"It's a very sort of pure, childlike expression," Morris continues, adding that Yi is compared to Pee Wee Herman as well. "A big aspect of alternative comedy is kind of dark and bitter, and Charlyne is great because she's vibrant and joyous."
As it was with Kaufman, it can be hard to figure out where Yi the performer ends and Yi the person starts. For example, just how much of her naivete is an act? She says she watches little TV, doesn't read, and when someone once compared her to Woody Allen, she claims she had to look him up on imdb.com.
Even her process is on the ethereal side. Her inspiration, she says, comes "in dreams.... A lot of it comes out without words. They're very visual ideas. Like, 'Oh, that looks funny.' I try to add words last. Most of my ideas are drawings, because they come faster to me."
Whatever the process, it's working. In addition to "Knocked Up," Yi is in Will Ferrell's next film, "Semi-Pro," in which she plays a maniacal, wheelchair-bound basketball fan who's obsessed with the underdog team that Ferrell's character coaches. And she's written and produced a pilot, "The Doo Doo Show" (exec produced by Steve Coogan) that NBC is considering. All that's allowed her to buy a functioning car ("a regular Toyota that has air-conditioning"), land a real manager and agent, and move into her own apartment in Koreatown.
"Everything's kind of worked out," she says simply. She nods her head very sagely, then digs into her sundae.
weekend@latimes.com
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`The Brand New Charlyne Yi and Me (You) Show'
Where: Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, 5919 Franklin Ave., Hollywood
When: 8 p.m. June 13
Price: $5
Info: (323) 908-8702, www.ucbtheatre.com/la
