The performance venues ofFort Collins seem to be attracting bigger and bigger names in entertainment.

Stand-up comedian and voice actor of Fox’s Emmy-award winning show “Bob’s Burgers,” Eugene Mirman performed at Washington’s theater on Tuesday evening with comedian Derrick Brown as the opener. This was their first visit to Fort Collins. 

The show’s opener, Derrick Brown, has previously hailed many titles and worn many different hats including his time as a paratrooper and weatherman.

Brown is now an award-winning poet and travels with Mirman doing stand-up. His routine delivered a delightful and brooding multitude of poems, grasping at direly hilarious and cordially profound observations.

Mirman aptly describes his show as a collection of “real experiences, looked at through an absurdist light.” Punchlines came from many different directions from swift one-liners, hilarious anecdotal conundrums and hysterical matter-of-fact advice to audience members.

Short filmed skits made Washington’s theater uproarious watching the comedian do what he does best. Mirman, who voices the character of Gene Belcher on “Bob’s Burgers,” wrapped up the performance with a song from the acclaimed animated television series.

Mirman was born in Russia and came to the United States at the age of four. He attended Hampshire College, a liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts, which allows students to design their own major. His choice was comedy, of course.

In order to graduate, Mirman was required to create a one-hour comedy routine as his thesis. Noting the practicality of his major, he jokes, “I’m probably one of the handful of people who do the thing they majored in college for.”

At a very young age, I decided that I wanted to do some kind of comedy. I didn’t know if that meant writing a weekly column, doing stand-up or acting. In hindsight, it sort-of is all those different things. When I was in college, that was all the different sort of things I did. My career became all those different elements.” Eugene Mirman, comedian

“What’s funny, the experience of all the stuff I had to do to graduate, to put together the final project and everything else, sort of is what you have to do to do comedy,” Mirman said. “So, it was helpful in ways I don’t think I ever conceived at the time.”

Mirman’s decision to pursue comedy is something that came to him from a fairly young age, as young as 17 or 18.

“At a very young age, I decided that I wanted to do some kind of comedy,” Mirman said. “I didn’t know if that meant writing a weekly column, doing stand-up or acting. In hindsight, it sort-of is all those different things. When I was in college, that was all the different sort of things I did. My career became all those different elements.”

It is these parts of Mirman’s performance that stand out the most. His performances are experienced as an ensemble of not only stand-up comedy style and jokes, but his talent in other disciplines and genres that set him apart. His use of visual props such as paintings or slideshow examples of his endeavors in the public relations or political advertising world brings his fluid and pliable style across many genres and disciplines.

Mirman’s unique performances are available on many platforms. He is a frequent co-host of Neil deGrasse Tyson’s podcast “StarTalk,” and his fifth comedy album “I’m Sorry (You’re Welcome)” is available on streaming sites and on Sub Pop Records. 

More information about Mirman and his shows is available at www.eugenemirman.com/ or @eugenemirman on social media platforms. 

Collegian Reporter Ryan Lueck can be reached at entertainment@collegian.com and on twitter @ryanelueck.