The first time you probably stumbled across Joe Mande was viewing his Tumblr, “Look at this fucking hipster.”
One depressing book deal later and Mande was done with that chapter of his life.
Now, the standup comedian and writer for “Parks and Recreation” and “Kroll Show” is in a much better place — it’d be so much better if his Timberwolves could make the playoffs, though.
“I just read this Bill Simmons breakdown of the 2009 NBA draft — it was like the saddest thing I’ve ever read,” Mande said.
Before college in Boston, seven years in New York and his current residency in Los Angeles, Mande was a Twin Cities boy.
It’s manifested in his material: His summer set on Comedy Central’s “The Half Hour” featured a long story about a potential misunderstanding that led to the large Somali population coming to the frigid Minnesota tundra in the pursuit of water.
“I’ve heard people say that they try to tell my jokes and butcher them,” Mande said.
Most of his standup is extended hypotheticals clearly bred from extensive time spent in a plot-driven comedic mindset — like, the first guy to drink milk must have been pretty creepy to approach a cow and go for the udder.
That joke takes an oral sex turn that he never fully expresses, the sort of layered inference comedy that can be lost when punch lines are told in neon letters.
Besides a longing to see K-Love playing in the postseason, Mande kids about remaking the Will Smith-Kevin James classic “Hitch.”
“I watched it a few years back when I was sick, and I don’t know if it was the medication I was on because I thought it was a really charming movie, and Kevin James was great. I watched it again, and [expletive], I really like this movie,” Mande said. “I was touring with Aziz [Ansari] and went to a Target in Kentucky and bought it and made him watch it.
“I want to remake it, Gus Van Sant ‘Psycho’-style.”
It’s the type of comment that could easily end up on his robust Twitter profile — one that’s seen him take on Glenn Beck fans and argue with former NBA-er Gilbert “Agent Zero” Arenas.
“Twitter is good dumping grounds for jokes that won’t work for TV,” Mande said. “Usually a joke is so bad we know it will never be in the show.”
He’ll be recording some of the sets at Acme for a potential upcoming album, so Mande urges patrons to drink a lot and heckle, preferably making a ruckus clinking glass.
What: Joe Mande
When: 8 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday; 10:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday
Where: Acme Comedy Club, 708 N. First St., Minneapolis
Cost: $15
Age: 18+
