Grist reporter, Eugene Mirman says goodbye to Copenhagen. His farewell video can be viewed here. Enjoy!

Eugene Mirman is still busy reporting the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen for Grist. His new video is all about Dong. You can watch the video here.

The Sub Pop Nerd Cave built a robot to select a random winner from all the comments on the TOP 10 of 09 list early yesterday afternoon. We set the robot to work and he selected young mister Christoper DiGiacomo of O’Fallon, MO. I’ve been emailing with our winner all day today and it turns out he is a swell guy who plays a billion instruments, is very inquisitive, and has a secret crush on Jesy from Tiny Vipers. Christopher will receive all of 2009’s releases on CD. Thanks for playing!

The Milwaukee band until only very recently known as Jail has added an “L” to their name (they are now and, we hope, forever to be called Jaill)! They have also added Sub Pop Records as their new label, and will be putting a new record on said label in 2010! If you’re not already acquainted, let us introduce you to Vinnie Kircher, Austin Dutmer, Andy Harris and Ryan Adams, aka Jaill. You can listen to them on their MySpace page

Euegen Mirman, intrepid reporter that he is, is currently reporting from the Climate Change Conference for Grist. If you’re not familiar with Grist, they’re a non-profit organization from Seattle that reports on climate issues. They’re informative and they’re also a bunch of smart alecs, which is why we like them so much. Check out Eugene’s most recent video report from deep in the belly of this past weekend’s protests and counter-protests.
Eugene vs. Copenhagen: THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!

All ages venue, the Vera Project, and Seattle online radio station Hollow Earth Radio, are teaming up to host a holiday fair extravaganza on Saturday December 12th at the Vera Project from 11 AM to 5 PM featuring items for sale from independent Northwest record and cassette labels, silk-screened show poster makers, independent record dealers, and a variety of local craftmakers.

Bands will be playing live throughout the day while you browse including: The Foghorns, 1985, June Madrona, Dashel Schueler, Iji, and World History.

The “screen-it” part of the fair will include demonstrations by Vera silkscreen instructors. Bring a piece of fabric to practice on, or you can buy white T-shirts at the event (if you’re interested in learning how!).

Why is this relevant to you, loyal Sub Pop fan reading this blog? Sub Pop and Hardly Art will have a glorious booth and we’re selling records only. Ruben of Hardly Art will also be selling records from his fantastic personal collection.

Stop by!

I am thankful for many things this season, but right now I am mostly thankful that I get to repost this Mudhoney Thanksgiving picture again.

So, this really very amazing bit of news just in…

The first day of the All Tomorrow’s Parties festival in NY, September 2010 will feature the following “Don’t Look Back” performances:

Iggy and The Stooges performing Raw Power
The Scientists performing Blood Red River (in their first-ever US show!)
Sleep performing Holy Mountain
Mudhoney performing Superfuzz Bigmuff

This is all on the Friday of ATPNY, on September 3, 2010. And, there’s lots more still to be confirmed. You can read the full press release here. And there’s more info on all things ATP here.

We can only hope (with apologies to Motorbooty) that the concession stands at Kutsher’s next year will be offering commemorative fare for this event. Prepare to dig in to such delicacies as Strawberry Shake Appeal, Set It on Fire Flamin’ Hot Chili, Superfudge Bigmuffins, and Sleep’s Holy Mountain Oysters.

No Age was asked to perform with one of their heroes, Bob Mould of Husker Du, at this years ATP at Kutsher’s Country Club in Monticello, NY. Pitchfork TV just put up a fantastic 3 part series that encompasses their entire journey from the drive up, to meeting Jim Jarmusch in the lobby (who is a fan…whoa!!!!), their performance as No DU (No Age/Husker Du and Randy performing a cover of Cortez the Killer with Bradford Cox of Deerhunter and Jim Jarmusch in a hotel room. Check out all the fun and games here

Photos borrowed from Ryan Muir.

