Press Yourself: Tits on the moon!

The whole point of flyers, posters, merch items, and publicity photos is to attract attention to yourself and/or your event. We at The A.V. Club go through dozens of these things a week, and it's true that some are better than others. In Press Yourself, we reward clever, gimmicky, and/or offensive promotional tactics by highlighting them.

Perhaps you've seen the above logo on a T-shirt or as a sticker in a shop window on State Street. Perhaps you've wondered if some enterprising fashion designer out there meant to fire a shot across the mudflap girl's bow, giving truckers everywhere a hip new makeover. Perhaps you've wondered just what this chick is doing to that somber-looking moon. Even more likely, perhaps you're just curious to as what the hell this image is supposed to communicate in the first place. Well, it's actually supposed to say "check out Nick Mortensen, Madison-based stand-up comic and aspiring advocate for folks with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), who actually may or may not still be gigging as a stand-up comic." The only reason we even know the logo is associated with Mortensen is that Mortensen shared the T-shirt design with the local press in an email blast a couple of months ago.

We won't dispute that Mortensen has good moments as a stand-up--he's treated us to some honest-to-God chuckles. The thing is that we're still actually not clear on whether he's still doing comedy. In that same email, he announced that a June show at the Majestic Theatre would be his last as a stand-up, but it appears he's still slated to open for the notoriously offensive Jim Jeffries at the Majestic in October. Even after exchanging emails with Mortensen in an effort to clarify matters, we're at a loss. But while it's confusing, we must admit Mortensen's branding and merchandise efforts are never less than colorful or clever. He's been scheming for a while to bring us a product known only as "Nick Mortensen's Famous Ball Dip" and he created the "Gay For Favre" line of T-shirts to go along with one of his more Sconnie-centric routines. No word yet on whether this makes his "moon maiden" jealous.