Along with David Cross, Zach Galifianakis and Patton Oswalt, Eugene Mirman has liberated stand-up comedy from the zany fratboys and sweater-clad neurotics. Mirman’s latest album, God Is A Twelve-Year-Old Boy With Asperger’s (Sub Pop), isn’t representative of a “new breed” of comedy or a supposedly edgy advancement in humor; it’s a collection of smart, imaginative bits that embody the anger, absurdity and awkwardness of everyday life. You might also say it’s full of guffaws. Mirman, who also published a book this year (the mock-advice tome The Will To Whatevs) and regularly appears on HBO’s Flight Of The Conchords, is guest editing magnetmagazine.com this week. Read our Q&A with him.
Mirman: Backgammon is my favorite game. I’d like more people to play it, so I am putting in a request to rekindle its popularity from the ’30s, ’50s and, lastly, the ’70s. (And, of course, thousands of years ago before people even knew about heterosexual sex or iPods.) It’d be easier to play with people at parties. It is a wonderful combination of skill and luck. Sure, anyone who can count 50 moves into the future can be a grandmaster at chess (I can count up to three, so I’m not terrible, but not good), but backgammon requires dealing with immediate luck emergencies. Plus, backgammon is a game that is the most analogous to life (more than even the game Life!). It is a river of chance being guided by a lone horseman with a giant river funneler. (This is a bad analogy; I should have picked something smaller than a river and something that is a real job.) Still, with backgammon, the skill can almost always overcome the luck, unless you get very ill or lose your job. Not the best analogy, but please learn to play it, and if you see me at a bar, feel free to ask me if I’d like to play a game. I will most likely say I can’t because I’ll be doing something else, but if I can, I’ll gladly play. Thanks!