Our very close, personal friends in Obits will be appearing on NBC’s Late Night with Jimmy Fallon television show this Thursday, November 19th! And, what’s more, the code OBT at http://www.fallonbandbench.com/ can win you a seat on the “band bench” to watch their performance. The celebrity guests for this episode (in addition to the Obits dudes, we mean) will be: Taylor Lautner (from those sexy Dracula teenager movies) and also Katey Sagal (who, among a great many other things, performed the voice of Leela on Futurama).

Obits will, we are really crossing our fingers, perform one of the many peppy numbers on their 2009 debut album, I Blame You.

You should really watch!

GIVE-ing season arrives in Seattle

GIVE music and video compilation to benefit Arts Corps and food banks goes on sale Tuesday, Nov. 17; GIVE concert with Grand Archives and D. Black to rock the Crocodile Dec. 3

SEATTLE, WA – Coffee Roaster Caffé Vita will launch GIVE on Tuesday, November 17th with 30 downloadable tracks from a wide variety of Seattle artists, all of whom have donated songs to benefit Arts Corps and local area food banks. The complete list of artists involved will reach nearly 40 by mid-December.

A companion benefit concert featuring Grand Archives, D. Black and other artists will be held at the Crocodile Dec. 3. Tickets for the show are on sale now atwww.thecrocodile.com.

The $7 compilation – conceived and initiated by Seattle coffee roaster Caffé Vita, which is producing, curating and funding the project – will be available online atwww.giveseattle.org, as well as in Caffé Vita shops, Easy Street Records, Sonic Boom Records, University Book Store, The Crocodile, EMP, Neumos and Sorrento Hotel. These outlets will carry GIVE packages, including physical cards with a redemption code for the download, as ready-to-give presents.

A full 100 percent of sales will go directly to GIVE beneficiaries: Arts Corps, Seattle’s largest nonprofit arts educator, along with Ballard Food Bank, Rainier Valley Food Bank, University District Food Bank and West Seattle Food Bank.

Among the many highlights of GIVE are unreleased cuts from The Cave Singers, Grand Archives, Champagne Champagne featuring Fences, The Maldives, Mad Rad, and The Moondoggies. Nearly all of the 36 tracks on GIVE are exclusive to the compilation.

The GIVE tracks available immediately on Tuesday, Nov. 17 include:

1. Arthur & Yu: Magic Mountain
2. The Blakes: Parking Lot
3. Sera Cahoone: Love’s Gonna Live Here
4. The Cave Singers: Growing Palm
5. Champagne Champagne featuring Fences: Victim of the Modern Age
6. Common Market: The Picture of My DeLorean Gray
7. D. Black: On the Go
8. Fatal Lucciauno: Gangsta
9. Fences: Sadie
10. Fleet Foxes: Mykonos
11. Fresh Espresso: Gettin Money
12. Grand Archives: Wake Up
13. Head Like a Kite: Director’s Cut
14. Hey Marseilles: From a Terrace
15. Kinski: Whatever Happened to Madeleine Stowe
16. Le Loup: Forgive Me
17. The Lonely Forest: I Don’t Wanna Live There
18. Mad Rad: Love in a Strange World
19. The Maldives: In the End
20. Gabriel Mintz: Safeway
21. The Moondoggies: Side of the Road
22. Joshua Morrison: Mammoth Cave
23. Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band: Bitter Cold
24. Pearly Gate Music: Big Escape
25. The Pica Beats: Durian Shakes
26. The Saturday Knights: Go!
27. Talbot Tagora: Ichthus Hop
28. Tea Cozies: Corner Store Girls
29. J. Tillman: Earthly Bodies
30. Visqueen: Hand Me Down

Several GIVE artists are still finishing their exclusive GIVE tracks, including The Long Winters, Ben Gibbard, David Bazan, Throw Me The Statue, The Dutchess and The Duke, and Unnatural Helpers. Fans who purchase GIVE in November will be notified by email when these fresh tracks are available for download. The digital model allows patrons to pick and choose tracks they would like to download or simply download the entire album. Included with each sale of the physical GIVE card is a complimentary cup of Caffé Vita Farm Direct coffee, redeemable at any Vita location.

