Comedian Dana Gould returned to Austin this weekend to bring his madcap stories, observations and general hilarity. Seeing him was my Christmas present from Jeremy too. You may recognize Dana’s name, he was a writer on The Simpsons for a few seasons, something the club emphasized. However, his resume is much longer than that. He has been a regular comedian in scores of Comedy Central snippets for 20 years, was a writer for The Ben Stiller Show, appeared in numerous roles/cameos on TV shows/films (Mystery Men, Family Guy and Sabrina the Teenage Witch), a videogame voice and inspiration for Patton Oswalt.
Dana had plenty of new material which he weaved in with great classics I love. Jeremy and I loved his setup joke involving LA’s famous Black Dahlia murder, probably not for all audiences. His story about working with Bob Hope was great, I envy him there. Working in little pokes at Jeff Dunham were clever. Dana’s an awesome comedian since he covers a large gamut of material, he’s not a limited/schtick guy like (the not funny) Larry the Cable Guy or Andrew Dice Clay.
After the show, I got to speak to him. He recalled our meeting a few years ago somewhat, I’m not hurt. Dana gladly autographed the booklet in my Simpsons 13th season DVD, right on the section for his episode, “Homer the Moe.” I told him I had listened to the commentary for it (I listen to them all), loved the anecdote about how serious Michael Stipe was and thought it was funny how he brought his brother in. Dana chuckled, saying the decision to bring his older brother in was a whim. I had to ask if the postmodern joke was his. He said, yes, it was based upon a friend of his named Postmodern Dave who was often calling things he saw “postmodern.” Then I had to know if there was a way to get a copy of the Star Trek bit he was in, he played Dr. McCoy. Dana said he wished he had it too but the routine was something whipped together for Paramount. He did enjoy getting the opportunity to work with Jason Alexander (as Kirk) and Jay Johnston (as Spock). Personally, Dana would be the perfect comedic McCoy, especially when he gets worked up, ergo, I need to hunt it down. Afterwards, maybe I can give Dana a copy.
We wrapped up about Dana’s upcoming podcast (starts in February). He said it will be worth the money and is going to be pretty general with various guests. I asked if it would be along the lines of Marc Maron’s, no, more like Paul F Thompkins. The opening voice will have Tom Kenny, I laughed, “Spongebob!” Then Dana added this little nugget, Clancy Brown is his next door neighbor. Somara and I giggled some more as I replied, “The Kurgan? You live near the Kurgan!” Must be pretty cool!
So fellow Austinites, if you missed Dana you will get another opportunity in several months. He told me he is returning for our upcoming Moontower Comedy Festival near the end of April! I guarantee it’s going to be awesome. Not only will Dana be there but also Maria Bamford, The Amazing Jonathan and Steven Wright for starters. Tickets are supposed to be on sale Wednesday, I’m seriously considering it. This year is an election year and I could use a lot more laughter in my life.