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If you are of a certain age or television demographic, you may remember comedian Michael Showalter from such roles as "Doug," the stoner who repeatedly proclaimed, "I'm Doug, and I'm ouuuutta heeeeere!" on MTV's brilliant, short-lived "The State." Showalter was often the State's fall guy, never as smooth as Thomas Lennon or as smirking as Michael Ian Black (whom you've now seen on approximately 7,021 VH1 specials, not to mention those weird Sierra Mist commercials). Later, Showalter, Black and David Wain went on to form Stella. Stella! For one summer, my roommates and I spent our Wednesday nights blowing wads of cash at the New York bar Stella called home, coughing up $7 for obscenely good cocktails to meet the two-drink minimum. Stella was billed as "big room comedy" and often involved cleverness, embarrassment, crudity and guest stars (Jon Stewart, Janeane Garofalo, Colin Quinn). Sometimes it was sketch comedy, sometimes videos. The best way to understand Stella is to head to www.collegehumor.com/features/stella and watch a few of the latter. "Turkey Hunting," "Dickfish" — the classics. OK, so it's a certain kind of humor: snarky, wry, dry, dirty, un-PC. As is that of Eugene Mirman, with whom Showalter is currently on tour. Mirman's website, www.eugenemirman.com, greets visitors with a creepy crooning child. His video section is half hysterical and half the kind of jokes that go on just a little too long to be comfortable, which seems to be one of Mirman's things. But his new CD, En Garde, Society!, is, well, funny. Really funny. The kind of funny that can't be explained by quotes. It's all in the delivery, which in Mirman's case is a chatty, casual tone that sounds oddly like television sci-fi mastermind Joss Whedon. Mirman riffs on pop culture, advertising, politics, people and Jack-in-the-Box's disconcerting claim that its food is "real." His truth or dare bit (in which a caveman asks a cavewoman what her fantasy is; she replies, "Agriculture") had me spitting gin and tonic across my kitchen. Have you ever laughed yourself spitting when you're home alone? It feels weird. So go to the WOW Hall and laugh with other fans of hipster comedy instead. Because you can. As Mirman says, "Freedom: Let's share the shit out of it." Michael Showalter, Eugene Mirman, Leo Allen. 8 pm, Sun., 7/23. WOW Hall, $10 adv./ $12 dos.
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