Stay tuned for several GIVE videos that bring together GIVE artists and leading filmmakers and creative firms, including Chase Jarvis, Wexley School for Girls, Creature, Steve Viehmann and City Arts Magazine.

Also appearing at the Dec. 3 benefit show will be Grant Olsen of Arthur & Yu; Kinski; Gabriel Mintz; Tea Cozies; and M.C. Tilson from The Saturday Knights. Tickets are $15.

GIVE truly is a city-wide community campaign. Nearly every facet of the project is being undertaken pro bono. Money for any expenses not donated will be raised at the Dec. 3 benefit concert.

The full list of partners for GIVE includes: 206 Inc. (strategy and publicity), Barsuk Records (music and website support), Caffé Vita (production, curation, funding), CD Forge (redemption operation), City Arts Magazine (video production and media), Creature (video production), The Crocodile (retail and concert hosting), Easy Street Records (retail), Expanding Brooklyn (publicity), Hardly Art (music and website support), Chase Jarvis (video production and promotion), KEXP (media), Lighthouse (webhosting), Robert Mercer (design), MMPUNION/Minuteman Press On Union (printing), Neumos (retail), RFI/CD (mastering), SEATTLE CITY OF MUSIC (promotion), Sonic Boom Records (retail), The Stranger (media and promotion), Sub Pop (music and website support), Superfad (animation), Tap Plastics (point of sale), Steve Viehmann (video production), Wexley School for Girls (video production) and Megan Woo Web Design (website development).

For more information, please visit GIVE online at www.giveseattle.org, and become a fan on Facebook at
www.facebook.com/pages/GIVE-SEATTLE/167527428045?ref=ts.

For the Record #9 comes to you courtesy of Fruit Bats’ front man, Eric Johnson.

Eric Johnson is a good dude and a great musician (currently splitting his time fronting his band Fruit Bats and playing in The Shins). He drinks fine wine and plays in fine wineries and has a great appreciation for film and, of course, music. He’s an easy one to talk to but if you ever wanna talk about The Baptist Generals in particular then he’s really your guy. Keep reading for Eric’s thoughts on No Silver/No Gold.

Band: The Baptist Generals
Record: No Silver/No Gold
When we told you the first time: February 4th 2003

This album came out right around the same time as The Fruit Bats’ Sub Pop debut, so we ended up hanging with these guys a bunch at showcases and such. I think this record is brilliant, and to call it “underrated” would be an understatement.

The opening track, “Ay Distress”, is a sparse little heart breaker that ends abruptly with a cell phone going off in the studio, followed by pandemonium. Its a moment that caught me way off guard the first time I heard it and kind of blew my mind in the process. I can’t really think of any other album that starts you off this way; its a really cinematic moment, raw and weird. Then track two, “Alcohol” kicks in almost immediately, up-tempo and sounding more like a traditional album opener. This is the kind of sweet-ass, emotionally manipulative one-two punch that I’m a sucker for.

You’ve got really heavily strummed nylon-string guitars, a guitarron (a huge plucked guitar used in Mariachi bands) in lieu of a traditional bass, and Chris Flemmons’ insanely powerful lungs singing like his life depends on it. The real hit tune is “Going Back Song,” which is a pop beauty put through the freaky dark Tex-Mex filter of this record.

I’ll stop talking about it. You should just listen.

Love,

EDJ

For the next 48 hours, you can go HERE to get No Silver/No Gold at our FTR sale price of $6 CD/$4 Mp3.

Eric’s band, Fruit Bats, recently released a fine record of their own, The Ruminant Band and it is conveniently located HERE for your listening pleasure. for you to check out!

