands, and Megan, with an equally enthusiastic voice, would yell, “shii in my pussy!” It’s still one of the funnier things I’ve seen at a concert. I think the next day she ran into some friends of hers that happened to be behind us at the show and had a eleven or twelve year old child with them. I think they thought it was funny, but Megan might have been a little embarrassed. [Megan does this at baby showers, marketing meetings, sporting events, and funerals. It’s her ‘thing’. –ed.]

Tue, October 13, 2009, 1:21 PM |

LS: Who is the most famous person you’ve ever met? Tell me how it all went down.

EM: I think the most famous person I ever met was Robin Williams when he came to the Sub Pop 20th Anniversary comedy show with Bob Goldthwait, and my friend Tony V, because they were shooting a movie in Seattle at the time. [I saw that movie. It’s pretty good. –ed.] But speaking of meeting famous people and Mad Men, I was once outside of the Knitting Factory in New York (after a benefit I did for homeless people — because I’m a really good person) and a guy came up to me and said, “Hey my name is Jon and I’m a friend of David Wain’s and I’m a big fan.” And I was like, “Wait? Jon? Jon Hamm?!” And he was like, “Yes.” And I was like, “I’m a REALLY big fan of yours! I LOVE your show.” [size=133:leqntmve]It might have spooked him a little. [OH.MY.GOD. Is he as good looking in real life? Do you think he’d let me interview him? If you invited him over do you think he’d come? Did you know there is a Knitting Factory in Spokane??! -ed.] But he was very nice and we talked for a few minutes.

sheila wrote:

LS: Who is the most famous person you’ve ever met? Tell me how it all went down.

EM: I think the most famous person I ever met was Robin Williams when he came to the Sub Pop 20th Anniversary comedy show with Bob Goldthwait, and my friend Tony V, because they were shooting a movie in Seattle at the time. [I saw that movie. It’s pretty good. –ed.] But speaking of meeting famous people and Mad Men, I was once outside of the Knitting Factory in New York (after a benefit I did for homeless people — because I’m a really good person) and a guy came up to me and said, “Hey my name is Jon and I’m a friend of David Wain’s and I’m a big fan.” And I was like, “Wait? Jon? Jon Hamm?!” And he was like, “Yes.” And I was like, “I’m a REALLY big fan of yours! I LOVE your show.” [size=133:fqlv5a5b]It might have spooked him a little. [OH.MY.GOD. Is he as good looking in real life? Do you think he’d let me interview him? If you invited him over do you think he’d come? Did you know there is a Knitting Factory in Spokane??! -ed.] But he was very nice and we talked for a few minutes.

my my my... how the tables have turned, crazypants eugene!

[size=133:o3gc4sav]Comedians to swap lives for UKTV pilot

[size=100:o3gc4sav]Phill Jupitus and Flight of the Conchords' Eugene Mirman trade places in a Wife Swap-style pilot for digital channel Dave


Phill Jupitus: will swap with Flight of the Conchords' Eugene Mirman. Photograph: Rex

[size=100:o3gc4sav]Phill Jupitus and Flight of the Conchords' Eugene Mirman are to star in a pilot for a new TV show that will see the duo trade lives in a sort of comedians' version of Wife Swap for digital channel Dave.

UKTV, which owns Dave, has commissioned a one-hour pilot of the show, Comedy Exchange, which will be made by independent producer Tiger Aspect.

The show features Never Mind the Buzzcocks star Jupitus trading places with Mirman, who plays Eugene, the landlord of lead characters Bret and Jermaine in HBO comedy Flight of the Conchords, to see how they handle each other's lives.

In the show the two will swap lives for a week in order to prepare for a final standup performance. The show is currently being filmed in both New York and London.

According to UKTV the show will see the duo "
trade countries, career and cohorts to see if they can cut it in a new comedy culture"
.

"
Despite speaking the same language Brits don't get jokes about Altoids or Mickey Mantle and gags about chavs or the WI are lost on us Americans,"
said Christian Drobnyk, UKTV's director of entertainment.

