Comedian Eugene Mirman did a question-and-answer session on Reddit today, and things instantly got super weird. Right off the bat, Mirman was asked a question by a Reddit user who had been masturbating on the webcam site Chat Roulette when he got randomly linked up with Mirman doing a live comedy show and using Chat Roulette with a projector in front of an audience. On top of that, the internet masturbator recognized Mirman and asked if it was him, and it got written up in The Huffington Post. That’s easily one of the weirdest interactions to ever happen on a Reddit AMA, but there’s also a guy who got Eugene Mirman’s face tattooed on his arm during one of Mirman’s shows who just wanted to say hi. Hit the jump for highlights from the AMA session (typos theirs, not mine):
REDDIT USER: I was masturbating on Chatroulette one night and got conneted to you, on stage, with me on a projector. Then I said “Eugene Mirman???”. You replied “No, (some other comedian’s name)”. How great of a laugh did my dick get? Best story that I will never tell anyone ever. THANKS!Mirman: I completely remember that. I ran around Union Hall for 10 minutes laughing and saying that it was the most ridiculous thing I could imagine happening. Thanks!SAME REDDIT USER: I got a writeup in HuffPo: When an anonymous masturbator types “OMG EUGENE MIRMAN”, the name of the professional comedian currently manning the laptop at that point, Mirman does a lap of the room in hysterics, patted on the back and high-fived by well-wishers. Will the excitement of group ChatRoulette live on? Mirman, for one, has his doubts. “I certainly don’t think it will be as exciting,” he says. “People might be using it but it won’t nearly have the same level of frenzy to it.” “I hope people won’t be typing my name as they rub their penis into the camera,” Mirman continued, before pausing and smiling, “But you know what? To each his own!”We both peaked that night, I think. “anonymous masturbator” and “professional comedian”.Mirman: I was right! The level of excitement about ChatRoulette totally died down. I should get a job as a low level trendspotter!
REDDIT USER: I was the guy that got your face tattooed on my arm during The Drunk Show. I don’t have a question, but this is as good a place as any to thank you for that evening. Trying to explain why you are on my shoulder always makes for a great story. https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/308404_10150443343428712_317299250_n.jpgMirman: You’re welcome. Also, thank you!REDDIT USER: Letters you write to businesses seem to end up in your comedy routines, is that something you do regularly or just for your stand up? to put it more precise I guess do you regularly write crazy letters to companies?Mirman: I wrote a crazy letter in 1993 or 1994 to MCI and then months later it occurred to me that I could read it on stage. I guess it depends on the results I want. With the letters I read on stage, it basically is the most effective way to get a company to be better for me. It definitely worked with Time Warner. The others it’s mostly a release because of how powerless you feel against shitty companies.REDDIT USER: Do you remember the first joke you ever wrote?Mirman: I tried standup a few days after I turned 18. The first joke I ever wrote was, “What profession do you think has the highest suicide rate? Most people think it’s dentists, but it’s actually kamikaze pilots. That’s what they do.”REDDIT USER: It seems like Gene in Bob’s Burgers is tailored specifically for you. How early in the show’s development were you approached to voice the character? Do you prefer voice acting, acting in front of a camera, or preforming comedy live?Mirman: Loren cast the whole family before the show was really even a show. In fact, the original idea was that we were a family of cannibals who ran a burger place, but it quickly became clear that it’d be better to just be a family. But we worked on the demo for a year or two before it got picked up. But yes, all the characters are tailored to all the actors I think. In terms of what my favorite thing, it’s actually the variety of doing different stuff.REDDIT USER: What is the worst heckler experiences you’ve had?Mirman: When I opened for Modest Mouse in Miami there was a girl in the front row who kept trying to get my attention. It was really weird and massively distracting. After the show she came up to me and said that she was trying to ruin my set so that I’d get off stage and Modest Mouse would go on earlier (not how it works at all, but she was 19). She then told me she believes in some sort of selfish philosophy that basically sounded like Ayn Rand. I said, “Like Ayn Rand?” And she said she’d never heard of her. If I knew on stage that she was trying to ruin the show, I would have had her thrown out, and she would have learned to not be a jerk. But sadly, she was sneaky and I was a little nice. Other times drunk people have yelled crazy shit. The worst heckling is when people are drunk and talking to each other and don’t know anyone else is in the room.REDDIT USER: Do any of the companies you lambaste in your jokes (or newspaper ads) ever offer you stuff or try to mend fences?Mirman: Time Warner Cable is the only company that has acknowledged something like that. They were actually very effusive. They now respond to my calls better than before I took out the ad. But they’re still essentially a terrible company whose cable box works poorly. Still, it’s probably the most I could have hoped for. Here’s a link to their response.