Look to our semi-regular feature, For the Record, for reflections from staff and Sub Pop artists on some of our favorite records from the Sub Pop catalog; each featured title is deeply discounted for the 48 hours following the posted review.

No Age recorded an exclusive 30 second track for the fine folks at Death & Taxes Magazine! Death & Taxes issue 22 is full of interactive content and we’re stoked to be part of it. You can download “In Peril” here

Just in time for you to be that guy when No Age plays some upcoming dates with the Pixies we have some super fancy new t shirts! We’ve also got a new No Age racerback tank top in stock! But wait! There’s more! The Losing Feeling EP cover was designed by No Age and Brian Roettinger (who received a Grammy nomination for his work on Nouns) and we like it so much we’ve turned it into a four poster set. Each poster represents a song on the album and they are pretty fancy if I do say so myself. This poster set is limited edition so get ‘em while the gettin’ is good.

Next Ambiance’s Debut Album, Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni ba’s I Speak Fula, Scheduled for Digital Release in North America on December 1st, 2009

SEATTLE, WA – Sub Pop Records and KEXP radio host Jon Kertzer have come together to form Next Ambiance, a world music imprint. Malian band Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni ba’s I Speak Fula will be the first album out on Next Ambiance, and is scheduled for digital release on iTunes, December 1st, 2009 and for CD release on February 2nd, 2009. The band will embark on their first US tour, opening for nine-time Grammy winner Bela Fleck, in early 2010 in support of the record. Tour dates and more information provided below.

Next Ambiance:
Founded by Jon Kertzer, the host of KEXP’s “The Best Ambiance” radio show, a long-running weekly program that focuses on both pop and traditional music from the African continent, Next Ambiance continues the musical exploration, with an emphasis on mind-blowing and life-changing artists with no particular regional or cultural bias.

“I’ve listened and learned so much from Jon’s show (”The Best Ambiance") for half of my life. It just seemed natural to put his knowledge, resources and remarkable taste to further use. It’ll certainly be a boon to listeners everywhere," commented Sub Pop Records co-founder, Jonathan Poneman. “Our first release with Bassekou Kouyate and his incredible band Ngoni ba from Mali in West Africa, is the perfect way to begin this new adventure. Their album I Speak Fula captures this truly original music, like nothing you have heard before.”

Don’t expect many releases from Sub Pop/Next Ambiance initially. After all, it’s going to take a particularly brave artist or artists to follow Bassekou. Sub Pop/Next Ambiance will release I Speak Fula throughout North America, Australia and New Zealand.

“I am very excited to be working with Sub Pop on the Next Ambiance imprint to release the best of the world’s music, innovative and ground-breaking sounds that follow new paths,” stated Kertzer.

Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni ba:
Malian Bassekou Kouyate made his international debut with the 2007 album Segu Blue. Released by Out Here Records, the album received critical acclaim and won the band the coveted honor of performing on the Jools Holland Show, as well as 2008 BBC 3 nomination for Best Newcomer , going on to win in both the Album of the Year category as well as Best African Act.

Their sophomore effort, I Speak Fula, was released on September 21, 2009 in the UK and, unsurprisingly, received widespread critical acclaim. Known for their riveting live performances, I Speak Fula more effectively conveys the energy and infectious intensity of that experience than the band’s first album. In October 2009 Bassekou once again performed on The Jools Holland Show alongside the likes of Yoko Ono and The Dead Weather.

“This is a cracker.”**** Mojo
“A contender for African album of the year” * Uncut
“…the best rock’n’roll band in the world.” The Independent

Beginning in early February 2010, Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni ba will share the bill with Bela Fleck for their inaugural tour through the United States.

http://www.myspace.com/bassekoukouyate

Click for 2010 Tour Dates

More about Sub Pop Records:
Sub Pop Records was founded in 1988 by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman. The Seattle-based label was the original home to such legendary bands as Nirvana, Soundgarden and Mudhoney, and has enjoyed more recent successes with such artists as The Postal Service, The Shins, Iron & Wine, Band of Horses, Flight of the Conchords, and Fleet Foxes.

