I hate / love comedians

In this week leading up to SXSWi, The Austin Chronicle features comic Eugene Miriman on the cover.

I always get worried when I see comics associated with pretty much anything as an “opening act” or a keynote speaker. Honestly, most comics who believe that they appeal to “smart people” (or are marketed as such) either become so self-indulgent it hurts ( Best Week Ever ) or well, it’s a funny concept, but not really funny ( Andy Kaufman ).

In either case, I generally kinda sit there awkwardly as I’m predicting punch-lines and waiting until my feeling of embarrassment passes, usually concomitant with their leaving the stage.

Yet, to my great sadness, this feeling led me to miss ZeFrank at SXSW last year. I have since watched his media; he is a funny and insightful guy. The first video I ever saw of his was “it’s a bit more complicated than that” as linked by Raganwald and it was funny, smart, and hip.

The show I missed

So back to Mirman, I watched 3 of his videos and I definitely feel that “Kaufman mold” thing about him. If this is a representative sample, I don’t think I’m going to regret missing the web awards this year.

Sxsw2008