Dads, Death & Popes with Mike Birbiglia

Summary

Podcast Summary: Hasan Minhaj Doesn't Know – Episode: "Dads, Death & Popes with Mike Birbiglia"

Release Date: June 6, 2025
Host: 186k Films
Guests: Mike Birbiglia
Distributed by: Lemonada Media

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Introduction

In this heartfelt and introspective episode of Hasan Minhaj Doesn't Know, Hasan Minhaj engages in a deep conversation with acclaimed comedian and storyteller Mike Birbiglia. The episode delves into personal narratives surrounding fatherhood, confronting mortality, and reflections on faith, all while exploring the nuances of comedic storytelling.

---

Reconnecting and Personal Stories

Early Memories and Personal Connections (00:02 - 01:19)
The episode begins with Hasan reminiscing about a memorable event at Andrew Air Force Base where he and Mike Birbiglia performed together alongside notable personalities like John Mulaney, Jon Stewart, and even former President Barack Obama and his family. Mike shares his experience of briefly interacting with the Bidens and performing for a military audience, highlighting the camaraderie among comedians and their shared humorous observations about their fathers interacting with David Letterman.

Mike Birbiglia (00:32): "When you see your parent being, like, a person. You're like, right, they're a person."

---

Exploring Familial Relationships

Mike’s Father and His Influence (01:24 - 02:37)
Hasan brings up Mike’s special "Good Life," focusing on Mike’s relationship with his father. Mike recounts a poignant moment where his father posed a thoughtful question to David Letterman: "Who was your favorite president to interview?" This story underscores the complexity of father-son relationships and the deep impact of parental influence on personal and professional trajectories.

Hasan Minhaj (01:25): "Everybody has an embarrassing story about their dad... you didn't interview Nixon."

Advice from Parents (02:37 - 04:20)
Mike shares a personal anecdote about his mother's advice to "shoot your shot," illustrating how parental guidance shapes one's approach to opportunities. He reflects on how this advice propelled him to engage more proactively with influential figures like Steven Spielberg, demonstrating the lasting imprint of parental wisdom.

Mike Birbiglia (03:44): "It's a big credit to my mom that she gave me that advice."

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The Craft of Comedy and Storytelling

Filming Specials and Creative Process (04:20 - 11:55)
The discussion transitions to the intricacies of producing a comedy special. Mike details the meticulous planning involved in filming "Good Life," emphasizing the importance of designing the show for both live audiences and screen viewing. He highlights the collaboration with his team, including director Seth Barish and cinematographer Graham Willoughby, to create a visually engaging experience.

Mike Birbiglia (06:20): "We designed it for the screen... it's an actual canvas painting."

Hasan and Mike further explore the evolution of comedy with the advent of platforms like YouTube, noting how accessibility to high-quality filming equipment has democratized the process, allowing comedians to reach wider audiences without traditional media constraints.

Mike Birbiglia (09:29): "YouTube is bigger than Netflix. The reach is infinite."

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Personal Challenges and Growth

Confronting Mortality and Familial Ties (17:05 - 27:02)
Mike opens up about his personal struggles, including his father's stroke and the emotional impact it had on his perspective of life and relationships. He shares candid stories from his special where he navigates the complexities of showing vulnerability, such as rubbing his father's shoulder in the hospital and reminiscing about childhood moments that reveal deeper connections.

Mike Birbiglia (18:30): "There was no physical affection growing up. So then it's like, okay, wait, I'm rubbing my dad's shoulder. It's a deep feeling of connection."

Hasan and Mike discuss the delicate balance of portraying personal and sensitive topics in comedy, emphasizing the therapeutic and connective power of sharing one's story with an audience.

Dealing with Loss and the Passage of Time (21:55 - 25:01)
Mike reflects on the fragility of life, recounting the passing of the Pope who was featured in his special. He discusses the emotional toll of creating art while facing potential loss, illustrating the intertwining of personal pain and creative expression.

Mike Birbiglia (22:10): "We thought my dad might die in the last, like, year. That were pretty hard."

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Faith and Personal Beliefs

Catholicism and Its Impact (38:00 - 43:35)
The conversation shifts to Mike's relationship with his Catholic upbringing. He critiques the Catholic Church, especially in the wake of scandals like those depicted in Spotlight, while also expressing admiration for Pope Francis's interfaith efforts and compassionate actions.

Mike Birbiglia (39:07): "I think what probably radicalized me on the Catholic Church was the kind of... spotlight era stuff, specifically with the priests."

Hasan and Mike discuss the challenges of navigating faith in personal life and comedy, contemplating the balance between critiquing institutions and honoring personal beliefs.

