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Eugene Mirman Comedy Fest night 3 in pics (Robyn Hitchcock, Jen Kirkman, Wyatt Cenac, H. Jon Benjamin & more)

photos by Chris La Putt

Eugene Mirman with Robyn Hitchcock and H. Jon Benjamin
Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3
Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

The 7th Annual Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival took over the Bell House and Union Hall in Brooklyn for the past few days to bring audiences an audacious, eclectic, and titillating smorgasbord of comedic events. Of all the events, I chose to attend You Never Know Who Might Drop By at the Bell House on Saturday September 20 at 10:00pm. The only guest to be announced ahead of time was H. Jon Benjamin. The rest of the line up was listed as “Special Guest.” Remarkably, even with only one guest announced, the show was very sold out.

The show ended up being hosted by special guest Eugene Mirman. I sort of assumed that would be the case, but you know what happens when you assume right? Ass. U. Me. Anyhow, Euge was the host and he performed his duties with his usual grace and aplomb. His hosting agilities shouldn’t be surprising considering he’s a non-stop performer and has hosted recurring comedy showcases Invite Them Up, Tearing The Veil of Maya, Pretty Good Friends, and probably more. Saturday evening, he kept his opening set extremely short and tight, but he did have an extremely funny riff about how you can literally write whatever you want about yourself on LinkedIn and there is zero proof required. He read off samples of his own bullshit LinkedIn profile and I gotta tell you it was pretty damn funny.

Wyatt Cenac
Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

Eugene’s first guest was Wyatt Cenac. Throw a dart at an open page of Time Out New York and chances are you will hit a show listing with his name on it. The dude not only has his own show called Night Train every Monday night at Littlefield, but you can see him practically every night of the week at several other venues throughout the city. The dude’s a machine. A relentless performer. It has taken me a while to be drawn into Wyatt’s super low energy delivery and stage demeanor, but I gotta say he was killing me on Saturday. He’s definitely a super popular comic who is definitely worth checking out.

Glaser as Johnny Ding-Dong
Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

After Wyatt wrapped up his set, the great and Klaus-Approved Gold Pass Favorite Jon Glaser came out (not his first time this year), reprising his role as Brooklyn’s #1 Insult Comic Johnny Ding-Dong. I haven’t seen this particular character of his in eight freaking years; the last time was during a Comedians of Comedy stop at Irving Plaza (video here). Johnny basically insults audience members over pretty banal and obvious characteristics of theirs; a hat, glasses, how they’re sitting…then he sits down and eats a slice of pizza, very slowly. At some point during this, the sound guy ‘accidentally’ starts playing the theme song to the 1978 drama The Deerhunter, which also happens to be one of the saddest instrumental tunes of all time. Johhny then goes through an emotional breakthrough. Aside of being extremely funny, the whole bit intentionally goes on for waaaaay too long, testing the audience’s endurance to the fullest. It is not an easy bit, but it is one of my favorites as it so absolutely alienates the audience to the extreme.

Johnny Ding-Dong left the stage and was followed by a bit with Eugene Mirman and the great Robyn Hitchcock. They started out as a duo, offering up bits of very funny advice for problems submitted by audience members prior to the show. Luckily, before the bit got too long, Eugene left Robyn up there alone with an acoustic. Besides regaling the audience with great stories and personal philosophies, Robyn played three tunes, including a beautiful cover of “The Crystal Ship” by the Doors (on his new album) and a fantastic version of his tune “Dismal City” that was so much better than the full band version… it was nuts. He was a fantastic storyteller and I loved his solo tunes.

Joe Wong
Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

After Hitchcock came comedian Joe Wong who I actually never heard of, but man did he slay. I cannot tell you how much I loved this guy. There was a brilliant economy to each of his jokes. They were free of flair and BS; they were delivered as perfect as you could imagine. His insights into the racism inherent in American society, though troubling, were so elegantly lampooned that the entire room was roaring. For me he was the highlight of the evening. I love seeing a comic for the first time and having him/her absolutely destroy. Sadly, his calendar is empty, but if you see the name Joe Wong on any upcoming comedy showcases you should go. Refreshing talent. I would like him to be famous immediately, thanks.

Wong’s set was quite brief unfortunately, and he was followed by Eugene Mirman and Ted Allen (Chopped, Queer Eye For The Straight Guy) for round two of audience advice. I missed this because I had to pee wicked bad and also needed another beer, but I heard some laughs while I was in the latrine so that was a good sign. Next up was the only billed comic of the night, H. Jon Benjamin. HJB definitely had the longest set of the evening, and it started out with a bit featuring him and Eugene, where Eugene read off all of HJB’s requirements from his talent rider. This definitely felt like it went on a bit too long as even Eugene regarded the bit as “The exhausting comedy of Jon Benjamin and Eugene Mirman.” Side note: Mirman and Benjamin have created Flotsam, a “Post-Structural Online Shopping Experience” where you can buy sacks of “hand-chosen items that are hand-hewn by machines in America and are shipped directly to you.”

Back to the Bell House, after that HJB was joined by one of my personal favorites Larry Murphy. The premise of their bit was that since we were at The Bell House we were most certainly missing episodes of the Big Bang Theory which seems to be on TV in perpetuity. So they acted out some smarmy Big Bang esque dialogue which, like the rider bit, went on a bit too long as well.

Jen Kirkman
Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

Although Jon Benjamin’s set was definitely hilarious and worth seeing, it went on longer than I had the strength to endure. I was at a motorcycle block party earlier in the day and had been drinking since 3 in the afternoon, so by the time headliner Jen Kirkman took the stage, I was hot, sweaty, gassy, uncomfortable, and basically seeing quadruple. I can see why she’d headline; she has a history in comedy that stretches way back to the old days in Boston with Larry Murphy and Eugene Mirman, she has a book out that sold a zillion copies, she’s a favorite on Chelsea lately, she was in from LA… she’s famous and successful. But combine the fact that I don’t really care for her comedy and the fact that my liver was hanging out my asshole and down my pant leg, it was time to go.

The early show at the Bell House was a special EMCF edition of “Pretty Good Friends” with Jessi Klein, Nick Thune and Karen Kilgariff. Pics from EMCF night 1 are here and we’ll have more to come. Pics from night 3’s early show, plus more from “You Never Know Who Might Drop By,” below…

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

Eugene Mirman

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

Jessi Klein

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

Nick Thune

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

Karen Kilgariff

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

Wyatt Cenac

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

Robyn Hitchcock

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

Late Show

Jon Glasser as Johnny Dingdong

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

Robyn Hitchcock

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

Joe Wong

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

Ted Allen

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

H. Jon Benjamin

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

Larry Murphy

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

Jen Kirkman

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3

Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival 2014 - Day 3