Road Trip Album Picks: Eugene Mirman's "God Is A Twelve-Year-Old Boy With Asperger's"

WHAT: Third proper album from comedian of comedy
LABEL: Sub Pop Records, 2009
GOOD IF YOU LIKE: Pretty much anything vaguely resembling alternative comedy
WHERE TO FIND IT: Tons of places, this got a wide release
LENGTH: 42 minutes

How Sub Pop got into comedy we'll never know, but it's good to see top-notch talent getting decent distribution for a change. Eugene Mirman's God Is A Twelve-Year-Old Boy With Asperger's (the title) comes from a tale on his book tour, specifically track #8. In it, you hear about a kid asking aloud why Eugene doesn't worship him as his God-- if you don't find that funny, well, stop reading now. The always funny, sometimes spiteful, but genuinely hilarious ramblings are just as good if not better than his previous albums.

The album's material gets increasingly personal, culminating in a bit on airplanes losing his luggage that crosses over from a mere joke to some higher level of performance art. Not only are we treated to transcripts of his calls, but we also find out that he wants his audience in on the act-- he printed up a bunch of postcards to send to the airline, enlisting his audience as troops on his quest against his lost pants and whatnot. Truly, this should be the stuff of tomorrow's comedy legends.

Like his other recordings, this is a great road trip album, and is also good pretty much any other time. If you haven't heard his material, this is a good of a place to start as any,

Also notable: His first two albums are "The Absurd Nightclub Comedy of Eugene Mirman" and "En Garde, Society". Eugene appears on "The Pennsylvania Macaroni Company" with Patton Oswalt, Brian Posehn, and Maria Bamford. The comic has a mini tour CD from the Comedians of Comedy as well, some of which seeped into his other releases-- so it's more of a collectible than it is a must-own disc of rarities. (But we'll look at it later.)

Weekly Comedy: Kind of a Crappy Week, Really

Wow. Not a whole hell of a lot this week. There's a ton of great stuff in theaters, though, so go to the movies instead.

IN THEATERS

Good Hair – Not entirely certain how funny this is (or is supposed to be) but Chris Rock has a new documentary out about how black people do their hair like this and white people do their hair like that (content assumed based on trailer and Chris Rock’s entire career). Might be worth checking out once it hits cable.

DVD

Year One – Spectacularly unfunny “historical” comedy starring Michael Cera and Jack Black, directed by Harold Ramis. Even though there’s a ton of great talent in this – David Cross, Paul Rudd, all those folks – it’s a pretty awful movie. Ramis was aiming for a movie that questions the tenets of faith while farting and pointing to its weiner, which I guess is what this is supposed to be, but it isn’t funny.

Red Dwarf: Back to Earth – I don’t watch Red Dwarf but people who get all excited about Monty Python re-releases and new Rowan Atkinson projects seem to love it (Johnny English 2, anyone?). This is apparently the final final final end end end of the series, which is fine with me.

CD

Eugene Mirman: God is a 12-Year Old Boy with Asperger’s – New Mirman CD. The only must-have release of the week. So go get it.

Road Trip Album Picks: "Invite Them Up"

WHAT: Collection of material from numerous comedians, curated by Eugene Mirman and Bobby Tisdale
LABEL: Comedy Central Records, 2005
GOOD IF YOU LIKE: Comedy
WHERE TO FIND IT: Most better record stores, select big box electronic stores, iTunes

This was basically the New York equivalent of L.A.'s Comedy Death Ray. According to our notes, the show is on some sort of permanent hiatus, which is a fancy way of saying extinct. This 4-disc (3 CD + 1 DVD) set includes a fantastic selection of New York comics performing stand-up, songs, and sketches. At over 3 hours, the plastic artifact has a lot to offer and shows you where a lot of these comics were a few years ago and where they have gone since. And in some cases, still are. But we'll leave that for you to discover.

The sound quality is great, and the references are fresh enough to be funny. Sure, you're going to hear about The Sixth Sense, but it's a solid bit. In this collection, you'll discover Jon Glaser is a genius, Bobby Tisdale is an endless ball of comic energy, and that there need to be a lot more discs just like this one.

A recurring bit-- which is a pretty good idea-- is "30 Seconds of Stand-Up," which was performed at the live event and took more than 30 seconds. Because they had to introduce it and then send it off. It's a brilliant idea to get comics out there, and it's almost a shame that it wasn't adapted into a podcast or, say, a giant collection of a hundred tracks on an audio CD.