[size=133:g2waypui]Exclusive: Flight of the Conchords is Probably, Maybe Finished, Eugene Mirman Says
10/23/2009 By Vish Khanna



[size=100:g2waypui]In a recent conversation with Exclaim! about his excellent new stand-up record, God Is a Twelve-Year-Old-Boy with Asperger's, comedian/actor Eugene Mirman discussed the future of the hit HBO show, Flight of the Conchords. Mirman appears on the show as Eugene the landlord, and Bret and Jermaine invited him to open their recent North American tour. So Mirman has some insight about the show and revealed its future is looking mighty bleak.

Here's what Mirman had to say in a recent interview with Exclaim!:

Exclaim!: Will there be another season of Flight of the Conchords?
Eugene Mirman: I don't know but my guess is probably not.

Exclaim!: Probably not?
EM: Yeah, if I had to guess, which is the only way I could decide. I think HBO would want to, but I feel like Bret and Jermaine live abroad and I don't know if they want to do it as much. You could ask them. Actually, you probably can't because I don't think they like doing interviews. So yes, the answer is “probably not” but maybe.

Exclaim!: Okay, probably not but maybe. That's fine.
EM: Not only is it fine, it's accurate.

Exclaim!: It's also a little vague.
EM: Well, I would say “no” but because I can't categorically say no;
I have to say “but maybe.”

Exclaim!: Yes, I appreciate that…
EM: Exactly, but the answer really is no.

Exclaim!: All right, thank you for going on the record and saying “no.”
EM: No. But, you never know.

Exclaim!: Is it fair to say that the show has changed your life a little bit?
EM: No.

Exclaim!: Not at all?
EM: Okay wait, yes, it's fair to say it's changed it a little bit. Yeah, people certainly know me from it, so, okay, yes. I like that I had to think about it and you changed my mind. Yeah, that show has changed my life a little bit.

Exclaim!: Well, it's too bad that it's probably, maybe not gonna be back.
EM: Yeah. It would be great for me if it was.

Well, there you have it, maybe. Stayed tuned for our entire interview with Eugene Mirman on Exclaim.ca.

sheila wrote:other than that, this interview sucked because i found out NOTHING about what eugene is up to " title="" border="0"/>

gezyka wrote:

[size=100:06utf06u]Stayed tuned for our entire interview with Eugene Mirman on Exclaim.ca.

gezyka wrote:

sheila wrote:other than that, this interview sucked because i found out NOTHING about what eugene is up to " title="" border="0"/>

gezyka wrote:

sheila wrote:[flash=350,287:nrm58ibq]https://www.youtube.com/v/1yC2fbInlug&hl=en&fs=1[/flash:nrm58ibq]

EugeneMirman The Pitchfork review of my album. Another 1 point or so & maybe I would've been a hot new band?

[size=133:isqiplbm]Eugene Mirman
[size=100:isqiplbm]God Is a Twelve-Year-Old Boy With Asperger's


Eugene Mirman's been responsible for some entertainingly preposterous comedy albums, but his stand-up sometimes feels more like an entry point than the entire package. It's integral to his career, but it's only one part of his repertoire-- a modern take on the glib ridiculousness and lighthearted arrogance that once were Steve Martin's specialties. And, like Martin, Mirman's recurring TV comedy roles ("
Flight of the Conchords"
;
"
Delocated"
) and writings (last year's exercise in self-help delirium The Will to Whatevs) display a range of humor at which stand-up can only hint. So when someone is so consistently and accessibly funny in all these different venues-- on the stage, on cable, in print, on his blog, on YouTube-- what's another 40ish minutes?

