Eugene Mirman

God is a Twelve-Year-Old Boy with Asperger's (2009)

Chuck Cunningham

As more and more comedians have children and prove true the jokes they made about babies making people not funny earlier in their career (Brian Posehn telling the audience people to punch his baby--if he has one and stops being edgy--on Live in Nerd Rage for example), I'm finding it harder and harder to find current comedy albums worth getting. Thankfully, Eugene Mirman continues his hilariously absurd comedy stylings on God is a Twelve-Year-Old with Asperger's.

The album begins with Mirman telling the story of a man saying, "There are probably bigger elevators than this in Russia" to which Mirman comments "That's not one of the prearranged stereotypes of Russia." Continuing the track, he mentions being accused of daring a small child to put a live fish into his mouth, but Mirman insists that if he had dared the child to do something, he would have dared him to "jerk off in a time machine and send it to Hitler." Giving a little insight into why Mirman's humor is the way it is, Mirman explains that he once did a book report by coming into class dressed as Bill Cosby and lip-synching to an album which resulted in him being sent to special education class.

Mirman recites an angry letter he sent to his gas company for turning off his gas after sending his bills to the wrong address for a year. He also discusses what to do if a bear attacks--play dead, punch him in the nose (if you are Batman), call it a douche bag--eventually stating "Hypnotize it – that is actually what I was looking for!" He then goes on to explain that "you are not supposed to play dead. Playing dead is like a rumor that bears spread." Next up, Mirman, discusses Internet ads that have a poll before making up some of his own: "Should the Iraq War be a war or something else?" After a track about anti-abortion protesters, Mirman--born in Russia--discusses a Russian website's polls which were all slightly racist. Following that track is a story about finding an iPod and what he possibly could have done instead of simply returning it.

The low point of the album comes from a story about Delta Airlines losing his luggage that turns into a short play about the events. While it is fairly funny, the stand-up comedy set being interrupted by a somewhat overly bitter (although played for laughs) play doesn't flow that well. Closing the album is Mirman reciting an angry letter he wrote to Delta Airlines complaining about how horrible of a customer service experience he had trying to deal with his lost luggage ("Like hiring an insincere baby with amnesia to solve a crime it committed") While too much of the album is focused on the experience with Delta Airlines, this track is much better than the play and Mirman has proven time and time again that angry letters,