Hasan Minhaj (43:35): "That is a love letter... because pettiness, anger, pain, suffering, murder, war. There is no shortage of that in the world. He [Pope Francis] represented the opposite of that."

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Comedy as a Reflection of Life

Juggling Personal and Professional Life (46:03 - 52:00)
Mike delves into how his personal experiences, particularly his relationship with his father and his health challenges, shape his comedic narrative. He discusses the concept of being a "sandwich generation comic," balancing responsibilities toward both his parents and his daughter, and how these dynamics influence his storytelling.

Mike Birbiglia (49:10): "I think a lot of what he was trying to do was simply achieve and succeed and then do well by people."

Hasan encourages Mike to further explore these themes, highlighting the universal nature of familial bonds and personal growth within the comedic framework.

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Conclusion

The episode concludes with a mutual appreciation between Hasan Minhaj and Mike Birbiglia, celebrating their friendship and the profound insights shared throughout their conversation. They reflect on the healing power of vulnerability in comedy and the importance of understanding one's roots to fully embrace personal and professional identities.

Hasan Minhaj (54:13): "Thank you for being my friend. And thank you for being an inspiration."

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Key Takeaways

• Parent-Child Relationships: Both Hasan and Mike emphasize the complexity and depth of father-son relationships, exploring how these dynamics influence personal and professional lives.
• Vulnerability in Comedy: Sharing personal struggles and vulnerabilities can create a powerful connection with audiences, fostering empathy and understanding.
• Impact of Faith: Faith and upbringing play significant roles in shaping one’s worldview and comedic voice, with both critique and admiration coexisting.
• Balancing Personal and Professional Life: Navigating familial responsibilities while pursuing a career in the arts requires resilience and introspection.
• Evolution of Comedy: The democratization of comedy through platforms like YouTube has transformed the industry, allowing greater reach and diversity of voices.

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Notable Quotes

• Mike Birbiglia (00:32): "When you see your parent being, like, a person. You're like, right, they're a person."
• Hasan Minhaj (01:25): "Everybody has an embarrassing story about their dad... you didn't interview Nixon."
• Mike Birbiglia (06:20): "We designed it for the screen... it's an actual canvas painting."
• Mike Birbiglia (18:30): "There was no physical affection growing up. So then it's like, okay, wait, I'm rubbing my dad's shoulder. It's a deep feeling of connection."
• Mike Birbiglia (49:10): "I think a lot of what he was trying to do was simply achieve and succeed and then do well by people."
• Hasan Minhaj (54:13): "Thank you for being my friend. And thank you for being an inspiration."

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This episode of Hasan Minhaj Doesn't Know offers a profound exploration of personal loss, familial bonds, and the intricate balance between life’s challenges and the art of storytelling. Through candid conversation, Hasan and Mike illuminate the shared human experiences that underpin both comedy and deep personal reflection.

Transcript

[Mike Birbiglia]

Lemonade.

[Hassan Minhaj]

We did a show together.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Hassan Minhaj]

At Andrew Air Force Base.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Oh, I remember that one.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yes.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Hassan Minhaj]

So there's a photo in your podcast studio of us.

[Mike Birbiglia]

This is true.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Me, you, John Mulaney. I think it's David Letterman.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Jon Stewart.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Joe Biden and Jill Biden.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Hassan Minhaj]

They're all in this photo.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yep.

[Hassan Minhaj]

It is not AI Generated.

[Mike Birbiglia]

No, that's real.

[Hassan Minhaj]

What do you remember about that day?

[Mike Birbiglia]

I mean, shaking hands with the Bidens and the. The Obamas was quick for me, at least. I don't know about you.

[Hassan Minhaj]

No, it was very quick.

[Mike Birbiglia]

It was, you know, barely even anything. The set was good. Performing for military folks is fun.

[Hassan Minhaj]

No, they were great.

[Mike Birbiglia]

They're good audiences. Yes. Like, you know, whenever I've done USO shows, like, they're always great audiences. And then what was funny is we were waiting in, like, a line for a long time, and Mulaney brought John Mulaney brought his dad. And I watched his dad just walk up to tall, bearded David Letterman and just be like, you look like Abraham Lincoln.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Mulaney said this to David Letterman?

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Oh, that's really funny.

[Mike Birbiglia]

And Letterman started laughing because, like, everyone. All of us were, like, afraid of.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah, everybody. All the comics were whispering. So Chip Mulaney, John's dad. And then my dad also walked up to David Letter.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Oh, he did too.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

What did your dad.

