"Just Shoot Me" star Brian Posehn will headline University Union's "Rock Comedy" tonight at Legion Field.

Nerdy stars to rock awkward comedy

By: KATIE ANDREW

Posted: 8/21/08

If you've grown weary of the routine Thursday night or just can't afford it anymore, how about a refreshing night of quality comedy?

"Rock Comedy" will feature a couple faces you might recognize, and a couple that you may not.

Brian Posehn, a Comedy Central favorite, is the headliner.

You may remember him as the nerdy, overweight mail clerk who couldn't talk to women on NBC's "Just Shoot Me!," or the nerdy, overweight convenience store clerk who couldn't talk to women in "Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd," or the nerdy, overweight neighbor who didn't have to talk to women on "The Sarah Silverman Program."

Accompanying Posehn is humor duo Hard 'n Phirm.

ROCK COMEDY

Starring Brian Posehn

When: 8 tonight
Where: Legion Field
Price: Free for students, $15 for non-students
More Information:
www.uga.edu/union

Hard 'n Phirm consists of comedy partners Chris Hardwick and Mike Phirman, who admit to having started doing comedy with a stack of Steve Martin stand up albums and a healthy fear of Weird Al.

"But seriously, everyone starts comedy as some weird need for attention," Hardwick said.

One may recognize Chris Hardwick from a slew of MTV dating shows and, like Posehn, a handful of Rob Zombie flicks.

"I introduced Brian and Rob," Hardwick said. "We've been friends for 13 years. When [Rob Zombie] was making 'House of 1000 Corpses,' he called me and basically said 'I'm writing this sarcastic a-hole, and I'm writing it around you.'"

Hardwick is also famous for hosting the PBS show, "Wired Science."

"Science has always been a hobby," Hardwick said. "Even going back to the very first song Mike and I ever wrote together, it was about the carbon cycle."

"At a certain point when I looked at the stuff I was writing or we were writing together, so much of it was math and science themed. Every time we write a song, we end up doing homework."

Hard 'n Phirm is known for its musical parodies and even a recorded album, "Horses and Grasses."

"I like to do unexpected things, if the unexpected things are funny," said Phirman.

Hard 'n Phirm fans can expect a new album soon.

Bo Burnham, who will be turning 18 years old on the day of the show, is the third component of Rock Comedy.

The singer/songwriter/rapper is one of YouTube's greatest success stories. Burnham's witty, endearing songs shot him into comedy stardom when he was only 16.

Burnham recorded an album of his clever tunes in June, and it has since reached the number 3 position on Billboard's Top Comedy Albums chart.