The Tufts Daily recently had a chance to speak with comedian Eugene Mirman about the nature of fame, his Boston roots, his body of work — which includes stints on HBO's "Flight of the Conchords" (2007-9), Adult Swim's "Delocated" and, most recently, Fox's "Bob's Burgers" — and his Tufts connection.
Mirman, who moved from Russia to Massachusetts as a child and later received a bachelor's degree in comedy (yes, really) from Hampshire College, currently resides in New York when not on tour. He appeared at the Paradise Rock Club in Boston on Tuesday.
Mitchell Geller: How do you feel about being famous?
Eugene Mirman: I feel like it's sort of — I mean, mostly the way it affects my life is that sometimes someone will say something nice to me. I'm very happy to have a career in comedy. That's mostly how I feel.
MG: Did you always think you'd get to this point? Or did you just do it because you loved it?
EM: I think that the only way I ever thought of success was more like in terms of whether I could have an apartment or something. It never occurred to me that I could be on the guest list at a music venue with 500 people — meaning that the other elements of success didn't totally occur to me. The things that are exciting to me about it are mostly like the people that I admire that I get to see and meet. Like musicians — like the fact that I've done shows with Yo La Tengo. Or with comedians that I love like Todd Barry or Marc Maron. There are people who I've met now who I remember really loving when I was growing up.
[At this point the call was disconnected. After a brief delay, Mirman called back.]
MG: Thanks for calling back.
EM: Sure. Of course. That would be hysterical if I was like "anyway… bye!"
MG: Have you been back to Russia since coming here?
EM: No, I haven't but really want to do a documentary about going back. So I haven't done that yet, but I'd like to go back and I'd like to film it.
MG: Oh wow. So is that something that's in the works, or is that like a dream project that has been brewing?
EM: It's a combination of things, I mean I've done things to move forward. ... I've talked to people. Like Michael Showalter would direct it — he's very interested in directing it, so we have the very bare bones interest in doing something like that, but there's nothing really set in place. So we're slowly moving forward with figuring out how to do it and approaching some companies and stuff.
MG: That sounds really cool. Not that you don't have enough on your plate, though, with all the Adult Swim shows you're on and "Bob's Burgers." What do you get recognized most for, and what are you most proud of?
EM: "[Flight of the] Conchords" and now it's sort of that and "Delocated," and now it's becoming more ephemeral like it's just some random thing. I mean, originally, it was like I used to sell paninis in Harvard Square, and someone was like "You look so familiar you look so familiar," and finally she was like, "Right, you work at that ice cream parlor I go to." And I was like "Great." So yeah, it slowly evolved from ice cream to "Flight of the Conchords." But it's also now like Comedy Central just airs stuff like your specials or random appearances in things.
MG: And what are you most proud of?
EM: I don't know. I guess I really like my special. Because it's a thing I made. You know, um, I think a lot of it is like the live shows and stuff. Like some friends and I organize a yearly comedy festival. It's like a parody of comedy festivals here in New York called the Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival. And we're actually the people bringing like this show to the Paradise, which is like the weekly show that we do. So I guess that some of the stuff that I'm most proud of is less a specific show or something as much as it is the kind of live shows we put on and the touring and all of that; the events that sometimes develop a kind of a spectacle to them. And also my book, I guess. I wrote a long book. Well, a short book, but it took me a long time.
MG: Okay, and my last question — and I've probably asked a lot of these — but what's your least favorite question to be asked when you're being interviewed?
EM: I don't know. It's hard to say.
MG: You could just say "That one," or "This entire interview"…
EM: No, no, the interview is fine. It's funny, there probably are things, but they don't come to mind, and then also the idea of saying it and then having it printed and then having everyone ask it to me as a joke seems like the more upsetting route. But really I don't know. It's … probably that like the thing that I wouldn't like in general is when you're supposed to do an interview and someone is trying to be funny in a way where there's nothing to say or answer. Where there's just like a weird dead end statement that makes no sense. It doesn't happen often, but on rare occasions it does happen, and I'm always like, "This doesn't … make sense to do." But that happens rarely. I mean, mostly in interviews people ask nice questions … It's not like I have some sort of something to break. It's not like you'll get a comedian to admit to a crazy global conspiracy.
MG: Have you gotten used to the fact that you're the sort of person that someone wants to talk to, and then other people want to read what that person has to say?
EM: A little, but I find that it's not in such great numbers that it feels important. Meaning like, sure, it's great, but … when you are the person, it feels very ephemeral. I feel like the world's greatest barista or something. Where everyone is sort of familiar, where everyone's like, "Oh that's a fun guy," or something, but it's not like genuine celebrity. Half-genuine celebrity. But I feel like I'm an incredibly popular barista.
MG: I think that's going to be the headline. "Incredibly popular barista comes to Boston."
EM: Exactly. The most popular barista.
MG: Of all time.
EM: From the greatest coffee shop of all time.
MG: Is that how you feel about Boston?
EM: Boston is the greatest coffee shop — well I am very excited to go to Union Square to go to the Sherman Cafe, where friends of mine have a café, and maybe either get a salad or sit there writing. That's what I often do when I come to Boston.
MG: Oh, that's pretty close to Tufts!
EM: Oh, right! I used to live near Tufts. I lived on Boston Ave. when I moved to Boston from Hampshire [College]. It's right there. Yeah, I used to go to some cafe there and write things and then I would perform them on the third floor of a Chinese restaurant. And then I lived in Somerville for years on Central Ave. … Central Street.
MG: Such a nice area — anyway.
EM: Yeah, it's great. I'm very excited to come to Boston. Also the people coming with me are very funny, and that's very exciting … Kumail Nanjiani is amazing, and Reggie [Watts] is very, very talented and amazing and funny. And Julie Smith, who's producing the show with me … she's from Boston as well, so it's our homecoming and we're very excited.
