You can’t waste time; you can only spend it. Rupert Uzzell reviews NYC stand-up Eugene Mirman's ramshackle comedy show.
You couldn’t exactly accuse Eugene Mirman and friends of being overly polished in their performance style. The tone of the show is set early on, as Mirman, Kurt Braunholer and Jon Benjamin wander onto the stage and engage in ten minutes of meandering, unprepared chit chat. It doesn’t go anywhere, there’s no point to any of it, and there are as many awkward silences as there are laughs.
However, the blithering, blathering and relentless time-wasting are all part of the joke. Just as some comics garner extra laughs via self-referencing or analysing how their performance is going, these guys ramble, digress and procrastinate to such an extent that you end up laughing at the sheer audacious pointlessness of it all. This is in keeping with the lightweight, randomly selected subject matter they choose to discuss. No big themes, ideas or narratives here; anything they find amusing or interesting is on the agenda.
Some comics can struggle with this approach, but the performers this evening are all sufficiently witty and inventive enough to pull it off. The show proper starts with some stand-up from Braunholer. He begins by trying to work out who has the hottest crotch in the room, using the latest in state-of-the-art technology. Not only is it reassuring to know that modern day science is being put to such good use, but it’s also a very funny start to the set. He then tells a selection of amusing, unrelated stories about his experiences with dating websites, purchasing sex toys and psychologically scarring potential lovers.
Up next are ‘improv’ act Pulling Daisies, comprised of Benjamin and Nathan Fielder. They open with another healthy dose of spontaneous rambling, whereby they squabble, quibble and get side-tracked to the point of leaving barely any time for their actual act. They also end up confronting a frustrated, stony-faced audience member in the front row, and in one of the oddest moments of the night, ask him “Is there anything that you like?”, to which he answers with very peculiar sincerity, “Murderers.” When they do finally get round to their act, it proves to be yet more expert time-wasting, all leading to a superb pay-off.
Finally, Mirman takes to the stage, with his likeably dry style of stand-up and a penchant for the absurd. This comes across most notably during a witty routine about the Republican Tea Party, where he presents us with a series of ridiculous new slogans and posters he has designed for them. He also tells a very funny anecdote about his revenge on Time Warner Cable. As with Braunholer, he has a scattergun approach to his material, but the whole evening is so random and ramshackle throughout that anything else would be entirely inappropriate.
All in all, if you’re someone who appreciates finesse and coherence, then I’d recommend avoiding this show like the plague. On the other hand, if you enjoy comedy that has absolutely no point to it whatsoever, but isn’t horrifically bland, then this may well be for you.
Eugene Mirman & Pretty Good Friends is at the Soho Theatre from Wednesday 5th-Sunday 16th October.
Click here to see line-up details and book tickets.
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