So Josh Earl walks into a room and fifty indie word-nerd comedy fans begin to ovulate simultaneously. Let’s just get it out there’Josh Earl is a dreamboat, albeit a dorky and slightly disheveled one, with the kind of self-deprecation with that wins over the hearts (and ovaries) of the Northside laydeez.

And he knows it. Here’s a man who clearly understands where his audience’s sympathies lie, and is not above exploiting them for all they’re worth. Onstage, Earl channels a certain brand of carefully cultivated brain-box chic, compelling the audience to identify with him as he checks the boxes so beloved of pseudo-hipsters everywhere: self-consciously incongruous hip-hopisms; nit-picketry; making fun of indie kids and emos; dance-off gang wars; giving unicorns cancer.

But while Earl’s shtick could easily feel contrived’with the ground he covers so blatantly calculated towards winning over the indie kids’his performance is full of confidence and charm. This guy is earnest, and more than that, he’s funny. The show’s comedy-by-call-numbers staging is cute, as are the various non-sequiturs, but it’s the musical interludes that reveal just how likable and talented Earl really is. The wry lyrics and fumbling chord progressions are catchy and endearing, with the rousing ‘Melvil Dewey, Motherfucker’ sure to become an anthem for Semitic librarians everywhere.

Come to think of it, the world would be a better place if all librarians were like Josh all. Go support his show, and help make this dream a reality.