[Hassan Minhaj]

So he had a great question, actually. Everybody's always talking about. And the reason why I wanted to talk to you about this is everybody has an embarrassing story about their dad. Obviously, your new special Good Life talks about your dad. I think Najmi asked him an amazing question, and he was like, who was your favorite president to interview?

[Mike Birbiglia]

Oh, that's a good question.

[Hassan Minhaj]

David Letterman was like, that's a really interesting question. And I'm watching this. Like, I'm watching this on the wide through my monitor, which is my eyes, and I'm like, how the fuck is this happening? Yeah, he just. Najmi Minaj beelines to David Letterman, and he's like, hey, man, who was your favorite president to interview? And he goes, you know, that's a really good question. I don't. Golly, you know, Barack Obama was really great. And he goes, you didn't interview Nixon. My dad was like, how could you? It has to be Nixon. Richard Nixon. And he's like, I think I met Nixon, but I don't know if I interviewed him on the show, but I would have loved to. And, yeah, they got to just chat, and then it Was all of a sudden became Peanuts. Voices, like, I couldn't. I couldn't discern the conversation. But my dad was. How could it not be Richard Nixon?

[Mike Birbiglia]

In some ways, that's what the special is about. When you see your parent being, like, a person.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

You're like, right, They're a person.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yes.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Like, your dad had a good question.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah, totally. And I think he did that thing where I think he really did act on it, which is shoot your shot. Yeah, shoot your shot, man.

[Mike Birbiglia]

I know.

[Hassan Minhaj]

And he did.

[Mike Birbiglia]

My mom gave me that piece of advice once. Once where I told her that I saw Steven Spielberg at a party.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

And she goes, well, did you talk to him? I go, no. She goes. This classic, like, parent logic. She goes, you direct movies, too? Of course you should talk to him. You direct movies, too?

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

I go, yeah, I guess you're right. I mean, obviously with caveats. And so the next time I saw him, I went up to him because I had my mom in my head.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Hey, I wanted to ask you one question because I've directed some. Two small movies, and I was wondering, you know, I have a daughter and a little girl, and. And how did you raise kids and be a dad and direct these movies at the same time?

[Hassan Minhaj]

Right.

[Mike Birbiglia]

This detailed answer about how he brought his kids on location and the kids got to see the world and all this kind of stuff.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

It's a big credit to my mom that she gave me that advice.

[Hassan Minhaj]

But you really asked, like, a Reddit AMA question, though.

[Mike Birbiglia]

I did.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Oh, man.

[Mike Birbiglia]

I think that's a decent question.

[Hassan Minhaj]

No, I was going to pitch you an alt.

[Mike Birbiglia]

What do you.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Basically, this is the MJ scenario. Okay. Michael Jordan's there.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah. Michael Jordan's there.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah. You're in Italy and MJ's doing what he's doing. He's got. His eyes have jaundice, and he's got the cigar. You're gonna, you know, walk up to MJ or not. This is my thing.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Is. And I've always felt this. Even, you know, this coming from comedy. If you're at an open mic and you're gonna go walk up to Carlin or whoever Chris Rock or whoever that person is, I think you have to have two. It's two critical things.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Okay.

[Hassan Minhaj]

You either have to have, like, a great piece of archival story footage or something to share.

[Mike Birbiglia]

That's smart.

[Hassan Minhaj]

That's unique. It has to be something that. Like that. You ever seen those?

[Mike Birbiglia]

Meaningful to them.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Meaningful to them. You ever seen those YouTube videos of Nardoir? Like, that kind of, like.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yes. Bizarre. I like the Nardo journalist, but he.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Always gives everybody from, like. Yeah. The creator to Nikki Glazer, like, here's your seventh grade yearbook photo. And people are like, what the fuck? You got to have a Nardoir level. Archival.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah. Okay, smart.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Or you have to have the question that basically my dad asked me, which is, like, a very specific question that they haven't been asked at the 92nd Street Y.

[Mike Birbiglia]

That's right. But mine, I think my. I think mine's okay in that it's personal.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

It's like, I'm a director and I'm a dad. Yeah, you're a director and you're a dad. You're an icon. But, like, how do you do that? That seems hard because that was one of the hard things about directing movies is you just go, your life is gone. People who direct movies, it's like, for that period of time they're directing, they're just shells of themselves.

[Hassan Minhaj]

What would you say that total window was? Like a year and a half?

[Mike Birbiglia]

You were like, yes. Sort of. Yeah. Like you give over your body and soul till. Well, at least. At least six months to a year. I would say.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Because the pre. Production. Production and the post, you're just, like, completely consumed.