In 2002, Sub Pop came into contact with Minneapolis’ De Stijl Records when trying to track down Michael Yonkers, whose Microminiature Love was spinning constantly on office stereos. They entered into a production and distribution agreement with De Stijl that has spawned reissues from Ju Suk Reet Meate (of Smegma,) Ed Askew and 39 Clocks as well as original material from Pens, Jacob Olaussen, King Darves and more.

Sub Pop founded subsidiary label Hardly Art in early 2007. With a smaller staff but no less immodest goals, Hardly Art is able to focus its energies on emerging talent from the Pacific Northwest and beyond. Since its inception, Hardly Art has ushered in acclaimed debuts from The Moondoggies, The Dutchess & the Duke, Le Loup, and more.

Sub Pop is pleased to welcome Next Ambiance to its family of labels.

For more information on Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni ba tour dates, contact Jenifer Shepherd [email protected].

For more information on Sub Pop Records contact Kate Jackson [email protected].

On November 13th Mudhoney will be playing at Neumos in Seattle with Brothers of the Sonic Cloth (Tad Doyle’s band) and Unnatural Helpers. The show is a celebration of Michael Lavine’s new book titled, Grunge. Michael has taken numerous photos of Sub Pop’s artists over the years and many of them go way, way back. The book is pretty frickin’ amazing. You can see some of them in this video. Check it out and come join us. It’ll be fun!

If you’d like to have a copy of the book autographed by Michael, you can catch him at the following locations:

Friday, November 13 there will be a signing at noon at:
Orca Books
509 East 4th Ave
Olympia, WA
360-352-0123

Saturday, November 14 at 4pm there will be a signing at:
Easy Street Records & Cafe
4559 California Ave SW # 200, Seattle, WA
(206) 938-EASY

Introductions are in order…

Avi Buffalo is the adopted name of Avigdor Zahner-Isenberg, an 18 year-old singer/songwriter and guitarist from Long Beach , CA. Avi Buffalo is also the name of the band he formed with friends and like-minded collaborators Sheridan Riley (drums), Arin Fazio (bass) and Rebecca Coleman (keyboards and vocals). Though Avi started recording songs 3 years ago, during his sophomore year in high school, amidst the dissolution of his previous band Monogram, it wasn’t until Bill Cutts of Outsider Folk asked Avi to play a show in 2007 that Avi Buffalo the band came to be. This first show was an acoustic set at the Zephyr Café in Long Beach. Through the following summer and a local music festival that fall, the band became an altogether more electric thing. And soon they were asked to play shows in Los Angeles. They did and then kept on doing it. A year later Avi and Aaron Embry (who has played with folks like Elliott Smith, Daniel Lanois, Emmylou Harris, Beth Orton, and a whole slew of others) began recording the songs that will become the band’s first record. At the prompting of early fan and Sub Pop A&R Head Tony Kiewel, the band toured up to Seattle, played a show, met folks at the label, and began what we all hope will be a very long and happy relationship.

Since then, Avi, Sheridan, Arin, and Rebecca have toured with and made fans of new label-mates Beach House, played the FYF Festival and the Monolith Festival, found unexpected, glowing response and airplay from Steve Lamacq at BBC1, and closer to home from KCRW and KXLU, and have received a whole lot of unsolicited press attention. All before putting out a record.

Because we at Sub Pop are (still…) in the increasingly anachronistic business of putting out records, we plan to change that. And so! On Dec. 8th, 2009 we will be releasing “What’s in It For?” b/w “Jessica” as a 7" vinyl single, recorded by the aforementioned and comprehensively associated Aaron Embry. You can pre-order this single now right here. One or both of these songs will also be found on the debut Avi Buffalo full-length that we are just ridiculously puffed-up about releasing in the spring of 2010.

