Mirman’s new comedy filled with crude humor

In the comedic mind of Eugene Mirman, stand-up comedy is less about the punch line and more focused on the joke as a whole.

His latest comedy record, “God is a Twelve-Year-Old Boy with Aspergers” is a hilarious take on American culture.

Mirman is a Russian born comedian who moved to the U.S. and is a funny version of Yakov Smirnoff. He has appeared on TV shows such as “Aqua Teen Hunger Force,” “Flight of the Conchords” and “Home Movies.” He has also written a book called “The Will to Whatevs.”

Mirman takes on people’s odd and out of touch comparisons between the U.S. and Russia, homosexuals and what kind of dares he would challenge children to and how those dares would more than likely result in death.

Mirman is one the so-called indie comedians much in the vein of Patton Oswalt, Brian Posehn, Zach Galifianakis and others who take comedy away from cliché one liner jokes and cheesy punch lines.

This is also another comedy release from Sub Pop Records, the label that introduced Nirvana, Soundgarden and Mud Honey to the world. Along with Patton Oswalt, David Cross and Flight of the Conchords, the label has started to bring some of the best indie comedians to the forefront.

The title alone, “God is a Twelve-Year-Old Boy with Aspergers” is epic enough to grab one’s attention and it only gets better from there.

Some of the best material on “God is a Twelve-Year-Old Boy with Aspergers” is Mirman’s letters to a gas company that shut off his service despite the fact they sent the bill to the wrong address.

His revenge is sending them daily pictures of cows having sex, because it is not illegal.

Another letter he wrote was to an airline (which is beeped out for legal reasons) for losing his luggage and lying to him about whether they found it or not.

Another bit is Mirman discussing out of date banner ads on Web sites and how he has begun to make his own crazy ones, including “Is it wrong to be racist at night?” and “Should George W. Bush be Bill Cosby instead?”

This type of irreverent humor can be awkward to some at first, because like a Monty Python skit, the joke is in the scene itself, or in Mirman’s case, his stories.

Other topics are racist Russian polling questions, Apple’s refusal to acknowledge why he couldn’t get information on a lost IPod he found on the basis he may rape the person.

The best bit concerns the title of the album.

After he tells a story of a 12-year old kid who demanded Mirman accept him as his God, Mirman goes on a rant on religion and how ridiculous it can be.

He tops it off with “religion is not a leap of faith; it’s a high functioning Autism.”

This has been a great few months for comedy albums. Last month, Patton Oswalt released an incredible CD/DVD called “My Weakness is Strong” and now Mirman’s “God is a Twelve-Year-Old Boy with Aspergers” is a great follow up to it; it even surpasses it in some areas.

For indie comedy fans, Mirman’s “God is a Twelve-Year-Old Boy with Aspergers” should be an essential.

For casual comedy fans, Mirman is weird, but not so far from Earth as to not understand him. It is a highly recommended listen.