Silliness and suicidal despair. Credit: Mike Force

Silliness and suicidal despair.

Silliness and suicidal despair. Mike Force

Dana Gould has been doing stand-up comedy for 35 years. For at least 25 of those years, he has been one of the most inventive, brilliant, and respected comics in the business. He was a writer on The Simpsons for seven years, and has been closely associated with excellent TV, including The Ben Stiller Show and Parks and Recreation. More recently, he wrote an episode of the Mystery Science Theater 3000 Netflix reboot and created the IFC horror-comedy show Stan Against Evil.

Even more recently—May 3, in fact—Gould performed two shows at the Columbia City Theater, both of which were recorded for his next album, which will be released on the Northwest punk-rock (and, latterly, comedy LP) label Kill Rock Stars.

Sean Nelson has worked at The Stranger on and off since 1996. He is currently Editor-at-Large. His past job titles included: Assistant Editor, Associate Editor, Film Editor, Copy Editor, Web Editor, Slog...