Meet Avi Buffalo! We think you’re going to like them an awful lot. We sure do.

For the Record is here again, (Our 8th installment! That’s 7 more than we wagered!), and this time out we have none other than Dean Spunt from No Age helping us out with a record recommendation. Dean’s a busy guy these days (with things like this, this and this to name a few) so we surely appreciate him takin’ some time out for FTR (thanks again, Dean!).

And just to re-cap, for those of you unfamiliar with For the Record, this is our semi-regular web feature wherein we (or a generous artist like Dean, Mat, Marty or Scott) reflect on one of our favorite records from the Sub Pop catalog and in turn, said record is dramatically discount for the following 48 hours.

Make Sense? Yes? Good. Now let’s hear about Wolf Eyes!

Band: Wolf Eyes
Record: Burned Mind
When we told you the first time: September 28th, 2004

This record is fantastic! It’s not for the weak though, it starts and ends with a harsh noise ear assault courtesy of the the Wolf Eyes.

Parts remind me of Throbbing Gristle if they were pissed, other parts are like Man is the Bastard if they had no instruments, or Negative Approach with the guitars effected and the drums taken out of the mix and replaced with broken oscillators. Sound good? Then you should check it out – it may cause you to pick up a Behringer mixing board and some pedals and make a limited cassette.

-Dean

For the next 48 hours, you can get Burned Mind at our FTR sale price of $6 CD/$4 Mp3 here!

Dean’s band, No Age, just released their fantastic EP, Losing Feeling, this month. We think you might enjoy it and heartily recommend you go HERE to check it out.

Eugene Mirman just released a new comedy record on Sub Pop called God is a Twelve-Year-Old-Boy With Asperger’s and it’s funny stuff. One of the problems with being a funny guy is that people always want you to do funny things. No one wants to just sit down with you and ask you mundane questions, but that’s totally my bag, so, a few days ago I interviewed Eugene Mirman over email. Here it is:

LS: Hi! So, how are those plates selling? If you are willing to sell a plate, what would you not sell with your face on it? While we’re at it, tell me about the Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival, please. Was it a success?

EM: The plates are sold out maybe, unless there are still some through my site. There might be. I would sell lots of things with my face on it, including — hats, a school bus, high-end instant soup, and an artists imagining of Zeus’ penis. And yes, the festival was a success. It was very fun. We had a whole roast pig the opening night, rented a limo to shuttle the audience [One limo! Sounds like quite a crowd! –ed.] from the venue to the subway and had lots of great comedians who shined a light onto societies ills and also joked around about sex and drinking.

LS: Sometimes you say hi to me and sometimes you don’t—what’s the deal with that?

EM: I can be spacey sometimes. Or maybe I’m trying to be mysterious and doing it wrong. Either way, sorry about that.

LS: I figure people ask you about comedy all the time, and I will later probably, but what interests me more right now is that you are Russian. That’s interesting. Tell me about it. I had a Russian boyfriend who moved here in the ‘80s and he had no friends and was stuffed in the trophy cases at school and stuff. Did that happen to you? Do you speak Russian? On a scale of 1 to 10, how much does being Russian affect your everyday life? Is it affect or effect? I’m pretty sure it’s affect but now I am doubting myself.

EM: I do speak Russian. I talk to my parents a few times a week. It affects me 2.5 on that scale. In the 80s it probably affected me 4.2. I wasn’t stuffed in a trophy case (I was never good enough), but in elementary school people called me a commie and blamed me when the Russians shot down a Korean airliner. Eventually what started as a youthful disdain of Ruskies transformed into a much broader disdain for me throughout my adolescence. I also was probably [most likely –ed.] annoying. It was most likely a destructive cycle that ended sometime around 11th grade. On a side note, a friend of mine recently told me that in third grade our teacher told her to stop being friends with me because I was a loser and as proof showed her my standardized test scores. They were indeed very low. [You can’t be a loser in third grade. It just doesn’t work that way. –ed.]

