Nerd powers activate!

From left, Pete LePage, Alex Zalben and Justin Tyler kick it Ninja Turtle-style at the PIT.

Comics talk comic books at The PIT

By Will McKinley

It’s 9:30 on a Tuesday night and Alex Zalben, Justin Tyler and Pete LePage are on stage at The Peoples Improv Theater wearing brightly colored “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” bandanas around their eyes — just another night at the office for the co-hosts of “Comic Book Club,” a live talk show dedicated to the things that most guys lose interest in when they discover the opposite sex.

Sure, it takes guts for three grown men to cavort on stage dressed like cartoon characters, accompanied by Vanilla Ice’s career-busting hit “Ninja Rap.” But the hosts of “Comic Book Club” have guts to spare. They also have lifelong comic book habits.

“Every Wednesday Justin, Pete and I go to the comic book store,” Zalben tells me after the show. “Not necessarily together holding hands, but we go.”

Unlike a lot of guys who frequent comic book shops, however, Zalben, Tyler and LePage also apparently have significant others.

“I know for a fact that all three of them have girlfriends,” says Kimmy Gatewood, a comedian and frequent “Comic Book Club” guest. “One of them is even engaged. Nerds can find love, too.”

At a recent installment of the weekly show, the hostly trio chatted with Marvel Comics editor Steve Wacker and Gatewood in front of a crowd who seemed to understand references like “the Multiverse is returning.” (“No!” responded a middle-aged guy in the second row, and he wasn’t kidding.)

The three comedians riffed on the new “TMNT” [Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles] movie (“It’s a rental,” said LePage) and then joined their guests on two uncomfortable-looking beige couches in front of a projection screen with comic-style graphics. Zalben, in the challenging role of moderator, sat in front of a small table piled high with comic books.

“I’m sort of the den mother,” he tells me after the fact. “We have a lot of fun but my job is to corral everybody and make sure that we get to the next segment.”

“Everybody” seems primarily to be Tyler, a high-energy shtick-ster who appears to enjoy his Frosted Flakes marinated in Red Bull. As Zalben (seemingly the biggest aficionado of the three) attempted to stay on-point, Tyler riffed with the more low-key LePage — to the squealing delight of the raucous audience.

Gatewood, a longtime favorite of the alternative comedy scene, was unabashed in her complete lack of comic book knowledge.

“I didn’t read the one about the guy with the super powers,” she deadpanned.

“That was a good one,” Marvel’s Wacker shot back. “Issue number 40.”

“We pick comedians who are fans, and comedians who aren’t,” Zalben later explains. “And a lot of comic book professionals have done comedy at some point in their career, like Steve.”

Wacker, who recently defected from DC Comics to edit Marvel’s Spiderman series, gamely kept pace with the “professional” comedians and had the audience cheering for his snarky, anti-DC comments.

“When we have someone from Marvel they bash DC, and when we have someone from DC they bash Marvel,” Zalben says. “It’s all in good fun and it’s been going on for decades.”

“Comic Book Club” is organized into fast-paced segments, including “The Stack,” where the panel reviews new issues of popular titles, and “The Week in Geek,” a deconstruction of video games, movies, TV shows and other things geekish. There is also a trivia contest where a lucky audience member gets a chance to indulge his or her passion for comic books (or discover it) with a gift certificate from show sponsor Midtown Comics.

But the highlight of the show was Gatewood’s performance of an original song called “What’s Your Pull?” wherein she strummed her guitar and paid humorous musical tribute to an art form she knows nothing about. “I just go to comic book shops to pick up guys,” she said. “Nerds are reliable.”