Remember the end of the video for “Voices Carry,” when Aimee Mann goes bugshit at the opera? She starts singing while her wife-beating boyfriend (who literally wears a wife-beater T-shirt and, like all domestic abusers, loves the opera) hides his curly head in shame. That was back when Aimee was still the lead singer of ’Til Tuesday, spearheading the New Wave out of Boston in the early eighties.

Here’s a quick, Scientific American-style bullet point overview of her career since then:

1. ’Til Tuesday disbands. Aimee goes solo. First album, Whatever…, critically acclaimed. Record company confused. Second album, I’m With Stupid, even better. Her label collapses or goes bankrupt or something, and her third album, Bachelor No. 2, gets caught in limbo.
2. Aimee buys back Bachelor No. 2 (which the label didn’t like anyway) and forms a record label with her husband, Michael Penn. Releases the album. Critical acclaim. Songs used for Magnolia soundtrack. Oscar nomination.
3. Follow-up album, Lost in Space. Innovative song-cycle. More critical and fan acclaim.
4. New album, The Forgotten Arm, came out in May. Continues quietly to show musicians and artists how to live with a solid D.I.Y. ethic.

Also, here’s a quick overview of my career:

1. First open mike 7/18/88 at Garvin’s in Washington, D.C. Gets a laugh with the one cancer joke near the end of the five-minute set.
2. Repeat for the next seventeen years. Add fart and zombie jokes to repertoire.

Aimee and I went to dinner at Café Capo in Los Angeles, where we drank one and a half bottles of wine and recorded our conversation. We are fucking cool.

—Patton Oswalt

I. “AS DEMOCRATS, WE ALWAYS END UP GOING FOR THE GUY WHO IS A GREAT ACTOR AND NOT A GREAT MOVIE STAR.”

PATTON OSWALT: Let’s get started. Actually, Believer readers, you missed out on some great conversation before this. We’ve already talked about deep psychological trauma, my minor victory in a comic book store, and Aimee listening to stereo noises in her ear and sorting out her head.

AIMEE MANN: And now we’re on to cotton candy, corn dogs, and candy apples.

PO: Ironically, the first two words on her new album are “cotton candy.” But it does manage to get really dark from there.

AM: Very true.

PO: OK, what should we talk about? I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how so many of us, people like you and me, are living in a weird post-defeat state because of the Bush victory. We have no choice but to be psychotically upbeat about everything.

AM:...