"I think science appeals to me more as I've gotten older," comedian David Huntsberger mused into the phone. "'Cause of the varying hypotheses on stuff, the attempts to explain human existence. It always seems to be pursuing that. I mean, what the hell are human beings, and why are they here?"
And he says he's not a science nerd.
I chatted with the comedian and comic creator on Tuesday, in anticipation of his show Thursday at the Dallas Comedy House. The co-star of the Podcast Professor Blastoff -- Yes, it sounds a porno, and yes, I told him so -- loves to talk about black holes, the origin of life and why your brain can't explain your dreams -- you know, light fare.
But he's quick to confess he usually has no idea what he's talking about. When he and Podcast co-stars (and fellow nerds) Tig Notaro and Kyle Dunnigan get going about something super sciencey, there's no telling where they'll end up. But that's where the comedy comes from.
"Having comedians talk about something, if they don't know something, the bi-product is at least something fun," Huntsberger said. "At least go out with a fight."
A doodler since he was a kid, Huntsberger tries his hand at drawing cartoons, often single panel and with a science theme. But some stuff is just totally random.
While he earned his bachelor's of science in civil engineering from Colorado State University, he noticed that the school paper gave a budding artist some highly coveted space. Unfortunately the guy sucked. Hard. Huntsberger's goal is to make something, anything, funnier than what that guy put out.
"I wonder where he is now?" Huntsberger asked.
He's also a big fan of the traditional three-panel comic, which makes sense. Huntsberger likened them to the typical stand up routine. You have your set up, another set up, and then the punch line (think Cyanide & Happiness and The Perry Bible Fellowship). After you read a comic for a while, he said, you start to understand their sense of humor. The same goes for stand-up comedians. You see someone enough, you can start to pick up on their rhythm.
Speaking of: He's got something of a rhythm going with his dreams.
"I have fishing dreams all the time," he said. "I had another one the other day where my friend caught a fish, and I went over to help her secure it, and it turned into a cat. I don't know what that means. Whenever I catch the fish, it's always some funky mutated version of itself."
Huntsberger plays the DCH at 8 p.m. on Thursday.
