Funny Joke Ha Ha Comedy Junk

Last night I attended a book reading at Skylight Books where Eric Hoffman and Gary Rudoren were promoting their new book “Comedy by the Numbers” (released on the McSweeney’s imprint). The audience was quite sizable for the event, which was due in part to appearances by that-guy-whose-name-I-forgot and Bob Odenkirk. I was flipping through a copy of the book while the authors were running through some of the different ways unfunny people can learn to be funny. Examples included: Creating funny names, making fart noises, and being Jewish. They shared some comedy facts (Abbot and Costello actually hated each other, and then died), acted out a few scenarios, used a few audience members to prove their points, and yielded the floor to two brief comedy exhibitions. Bob Odenkirk used his five minutes to perform a perfectly executed mockery of the Dan Cook style of comedy, yelling at the top of his lungs and maniacally pacing back and forth while flexing his muscles and oozing bravado. His “observations” were entirely absurd and bordered on idiotic (“Why do women always pay for everything in nickels?” or “How come girlfriends always chase you around with a pieces of poo in their hands,” were highlights). In between his observations, he would stop and brace himself against a desk and clutch his forehead while Hoffman verbalized Odenkirk’s overly-insecure thoughts from off-stage. Hilarious! Comedy! Apparently David Cross was there too, but this report was unfounded (read: it came form Ilya). I made a fool of myself after the show by asking Ilya and Steve if I should inquire with Tim Heidecker as to whether or not he’d seen Shrek 3 again after his performance at the Tomorrow Show last weekend, but man…that Heidecker guy approaches quickly. By the time I got the word “Tim,” he had walked all the way across the room, passed right in front of us, and just happened to look me right in the eye as I dropped his name. Oops!