LS: You played a rapist in some schmaltzy TV crime drama. Do you still go audition for parts like that or do you have enough work to not do that anymore? I noticed that you have a night of crime drama comedians at your upcoming fest—that’s funny stuff!

EM: I was not a rapist — I was only a suspected arsonist. [I’m going to have to fire my fact checker. –ed.] I don’t really audition for stuff like that very much, and in general don’t really like auditions and try to avoid them (with good success). [So, you pay your bills solely with plate sales? That is amazing! –ed.]

LS: Tell me a funny story about each of these people: David Cross, Zach Galifianakis, and Bret and Jemaine? Which one of these is your favorite? Which of these people gets the most dates do you think?

EM: All those people are in relationships (or married!!!!), so they don’t date. However, I bet they’ve each had sex with at least eight people, which is awesome. It would take too long to tell stories about all of them, but once I know that David Cross, Jon Benjamin and Morgan Murphy got a hotel to let them into Zach Galifianakis’ room by convincing the hotel that Zach was a danger to himself. They were drunk and the convincing took about an hour. [He totally looks like a cutter. I’m surprised it took it them an hour. -ed.]

LS: I emailed Todd Barry to see if he had any dirt/info on you that I could use for this interview but he never got back to me. What do you think he was doing instead?

EM: He was probably making love to a wonderful woman with a beautiful tattoo. [Doubt it. –ed.]

LS: Tell me about the comedy scene in New York. Do you guys hang out a lot and do non-comedy stuff or is it all comedy all the time? Is there somewhere where you guys can be found regularly, like George and Jerry and Elaine at that diner?

EM: We all live in an eight-story brownstone (called a “Double Brownstone”) in Brooklyn and go to see movies, watch each others kids and write television shows and movies. It’s where most of the major alt-comedy decisions are made. [I think you’re pulling my leg. –ed.]

LS: Have you ever played Giggles here in Seattle? If so, did you try the Rita Rudner nachos?

EM: No. And as a result, sadly, no I haven’t tried the nachos. I can’t imagine I’m missing out on much, or are Seattle comedy clubs known for their amazing Mexican food? [Seattle, in general, is known for its Mexican food. HAR HAR HAR!!! –ed.]

LS: What is an average day for you, Eugene? Tell me what it’s like to wake up and be you.

EM: I wake up, finish the second half of a vodka-infused watermelon, give my cat a shot of insulin (he has diabetes), write for an hour, make breakfast, do an interview, and then meet up with friends to work on weird projects. Sometimes I go to a birthday party at the end of the day. [That sounds really nice, except the part about the diabetic cat. That part sounds like a pain. –ed.]

LS: VERY IMPORTANT! What kind of shoes do you wear? What kind of ladies’ shoes are a deal breaker for you?

EM: Shoe shoes. Not sure. [You are trying to tell me that you don’t know what kind of shoes you wear?! For real? What if you wore these?] I don’t have a kind of ladies’ shoe that I outright have disdain for and wouldn’t feel comfortable making one up. I guess if a woman had shoes with anti-semetic stuff written all over them I wouldn’t date her. [Bingo! –ed.]

LS: Were you cool in high school? Did you have a lot of friends? Did you “party”? Did you do drugs? Do you do drugs now?

EM: I wasn’t cool, sorry. I was accepted eventually and had a nice time and friends. I don’t do drugs. I do get a lot of emails from people telling me I must have been really high when I made some video or something and I tell them that I wasn’t, that I’m just a bit of a weirdo. [What about all the cocaine that comedians do? Do the other guys from the double brownstone just take your portion? –ed.]

LS: Did you go to college? Where? What was your major? (If you did not go to college you can make up whatever you want here…)

EM: I went to Hampshire College in western Mass. You can design your own major there, so I majored in comedy. [That’s kind of like going to college, I guess. –ed] I did a one-hour standup act as my thesis. It was actually quite practical since I’m a comedian now, but at the time grownups thought what I was doing was birdbrained and frivolous.

