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I had the pleasure of attending Adam’s one-man show, Please Don’t Beat Me Up, at the Capital Fringe Festival in July. Hilarious, insightful, and even sometimes poignant, Adam’s stand-up involves reclaiming awkward childhood and teen moments by turning them into comedy.  Likewise, Adam’s book, Surviving Your Stupid, Stupid Decision to Go to Grad School, is unequivocally one of the funniest books I’ve ever read.

I met up with Adam Ruben who is a local comic and author of the book Surviving Your Stupid, Stupid Decision to go to Grad School on an extremely sizzling Sunday over at Teaism in Dupont Circle.

This play is so polished, funny, and truthful that I could easily see Adam Ruben performing this off-Broadway or live on HBO! Or maybe there is a spot for him on Saturday Night Live!? Lorne Michaels, are you listening?

In his one-man show Please Don’t Beat Me Up: Stories and Artifacts from Adolescence, “comedian, writer, scientist” Adam Ruben is finally getting the laughs he strived for as a child. With tales of pre-teen bed-wetting, third-grade love affairs, and emo-esque diary entries, this self-proclaimed nerd paints a pathetically detailed picture of “dorkdom.”

The young Ruben’s verbal precociousness and detailed strategy for How to Get That Girl are really endearing. He also has the complex mathematical chart he used to calculate his odds of edging out two rivals. You don’t see that every day.

Witty, smart (he’s a molecular biologist) and friendly, he doesn’t hide the man he has grown up to be or how that man derived from the awkward boy he was. While many one-man shows feature portrayals of multiple caricatures, Ruben is unique in his introspective, almost cathartic focus. It feels honest as he ridicules his kid self. Ruben tries to connect to the audience as if he’s holding a one-on-one conversation with them, a one-way swap of old, hilarious stories. And the approach works.

It’s easy to laugh with and empathize with Ruben. If you ever feared the four-person relay at field day, made an earnest list of what you need to assemble a robot (a VCR, one flashlight, four screws), extensively deliberated over a crush and read into fate assigned you the roles of hydrogen and oxygen atoms, respectively in science class, you’ll find laughs here. Most people will be able to see parts of themselves, recalling embarrassing moments of childhood through his eyes.

A preview of my one-man show in the 2011 Capital Fringe Festival.

Adam Ruben – molecular biologist, stand up comedian, and author of Surviving Your Stupid, Stupid Decision To Go To Grad School – speaks with Gather the Jews about getting into comedy and his upcoming one-man show at the Capital Fringe Festival.

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