Comedians Michael Ian Black, Michael Showalter and author Chuck Klosterman coming in November

Program Board has booked two high-profile speaking events for the month of November.

Comedians Michael Ian Black and Michael Showalter will lecture on making a comedy television show at 7 p.m. Nov. 4 at Warriner Hall’s Plachta Auditorium.

Journalist and author Chuck Klosterman will talk at 7 p.m. Nov. 30 in Plachta Auditorium. Both events are free and open to the public.

Program Board lecture chairwoman Nikki Burnstein said although Black and Showalter are not performing stand-up, their presentation will contain comedy in it.

“I thought it was interesting, because it’s a little different from a normal lecture, because they’re comedians,” the Farmington Hills junior said. “But they’re promoting their tour as a lecture series, and they’ll be talking about what it’s like to make a TV show.”

Black and Showalter have appeared in MTV’s “The State,” the film “Wet Hot American Summer,” Comedy Central shows “Stella” and their current “Michael and Michael Have Issues.”

“I’ve seen a lot about them on Comedy Central,” said Coordinator of Student Activities Damon Brown. “They’re taking their act and turning it into a lecture, so that’s really interesting.”

Burnstein said she is expecting a large audience turnout for the comedians.

“It’s focusing on their show ‘Michael and Michael Have Issues,’ and they’re going to go into the behind-the-scenes of what goes into making a comedy television show,”

Burnstein said. “It’s in Plachta, so I would hope they have to open up the balcony for the show.”

The author

Brown said although the Klosterman lecture has been planned for some time, the Black and Showalter lecture is a recent addition.

“We’ve had the Chuck Klosterman (lecture) booked, we’ve been working on that since the summer,” Brown said. “Then the Showalter and Ian Black one, they just started touring. That’s one that just kind of fell into our laps. We really wanted to get them in this semester — it was a great opportunity to bring folks of that caliber to campus.”

Klosterman has written for Spin and Esquire magazines and is author of the books “Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto,” and the upcoming “Eating The Dinosaur.”

“He’s an author, and I thought it was an interesting (lecture),” Burnstein said. “It’s a very opinionated thing, and it’s very interesting to hear people’s views on life and pop culture and things like that.”