Eugene Mirman explains that annoying Lake FM ad

After Decider wrote about the incredibly annoying Bath Fitter “Loverboy” commercial last week, our readers brought up an even more annoying local commercial in the article’s comments section: The Lake 94 ad starring comedian Eugene Mirman and his magic “Addicted To Love”-playing finger. (If you haven’t seen the commercial, it is posted on the radio station’s Web site.)

Evan Rytlewski of The Shepherd Express recently questioned why Mirman—whose impeccable hipster comic resume includes touring with Modest Mouse and The Shins and appearing on Flight Of The Conchords—would appear in a commercial for a terrible Milwaukee radio station that tries to pass off a dull, played-to-death soft rock playlist as a “variety” revolution. Decider wondered the same thing, so we sent Mirman an email Monday afternoon. And he replied to us exactly 28 minutes later!

For the record, Mirman wasn’t shilling for The Lake when he originally made the commercial; he was shilling for shitty radio stations nationwide. “I made the commercial about four or five years ago for a company that makes TV commercials for radio stations. I was hesitant to do it, but at the time I made it I was totally fucked and had no money,” he said. “I had maxed out all my credit cards and was selling stuff back to thrift stores for spending cash.”

We’ve all been there, dude. Some of us sell plasma, you pretended to like matchbox twenty. Mirman was approached by the same company to do more commercials a few years later, but he declined, “because I didn't absolutely need to.” But he’s not about to badmouth his former patrons. “I think what anyone would of the ad,” he said. “It is the best commercial for a radio station ever.”