It’s hammered time!
The fourth annual Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival will feature a talent show during which performers are encouraged to get totally smashed.
“Anything can happen on stage,” said comedian and co-host Kevin Townley, who also runs talent shows every month at Littlefield in Gowanus. “We’ll be doing drinking games, throwing out challenges and just running by the seat of our pants.”
Intoxicated participants in this month’s “The Drunk Show” at The Bell House will include humorist Jon Hodgman, radio personality Ira Glass and of course, Park Slope funnyman Eugene Mirman, whose self-named extravaganza has a reputation for wacky humor.
“This comedy festival is supposed to be way more out-of-the-box than any other comedy event going on,” Mirman said. “That was always my vision for it.”
Case in point, Mirman is setting up a petting zoo and “awkward party bus” in front of the festival’s Bell House and Union Hall shows.
“Let’s just say there will be some very uncomfortable surprises on the bus,” Mirman said.
Other highlights of the four-day series are “An Evening of Science,” a panel discussion with stars from “The Daily Show” and astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, and a variety show hosted by the cast of the television show, “Archer,” an animated spy-thriller satire on FX. But the crème de la crème of the festival is the Sunday night caviar-eating contest.
“We want to see how much caviar comedians can consume in two-and-a-half hours,” Mirman said.
But spectators at “Gastro-Lengthy Time: A Food Comedy Event” will get to do more than just watch the semi-famous consumer copious amounts of a Russian delicacy. The $20 Bell House exhibition will also include free food (though no free caviar) and cooking demonstrations by Brooklyn chefs.
“The whole festival gives comedians the chance to experiment and push the envelope,” said Aisha Tyler, one of the stars of “Archer.”
Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival at the Bell House [149 Seventh St. between Second and Third avenues in Gowanus, (718) 643-6510]; Union Hall [702 Union St. near Fifth Avenue in Park Slope, (718) 638-4400], Sept 15-18. For schedule, visit www.eugenemirmanfestival.com.