Yet Mirman's second CD for Sub Pop, God Is a Twelve-Year-Old Boy With Asperger's, is just as characteristically amusing as anything else he's done in the past few years. It crams a lot of absurdity into its first half-hour: a discussion on bears living in the ruins of Detroit culminates in a debate between Mirman and an ursine member of the audience ("
But there are bears! There's some in East Lansing--"
"
RERARARHGHG"
), his tendency to concoct nonsensical slogans results in ideas for deranged internet banner ads ("
Should the Iraq war be a war, or something else, like donuts or television?"
), and there's a telling story about how a school-age Mirman delivered a book report by dressing as a cowboy and lip-synching a Bill Cosby record, subsequently dooming him to six years of special ed ("
you get an A+, but you have to see a doctor"
).

Thankfully, Mirman's comedy never approaches the tedium of bad hey-remember-this pop-culture jokes or slapped-together "
OMG random"
ADD frivolity. It's more like a bewildered voyage through a mind that jumps from bafflement to surgical deconstruction in an instant. He throws around non sequiturs and oddball juxtapositions, but does so for real effect, using them them to punctuate the already existing weirdness of a situation, like he does when he deconstructs a Russian TV station's ethnically insensitive internet polls (Q: "
Roma around the world get a hard time because..."
The leading answer: "
They have a longstanding criminal reputation"
) to riff off just how awkward racial discourse still is. And not just in Russia: Q: "
How should we deal with racism in America?"
A: "
Have Bruce Springsteen write a letter to poor people explaining that black people are just like them, but black."


The drawback to this album is its drawn-out ending, which puts Mirman in vendetta-against-faceless-companies mode for the second time on the album. There's a lot of frustration-borne laughs in the first instance, where Mirman gets mad at the gas company for screwing up his account and responds with threats as creative as they are petulant ("
I will be mailing you a photograph of cows having sex every day because it isn't illegal"
). But when he revisits that turf in a tirade against the customer service ineptitude of an airline that lost his luggage-- roping in another couple of comedians to play the CSRs, one of whom does an admittedly funny Christopher Walken-- it loses a lot of the unpredictable yet to-the-point sharpness of the material earlier in his set, and it pales next to the similar "
Fleet Bank"
bit from The Absurd Nightclub Comedy of Eugene Mirman. The closest the "
_____ Airlines"
bits come to his usual brilliant absurdity is the fact that the airline in question has its name bleeped out, yet the bleep is so short it's hard not to guess which one it is anyways.

Granted, this isn't the first Eugene Mirman-based work of comedy you should buy. Absurd Nightclub Comedy is the best album to start with, and if you have to choose between God Is a Twelve-Year-Old Boy With Asperger's and The Will to Whatevs among his more recent offerings, go for the latter. But get this when you can, and give it a listen: Mirman is one of those comedians who just gets funnier with each new work he releases, and those 40ish minutes do a great job in moving that process along.

—
Nate Patrin, January 5, 2010

sargifster wrote:A video made from clips of Eugene's appearances on the HBO show:

[flash=350,287:3dwas5ml]https://www.youtube.com/v/U6MaMDzy660&hl=en&fs=1[/flash:3dwas5ml]

The hilarious comedian Eugene Mirman makes an announcement to the world that he will be in Copenhagen covering the climate talks for none other than Grist.org!

sheila wrote:
[flash=350,287:07fwmhdy]https://www.youtube.com/v/1yC2fbInlug&hl=en&fs=1[/flash:07fwmhdy]

Comedian Eugene Mirman is Grist's Special Correspondent in Copenhagen at the UN Climate Change Conference. Here's his first of many reports from the charming Danish capitol.

Comedian Eugene Mirman, Grist's Special Correspondent in Copenhagen, joined tens of thousands of protesters for the a rally and march during the UN Climate Change Conference. Amidst a colorful display of activism at Parliament Square, Eugene tackles the big issues. He talks to everyone, including protesters protesting the protest. He also speaks with a VERY cute dog.

Comedian Eugene Mirman asks a question for the CNN/YouTube Debates directed toward to former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, journalist Tom Friedman, U.N. Executive Yves de Boer, and author Bjorn Lomberg.

