"I was always writing comedy, I just didn't know it." --Michael Showalter

Last night I went to see Michael Showalter read from his new memoir MR. FUNNY PANTS at Union Square. Showalter was full of mirth in a way that didn't quite gibe with his , but set out to write the über-memoir -- "A MILLION LITTLE PIECES meets A HEARTBREAKING WORK OF STAGGERING GENIUS meets EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED meets EVERYONE POOPS" -- and ended up with a meta-memoir and collection of some of his comedic pieces that translate well to the page.

I saw Showalter read from MR. FUNNY PANTS way back last year but this time he really took it to another level with a dramatic reading of a poem he wrote when he was 18 called "The Apartment Story," full of all the grit and seaminess 18-year-olds think the world contains. It's sort of faux-Bukowskian. You can read the text here or hear him read a version of it here (from 2006).

The reading was part of the Upstairs at the Square writer/performer series (see my review of the Joseph O'Neill/ Aimee Mann event here) and the other featured performer of the night was singer Neko Case. She was an ideal counterpart to Showalter, in that she was very anti-performative and casual until she stepped up to the microphone and gave everybody chills. Here's a number she sang last night called "Magpie To The Morning" (video is static image):