![\"Share](\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\")
By TALIA LAVIN<\/p>\n
NEW YORK (JTA) — \u201cEveryone knows that Jews control the media and banks and stuff,\u201d comedian Eugene Mirman quips in a recent stand-up routine.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut did you know that when you go to a carnival and you have to be a certain height to go on a ride, Jews control that height? It has nothing to do with safety. It\u2019s just us flexing our Semitic muscles.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mirman, 39, has an impressive list of credits, including opening for popular indie bands such as Modest Mouse and Arcade Fire, and appearing on “The Colbert Report.”<\/p>\n
But many of Mirman’s roles — from Yvgeny Mirminsky on the Adult Swim mockumentary \u201cDelocated\u201d to Eugene the landlord on HBO’s \u201cFlight of the Conchords\u201d — are thinly veiled versions of himself.<\/p>\n
Which is just fine for Mirman, a self-declared eccentric who has defied convention from his earliest years.<\/p>\n
The Moscow native immigrated with his family at 4 to the Boston suburb of Lexington, MA. His Russian-Jewish family had experienced persecution and wiretapping in Moscow, according to Mirman, who is not above mocking his origins. In an early recording, he claimed to have spent his childhood eating only \u201cgovernment-allotted bowls of cold tears.\u201d<\/p>\n
At school, Mirman had a difficult time fitting in with his American peers. In the sixth grade, tasked with presenting a book report, he instead lip-synced an entire Bill Cosby stand-up routine. Afterward he was labeled \u201cforeign and a little special,\u201d and relegated to special-needs education for the remainder of elementary school.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe only thing wrong with me was that I was a weirdo that hated school,\u201d Mirman told JTA. \u201cI\u2019m sure now there\u2019d be a disorder for it, but I was just an oddball.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stand-up comedy provided an outlet. In the 1980s he watched comedians such as Emo Phillips, Bobcat Goldthwaite and Woody Allen. He identified with their \u201cweirdo outcast\u201d personas and was inspired by their work.<\/p>\n
After graduating from high school, Mirman attended Hampshire College, which allows students to design their own majors. Mirman went with comedy.<\/p>\n
His coursework involved organizing comedy nights and writing a humor column for the student newspaper. His senior thesis was a one-hour stand-up routine that he later used as the basis for his professional act.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was the most helpful education I could\u2019ve gotten,\u201d Mirman said.<\/p>\n
His parents, Boris and Marina, supported their son’s pursuits. Unlike many immigrant parents, the Mirmans saw a comedy career as a sign of the possibilities of America and didn’t push Eugene toward the more \u201cpractical\u201d professions adopted by many immigrants.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy parents never put pressure on me,\u201d Mirman said. \u201cThey brought my brother and me here so we could pursue things we enjoy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mirman is a well-known, if not quite mainstream, comedy figure. His early work included a series of surreal YouTube videos in which, adopting personas ranging from a Kurt Cobain-esque grunge musician to a secret agent, he satirizes sex education, spy thrillers and politics. He has produced four comedy albums, including the two-disc \u201cEn Garde, Society!\u201d<\/p>\n
He says his current role in \u201cBob\u2019s Burgers,\u201d a FOX animated show entering its fourth season, has been a \u201cwonderful\u201d chance to reach a new, mainstream type of audience — one that doesn\u2019t necessarily frequent underground comedy clubs.<\/p>\n
Now living in Brooklyn, Mirman\u2019s schedule is a hectic hodgepodge of comedy tours, show tapings and miscellaneous projects. He wrote a faux self-help book published in 2009, \u201cThe Will to Whatevs,\u201d in which he dispensed dubious advice such as suggesting that new office workers \u201cpretend every day is Bring a Coyote to Work Day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mirman just embarked on a six-city tour with fellow comedians Kristen Schaal and John Hodgman — the \u201cMirmanHodgmanSchaal Sandwich-To-Go Tour.\u201d He also is working on a pilot for a travel show.<\/p>\n
After 10 years of touring, Mirman is candid about the challenges of the stand-up life, like hecklers. He struggles, too, with the solitary life of the road.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou arrive in a new place, do a sound check, do the show,\u201d he says of the nightly routine. \u201cBy the time you\u2019re done, most things are closed in a lot of cities, and you can maybe get a meal and go to bed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Perhaps Mirman\u2019s greatest asset is his distinctive voice, a flexible instrument that can descend to a deep bass rumble or tic upward into reedy disbelief. His subject matter ranges from observational humor (poor airline customer service and gay rights) to the absurd (talking horses and a sport called \u201cextreme bowling\u201d).<\/p>\n
Although Mirman is more often bemused than angry, he sometimes uses his laconic style to lampoon the stodgier elements of society. He regularly makes fun of anti-abortion protesters (though he focuses on their grammar), and his latest comedy album is titled \u201cGod is a 12-Year-Old Boy with Aspergers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Evidence for this theory? \u201cGod wants Jews to wear hats, but only in the middle of their heads. Think about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Emblematic of his signature combination of self-deprecation and self-aggrandizement is an annual comedy event called \u201cThe Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival,\u201d which this year was held in late September in Brooklyn.<\/p>\n
One of the festival\u2019s events was called Star Talk Live!, a live taping of celebrity astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson\u2019s radio show. The show juxtaposes comedians with scientific experts, resulting in long, surreal panel discussions. Mirman is a frequent guest.<\/p>\n
At this year’s taping, the beer flowed freely, on and off the stage, as panelists conducted a rambling, digressive discussion of robotics. Lounging between deGrasse Tyson and Jason Sudeikis of \u201cSaturday Night Live,\u201d Mirman offered a stream of sardonic commentary to the audience\u2019s delight.<\/p>\n
After deGrasse Tyson mentioned the Voyager probe crossing the border between the solar system and space, Mirman quipped, \u201cI hope it has its papers!\u201d<\/p>\n