Comedian Eugene Mirman asks questions for the Dec. 15 CNN/YouTube climate change debate. His questions didn't get picked, but wouldn't it have been great if former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, NYT journalist Tom Friedman, U.N. climate chief Yvo de Boer, and the climate denialists' favorite Dane, Bjorn Lomborg, had answered them?

Comedian Eugene Mirman, Grist's Special Correspondent in Copenhagen, goes to the Bella Center, the epicenter of the U.N. Climate Conference. He unofficially represents the U.S. in this official U.N. conference center. And because he's Eugene, makes friends doing it.

Eugene Mirman reports on DONG Energy and the Climate Pirates.

With his leg in s a recycling bin, Special Correspondent Eugene Mirman reports on the final hours of the U.N. climate negotiations in Copenhagen. With special guest, economist and columnist Thomas L. Friedman.

[size=150:iegf1ohk]Eugene Mirman to Host SXSW Film Awards

[size=100:iegf1ohk]We're pleased to announce that the 2010 SXSW Film Awards will be hosted by Eugene Mirman, the "
world's foremost Eugene-named entertainer"
.

Named Best New York Comedian by The Village Voice in 2009, and one of the 10 best comedians of the decade by Paste Magazine, Eugene is sure to bring some serious comedy chops to the party this March.

Find out why at his official site, and take a look at the slightly-NSFW clip below to hear Eugene explains how to Keep Austin Weird:

[flash=350,287:iegf1ohk]https://www.youtube.com/v/vXZYsfNdKlM&hl=en&fs=1[/flash:iegf1ohk]

The awards take place Tuesday, March 16, 2010.
Don't miss it - Register today to attend SXSW Film!

[size=133:mmqv7hjo]PCMag After Hours: Eugene Mirman Conquers the Internet
02.23.10


[size=100:mmqv7hjo]Internet funnyman Eugene Mirman (Flight of the Conchords, Delocated) joins us to discuss the ways in which the Web has affected his comedy career.

[size=100:mmqv7hjo]Listen here![/url:mmqv7hjo]

[size=100:p7ypahur]24 February 10
[size=133:p7ypahur]Comedy advice from Eugene Mirman

Following up my post on comedy advice from John Hodgman, here is part 2 with comedy advice from Eugene Mirman.

Part 2: Eugene Mirman: “Do it for 10 years and the you’ll win.”



I met Eugene the same night I met John, at the bar where the after party was held. I knew he was performing at Sketchfest, but I didn’t get to see him perform (something I now regret). When it was closing time, I approached Eugene to get a picture with him and asked if he would sign my screenwriting book with some advice for me. He told me, “my advice is the correct one.”

When I found out that there was going to be an after-after party at the Eureka, I also discovered that several of the comedians including Eugene and John were coming back with us. At the Eureka, I spent most of my time talking to the other volunteers and staff of Sketchfest. There was a moment when I went to the lobby to get a new beer and on my way back I noticed that Eugene wasn’t talking to anyone, so I took the opportunity to sit down next to him

“Hey Eugene, how’s it going?” I asked.

“Not too bad,” he replied. ”So, do you do comedy?”

I told him that I was in a long form improv troupe here in the Bay Area and that I also began to dabble in stand-up. He then asked if I had any plans on moving to LA or New York. I told him that eventually I was thinking about it, but at the moment I had no plans to do so.

“Well, do you want a career in comedy?” he asked.

I had never really thought about this question seriously before. Currently, comedy for me is a fun hobby that I have that keeps me active, but I always toyed with the idea of pursuing it and trying to become famous. However, being asked this question by Eugene Mirman suddenly made me think. I’m not sure if it was me talking, or the several bottles of Miller Lite I had. Or maybe it takes several bottles of Miller Lite to get the real me to talk. But in any case, I said yes.

“Then you need to move to LA or New York,” he said.

Eugene then asked me how old I was and what I did for a living. I told him that I was 24 and that I worked at a video game company.

