Eugene Mirman

Brooklyn resident Eugene Mirman escaped the clutches of Russian communism at the age of four when his family immigrated from Moscow to Lexington, MA (where along with Paul Revere and John Adams he kicked off the American revolution). He attended Hampshire College and designed his own major of Comedy — doing a one-hour standup act as his thesis, for which he was made fun of, don’t worry.

Currently, he plays comedian/mobster Yvgeny Mirminsky on Adult Swim’s Delocated and does the voice of Gene on Fox’s new animated series Bob’s Burgers. In the streets he’s sometimes recognized as Eugene, the landlord, from Flight of the Conchords. On Aqua Teen Hunger Force he’s Dr. Eugene Mirman and on Home Movies he was Eugene, the Russian foreign exchange student. Eugene hates auditioning for things, but likes being cast as Eugene in stuff (hopefully he will play Eugene, the baby on Mad Men, one day).

Eugene also had his own half hour special on Comedy Central and in 2009 was named Best New York City Comedian by the Village Voice and one of the 10 best comedians of the last decade by Paste Magazine. He’s released three comedy albums (the last two on Sub Pop records) and a parody-ish self-help book from Harper Collins Perennial, The Will to Whatevs.

Along with Julie Smith and Caroline Creaghead, Eugene puts on Pretty Good Friends, an informal (but award-winning!) weekly comedy show in the basement of Union Hall in Brooklyn on Sunday nights. The three of them also produce what began as a joke and has become the annual Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival, which celebrates comedy Eugene likes while satirizing comedy festivals.

Positive quotes about Eugene
“Best New York Comedian 2009”
Village Voice

“One of the 10 Best Comedians of the Last Decade”
Paste Magazine, 2010

“Hot Twitterer”
Rolling Stone, 2009 (and Delta Sky Miles!!!!)

“Eugene Mirman is the funniest man on the planet. That’s not true. But he is really fucking funny.”
The Stranger

“Equal parts Andy Kaufman and Andy Warhol.”
Esquire

“The man is so consistently, delightfully silly.”
Time Out NY’s Best of 2007

“Mirman has a skewed observational wit rather than a sweaty Friar’s Club shtick … and kills with self-deprecating ease.”
Spin

“Best of Albums 2004: The Absurd Nightclub Comedy of Eugene Mirman.”
Time Out New York and The Onion

“Attention world press: I also have written for magazines and newspapers, so I know how hard it is to sniff out a ‘good story.’ Well let me tell you: a good story smells like Eugene Mirman. Not only is he one of the most consistently disarming, low-voiced, and funny people I have ever encountered, but he is also a very warm person who likes to drink scotch and stand near you at bars, and he is a foreign person who came to this land as a child with but one dream: to make people laugh, and thereby gain some kind of acceptance and avoid being deported. He also started a website, so there you have a tech angle as well. You can print what I say and put your name on it, and guess what?: article done. That’s fine with me. The most important thing is that you, and I, and your magazine and/or e-mailing and/or newsletter spread the word about Eugene Mirman, the most heartwarming person I know.”
John Hodgman, writer and minor TV personality