Every week, Kristopher Pollard from Milwaukee Film and Radio Milwaukee’s Dori Zori talk about movies — because that’s what you do when you’re Cinebuds.
If you’ve ever seen an episode of Bob’s Burgers, you know Eugene Mirman is an absurdly funny human being. Or maybe a funnily absurd human being. Either way, his performance as Gene — the middle child of the Belcher clan — continually clears the high bar set by perhaps the finest voice cast of any current television series.
Of course, there’s much more to Mirman than Gene Belcher. He’s a pillar of the alt-comedy scene in New York and, in fact, is an indispensable part of its very existence. The man knows funny and displays that knowledge not just in his own act, but in the arm’s-length list of comedians whose careers he boosted on their way to stardom.
You may find yourself asking: “How, exactly, does this intersect with Cinebuds?” For one, Mirman found himself at the center of a lovely documentary released back in 2020. It Started as a Joke is ostensibly about the final installment of the Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival but eventually becomes as much about the person who founded it and the difficult situations life throws at all of us.
Partly because of those circumstances, it’s been quite a few years since Mirman has been to Milwaukee (or toured extensively, for that matter). But he’ll be here next Thursday at Vivarium for “An Evening of Whimsy and Mild Grievances.” He joins Dori and Kpolly to talk about getting back in the flow of the road by kind of staying off it, the funniest movies he's ever seen and how easy it is to confuse E.T. for Annie.