He then said:

“You should just do it, especially since you’re so young. A lot of guys are coming out to these places now who are a lot older and it’s harder for them. You’re only 24 so just listen to my advice: if you do it for at least ten years, you’ll be successful. I mean, whatever you do, just don’t not do it. You don’t want to live your life without ever trying it. I mean even if you fail at it, at least you can say you did it and then you can go back to a normal life of doing whatever. But don’t not do it.”

This really moved me. You see, I’ve seen plenty of actors, musicians, comedians, and other celebrities tell people the same thing, that they “just need to do it”. But Eugene was actually trying to motivate me to go out and do it.

I told him about this recent plan I setup for myself. I plan on devoting the next two years to making films so that by the end of 2011, I can to apply to film school. I explained to Eugene that ideally I’d like to do it this way instead of moving to one of these cities and trying to find a job.

“That’s fine, but don’t just say that you’ll do that and then not do it. You need to make sure you do it. I mean, it’s hard to give up everything you have, but I think sometimes people have to.”

To my fellow comedians and improvisers, I asked him on his thoughts on Chicago (for those of you are not my fellow comedians/improvisers, Chicago has a huge improv scene).

“Don’t move to Chicago,” he said. ”Chicago is like Boston and it’s like San Francisco. It’s nice and fun, but there are no jobs there. If you want a job in comedy, you need to move to LA or New York.”

“Which do you prefer?” I asked.

“LA has more jobs, especially in television. But I like New York a lot, I mean I’m from there.”

I asked him about how he got his role on Flight of the Conchords and he told me how he was friends with Demetri Martin and that Demetri introduced him to Bret and Jemaine. It was pretty awesome to hear him name drop Demetri like that and to hear how he became a part of one of the funniest shows in the past decade.

“Do it in two years then. Save some money and go. But don’t save that money, and not go.”

Those were his parting words to me. Soon after, others joined in our conversation and we stated talking about other things. But when I got home, I kept thinking about his advice and how it really got my attention. Lately, I’ve been trying to figure out what I want to do with my life and Eugene’s advice was definitely the motivation I need to put me in the right direction.

Meeting Eugene and having this discussion has been the best one of the best moments at Sketchfest I’ve had in the past 4 years of me attending it. His kind words and sincere encouragement are something I really admire in a comic. I sent him a message saying thanks for all the advice. He responded and said, “No problem. Good luck with comedy and don’t forget to do it for at least 10 years”

Please note that Eugene’s quotes are verbatim but the best my memory can recollect.

[size=100:4z3rjmyj]24 February 10
[size=3]Comedy advice from Eugene Mirman

if you do it for at least ten years, you’ll be successful. I mean, whatever you do, just don’t not do it. You don’t want to live your life without ever trying it. I mean even if you fail at it, at least you can say you did it and then you can go back to a normal life of doing whatever. But don’t not do it.”[/i]

...

“That’s fine, but don’t just say that you’ll do that and then not do it. You need to make sure you do it. I mean, it’s hard to give up everything you have, but I think sometimes people have to.”

“
You should just do it, especially since you’
re so young. A lot of guys are coming out to these places now who are a lot older and it’
s harder for them. You’
re only 24 so just listen to my advice: if you do it for at least ten years, you’
ll be successful. I mean, whatever you do, just don’
t not do it. You don’
t want to live your life without ever trying it. I mean even if you fail at it, at least you can say you did it and then you can go back to a normal life of doing whatever. But don’
t not do it.”

But Eugene was actually trying to motivate me to go out and do it.

I told him about this recent plan I setup for myself. I plan on devoting the next two years to making films so that by the end of 2011, I can to apply to film school. I explained to Eugene that ideally I’
d like to do it this way instead of moving to one of these cities and trying to find a job.

“
That’
s fine, but don’
t just say that you’
ll do that and then not do it. You need to make sure you do it. I mean, it’
s hard to give up everything you have, but I think sometimes people have to.”


...

“
Do it in two years then. Save some money and go. But don’
t save that money, and not go.”