Eugene Mirman is a stand up comedian, actor, and writer. You’ve heard his voice as “Gene” from Bob’s Burgers, seen his face on Comedy Central, Netflix, and Flight of the Conchords and recently found his podcast on Audible, Hold On.
From the outside, Eugene has lived what we may think of as the typical struggling comedian’s career. It took him six years of failing before got a bit of traction. Most people quit well before the 6 year mark. How did he persevere through those years of struggle? He never considered not being a comedian. He didn’t give himself a backup plan. He made the conscious decision to keep trying new things until things started to stick. Eugene is a living lesson of perseverance and tenacity, and his mindset is one that will help you thrive long term, regardless of what you’re creating. Listen to this episode if you want to laugh while getting a schooling on how to make sacrifices that pay off.
In today’s episode,
- If you have a skill, service, or product that serves someone’s need, your audience is out there looking for you as hard as you are looking for them.
- No one is stopping you from making the thing that you want to make. Go make it and then find 5 ways to get that thing out there. Then do it again.
- Focus on your one big goal and work on it every day. It’s a long slow grind, but if you stick with it for 10 to 15 years, Eugene is betting that you’ll be a success.
Enjoy!
I always found it easier to start a thing than to become part of something.
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Some Questions I Ask:
- Is it weird to have a recognizable voice? [1:37]
- Take me back to your early career. [2:40]
- Are you still faxing people? [7:40]
- Was it lonely and dark and slow in the beginning? [10:00]
- Can you apply the idea of iteration to everything? If you find something that works, can you just do more of it? [11:30]
- How did you get into observational comedy? [14:04]
- Tell me about the LinkedIn profile joke. [16:28]
- Give me some other examples of your real world jokes. [17:25]
- Is that your primary source of comedy? [19:02]
- Talk to me about the hard parts of comedy. Does your comedy come from pain? [21:00]
- Talk to me about what it’s like to record for an animated show. [25:40]
- Can you do the 8 mouth shapes? [26:48]
- What do you consider your source for your comedy? [27:18]
- What’s your process for your standup? [28:48]
- How do you keep track of these long standing joke ideas? [31:29]
- Do you test your jokes on friends? [32:46]
- How do you know how long your set is if you don’t share it before the stage? [34:02]
- Let’s talk about your successes and failures. [37:25]
- Is it small failures that build up a muscle? [39:42]
- How much of your set is scripted vs improv? [41:32]
- Talk about your worst shows. [42:42]
- Was there a point where you had to consciously transition from doing small shows to shifting gears to the bigger stage? [44:46]
- Are there series of levels to success? How proactive do you have to be? [46:22]
- Do you think there’s a requirement to move to where the action is to succeed? [49:23]
- There’s a scene or community you need to be a part of right? [52:00]
- What impact has being born in Russia had on your career? [54:20]
- Were you overtly the Russian kid at school? [55:30]
- Any detail you care to share about leaving Russia? [56:05]
- Do you feel a connection to Russia? [56:55]
- Is your Russian heritage material to you? [57:19]
- Were there any other particular events that did impact your career? [58:37]
- What is a consistent thing theme that projected you to success? [60:00]
- What were the people around you like? [62:20]
- How is having a wife and child now shaping your career? [68:27]
- Let’s talk about your tour, your podcast, and what else is in the making. [70:36]
- Is there a story you share with your friends that you could share with us today? [72:40]
- Tell us about the upcoming tour. [74:03]
- Do you have a favorite place to perform? [74:14]
- Do you have any favorite co-conspirators? [75:05]
In This Episode, You Will Learn:
- Eugene started his comedy career by designing his own college curriculum and thesis around comedy. [3:00]
- Eugene launched his career from trying things until something worked and then do more of whatever worked. [5:00]
- “The key to success is faxing.” [8:14]
- Why Eugene focuses on having long term goals to slowly work towards. [8:17]
- There’s a certain level of anxiety inherent in freelancing, even for the most successful creators. [13:40]
- Commit to the joke. Eugene almost got his own paintings hung in a Whole Foods just for a punchline. [15:00]
- The internet became the stage for Eugene’s comedy. He would make highly targeted Facebook ads and then point the user to someone else’s random website. [17:30]
- There are cat cremation services where someone will come to your house and burn your cat. [20:00]
- Check out Patton Oswalt: Annihilation to check out how some comics use personal experience and pain to connect with their audience. [22:00]
- The idea that comics are sad may be a concept derived from irony more than truth. [23:50]
- The process of recording an animated show. Wow. It generally takes 9-12 months to produce a single episode of Bob’s Burgers. [25:25]
- Eugene’s joke process. [29:00]
- In most major cities, there are plenty of venues to practice your craft. Find them. [35:38]
- Eugene’s idea of a perfect audience is not one who laughs at all his jokes. [35:50]
- “You just have to do whatever it is that will get you to the place where you’re a comedian or you’re whatever you wanna be.” Failures and heckling included. [39:29]
- Don’t forget that if you have a skill, service, or product that serves someone’s need, your audience is out there looking for you as hard as you are looking for them. [43:44]
- “A back up plan is the first step toward failure.” This mentality might require a lot of sacrifice, and you have an opportunity to decide at any point if the dream is not longer worth the sacrifice. [47:32]
- Just do what is within your means. You don’t need the fanciest camera or newest computer. [51:00]
- Tenacity>talent. [53:00]
- The power of the American dream may not be in it’s truth, but in the belief of it’s truth. [54:50]
- Eugene’s thoughts on luck and sacrifices. [60:38]
- If you’re making your own thing (like a stand up routine), nobody can steal that from you. Your industry doesn’t have to be competitive. [62:30]
- Eugene’s advice: do the thing. [64:33]
- Stamina, tenacity, and craft has been the formula for Eugene and all of his comedian friends who now are professional comedians. [66:00]
- Eugene balances home and work life by crafting a flexible work life- he can record Bob’s Burgers and other cartoon shows from anywhere. [69:30]
- Check out Eugene’s podcast, Hold On. It features great stories such as, where he gets people like Neil Degrasse Tyson to share stories of almost becoming a male stripper in college. [71:03]
- Some of Eugene’s favorite places to perform are Neptune in Seattle, Bellhouse in Brooklyn, Paradise Rock Club in Boston, BLack Cat in DC, and Cat’s Cradle in North Carolina. [74:23]
- Check out comics Jon Benjamin, Kristen Schaal, Kurt Braunohler and Derrick Brown if you’re on the hunt for some new comics. [75:08]
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