The comedy on this album is mostly of the alt comedy variety, which means if you may self-apply the term "comedy nerd" you'll totally love this collection. You get a lot for the asking price, which is typically below $15, and most of it is really funny. And if you don't like it, you can skip to the next one. I suggest you put this one in your collection if you ever do mix tapes for road trips, because you get just so gosh darn much stuff that you will have a whole new selection of stand-ups to go see. Since a lot of these comics have gone on to TV work, and others still tour, this is a great place to go just to get a better idea of who's worth going to see.

The collection comes packaged in a fold-out cardboard case.

Comedy Death Ray This Week: Sketchy

It's rare that you see an event hosted by a team made of more people than are performing in the actual show, but Comedy Death Ray is nothing if not a show about breaking down boundaries. This week's show was shockingly tight and ended in about 90 minutes, and pulled off with the kind of precision that you really don't expect in a live performance. In short, you shoulda been there.

• The show was hosted by Birthday Boys, a sketch group with a few taped and live bits. While many sketch groups have a weak bit, the entire set was awesome. Bits involved a spoof of Mr. Rogers, a top-notch sketch about wearing white after labor day, and a few others we won't spoil just yet. This is a talented bunch that probably needs a TV deal.
  
• Leo Allen kicked off the stand-up with great bit after great bit. He killed. He killed so hard we neglected to jot down notes of what he killed with.
  
• Pete Holmes continued the evening by picking up where Leo left off and stabbing people in the neck with more funny. The young comic had tons of great material and also like Leo, should be in your queue of people to see should the chance arise. Assuming the venue is good, that is.
  
• The great and hopefully soon to be ubiquitous Eddie Pepitone also had a great set which ping ponged between what it means to be getting older-- he informed the audience that he is 50-- and the trappings of youth, specifically the pride of getting many responses on the Facebook. You may recognize him from Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Last Comic Standing, and The Sarah Silverman Program (as well as other places.) He's a great talent with an awesome set and you should absolutely go out of your way to see him perform if you haven't already.
  
• The winner of the oddest set of the night is Howard Kremer, which managed to take the rule of threes, throw it out, and apply the rule of fourteens. By stretching a simple phrase-- "have a summer"-- into an entire set, Kremer went from being a one-note performer to greatness. Zig-zagging between subjects of outdoor leisure and things to do throughout the year left some of the audience bewildered-- or so the looks on their faces seemed to say-- while others were laughing to the point of what one can assume is pain.
  
• Finally, the headlining Eugene Mirman kicked ass as he is known to do. Some of his bits (presumably) will be found on his new album, and we make this assumption because the title was invoked. If you know his style of comedy, odds are you already know you like him and have made some effort to see him perform. He's enjoyable as always and has a lot of fun little things to pull out and show the audience-- or hand out, in the case of some cards he got from Linens & Things. We'll be picking up his new CD when it hits, but until then, may we suggest you pick up his earlier work? The performer had a great set.

All in all this was probably one of the stronger weeks for the show-- everything moved like clockwork and everything seemed surprisingly polished for a show where the audience is generally treated to earlier drafts. Perhaps the first passes were just really good this time? Either way, it was a solid week and if you're in LA and missing out on these shows, perhaps it's time you go drop in and check one out. As always, it's five bucks.

Road Trip Album Picks: Pennsylvania Macaroni Company (Comedians of Comedy)

WHAT: Stand-up with four comics going at once: Maria Bamford, Eugene Mirman, Patton Oswalt, Brian Posehn
LABEL: Chunklet
GOOD IF YOU LIKE: Any of the Comedians of Comedy
WHERE TO FIND IT: Chunklet

While the label says Patton Oswalt on it, that's something of an incorrect announcement. The 3-track, 18.5-minute recording features Oswalt as well as Posehn, Mirman, and the Bammer basically goofing around on stage explaining what it's like to be in a tour van together. There is much hatred and screaming.

Given that The Pennsylvania Macaroni Company is extremely short, you might assume that it's also good. You would be right. This album manages to pack in an astonishing amount of conflict and funny in a short period of time, and it's pretty accessible stuff-- you could probably play this for your non-comedy nerd pals and they'd love it.

The title track is a nearly 8-minute long riff on the restaurant of the same name, and the little songs that Patton improvises in a Leon Redbone voice. If that sounds like something you can't live without, and trust me when I say that it is, you should pick this up if you have the means. I realize it's expensive for what you get on a per-minute basis, but it's also funnier than what you're used to. So buy it.