LS: If you had to live in another American city other than New York where would it be?

EM: It would be in Seattle, Austin, Cape Cod, Boston, or maybe Northampton. Maybe Chicago too?

LS: What kind of candy do you like? Chocolate or fruity stuff? Are you a fan of sour patch candies?

EM: I am more of a savory person [Me too! –ed], but yes, I like all those things. I guess Reese’s Pieces, Butterfingers and Whoppers are some of my favorites. [Butterfingers suck, but otherwise I am right there with you. –ed.]

LS: If you had to get a 9-5 job what do you think it would be? What’s your skill set? Are you good at computers?

EM: I would be a weird professor or discredited scientist. Would it count if I worked at a company where I made weird stuff and put it on the Internet or is that too close to what I already do? [No. –ed.] What if I gave myself more formal hours? [Okay. –ed.]

LS: Do you look at the internet a lot? What are some things you look at?

EM: I like Zach Galfianakis’ show Between Two Ferns. I also love Michael Showalter’s show, The Michael Showalter Showalter. I look at some stuff, but not as much as when I temped at an office. I just watched a video Jon Benjamin made called Tech Talk. You can see it here.

LS: What’s the best movie you’ve seen this year?
EM: I forget.

LS: Do you watch Mad Men? 


EM: I do. I love it. I am delighted they named a character after me (probably not). [Are you talking about Grandpa/Baby? I had no idea he was named Eugene Mirman! –ed]

LS: Who is the most famous person you’ve ever met? Tell me how it all went down.

EM: I think the most famous person I ever met was Robin Williams when he came to the Sub Pop 20th Anniversary comedy show with Bob Goldthwait, and my friend Tony V, because they were shooting a movie in Seattle at the time. [I saw that movie. It’s pretty good. –ed.] But speaking of meeting famous people and Mad Men, I was once outside of the Knitting Factory in New York (after a benefit I did for homeless people — because I’m a really good person) and a guy came up to me and said, “Hey my name is Jon and I’m a friend of David Wain’s and I’m a big fan.” And I was like, “Wait? Jon? Jon Hamm?!” And he was like, “Yes.” And I was like, “I’m a REALLY big fan of yours! I LOVE your show.” It might have spooked him a little. [OH.MY.GOD. Is he as good looking in real life? Do you think he’d let me interview him? If you invited him over do you think he’d come? Did you know there is a Knitting Factory in Spokane??! -ed.] But he was very nice and we talked for a few minutes.

LS: I’m sure you are working on some new material. Please give me a sneak peek and we can work on it here, together.

EM: I am going to be in Copenhagen in December covering the UN Climate Change Conference for a Seattle-based non-profit called Grist. So I’m working on that. I’m trying to come up with titles for the series, so feel free to give me some ideas. [How about ‘Gettin’ Green with Eugene’? Or ‘Eugreen Mirman Reports Live from the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen’? Or ‘Reduce, Reuse, Eugene’? -ed.]

LS: And finally, tell me a story about Megan Jasper, preferably something embarrassing. If you don’t have something you can sub in a dirty or weird dream you’ve had about her or something.

EM: I have a great story about her, but make sure you run this by her, so that people don’t believe she is any less professional because of this. Probably five or so years ago Megan, Robin Taylor, me and a few other friends went to see Wilco and Flaming Lips at Madison Square Garden for New Years. Periodically, as people around us would shout out requests at the bands, and Megan, with an equally enthusiastic voice, would yell, “Shit in my pussy!” It’s still one of the funnier things I’ve seen at a concert. I think the next day she ran into some friends of hers that happened to be behind us at the show and had a eleven or twelve year old child with them. I think they thought it was funny, but Megan might have been a little embarrassed. [Megan does this at baby showers, marketing meetings, sporting events, and funerals. It’s her ‘thing’. –ed.]