[Hassan Minhaj]

I'll tell you this, man. I went to the special, so the special is now streaming. It's called the Good Life. And I watched the special. And this is a very rare thing, but I think it's a unique gift you have. Watching playback of the special was better than watching it in the room.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Oh, wow.

[Hassan Minhaj]

And you usually always experience the inverse, which is like. Oh, you have no idea what it was like that night. It was electric that night. It actually translated even better.

[Mike Birbiglia]

My director, Seth Barish, and our designer, Beowulf Parritt, and Aaron Kopp, our lighting designer, we actually. We designed it for the screen.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Because the past shows have been off Broadway and on Broadway, and that's really for the audience because, like, 100,000, 200,000 people are ultimately gonna see the thing in person. In this case, it's like 18,000 people are gonna see it live, and then millions of people are gonna see it on tv. So we're like, okay, let's build it for the screen.

[Hassan Minhaj]

And is that the idea also by just designing that beautiful. Almost like.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah, the painting.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Painting, yeah. Rockwell means like, Horton Hears a who Meets.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah, it was.

[Hassan Minhaj]

It was Bob Ross type of, like, idyllic vibe.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah. And it was crazy because the. The painter. The actual painter was this woman Named Irina Portna Gina, who flew in from Ukraine or Eastern Europe to. To just paint it for a month. It's an actual canvas painting.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Oh, my God.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah. We cut it into pieces and it's. We're gonna auction off the pieces and I'm gonna put some of them on my wall and.

[Hassan Minhaj]

No, it's gorgeous. It's so textured and beautiful and gorgeous.

[Mike Birbiglia]

I mean, we came up with that idea of walking through it.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Like, what if I walked through it? Because the audience can't really tell the depth. The depth. Yeah. So that's fun. Like, that's like. That's one of the more fun parts.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Of the job was that by design, too, where you were. Like, the backdrop itself will also be 16 by 9. Like, it's going to actually be framed beautifully, too.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Hassan Minhaj]

In your master.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Our cinematographer is this guy Graham Willoughby, who's brilliant. And we had so many scouts for this. I mean, it was like a film shoot.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Whereas most comedy specials, it's like, no, we're just going to go get it right on that day.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah, yeah. You're capturing it that night. And it's interesting.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Like, there's so many specials right now where it's like, there's. It's like a no budget special. And some of them are great.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Totally.

[Mike Birbiglia]

You know what I mean? Like, you look at, like, Shane Gillis's one that has 40 million views. It's on YouTube, and it's just like kind of feels like a camera in the back of the room at a comedy club.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

And you just go, well, great.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Well, what's interesting about that is also when I first started stand up was 2004, so YouTube comes out in 2005. And there were videos on the Internet from. On YouTube from. Invite them up. This Eugene Merman. So I'm in Sacramento. I'm in Sacramento, California, and I'm basically seeing your generation of comedians kind of take over New York City.

[Mike Birbiglia]

That's crazy.

[Hassan Minhaj]

And that, to me, was the first articulation of what the form is.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Wow, that's really cool.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Even. Even more than what, like, what was happening on Comedy Central, like, the Comedy Central Presents. I was like, actually, what I'm seeing In these, like, YouTube videos articulates what the form actually is more than. I don't know what the fuck. This game show.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Right.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Half hour special thing.

[Mike Birbiglia]

No, I know what you mean. Yeah. I remember. Invite them up. So. Well, it was a seminal downtown show.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Mulaney, Kroll, Aziz.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Like, a lot of great people out of there.

[Hassan Minhaj]

So what's interesting is, like, some of the stuff that I'm seeing now on YouTube, I'm like, oh, this is just similar to that.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Oh, yeah.

[Hassan Minhaj]

The feeling is that like the same.

[Mike Birbiglia]

The thing that's, I think, the most exciting thing about comedy, like, at this moment. I always try to tell young comics this is like anything could be anything. Because of YouTube.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

YouTube is as big as Netflix.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah, sure.

[Mike Birbiglia]

YouTube is bigger than Netflix.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Bigger than Netflix.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah. The reach is infinite, basically. Yeah. Any amount of people in the world.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

So. And the camera technology is so cheap. You know, my phone has a better camera. We were filming Specials with in 2005.

[Hassan Minhaj]

That's crazy.

[Mike Birbiglia]

I did my half hour special 20 years ago.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Right.

[Mike Birbiglia]

It's better. The quality is better.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah, yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

So it's like you can do anything. Like, if you're a great comic, live comic, and you film a special and put it up, you have a shot of it hitting like a zillion people.

[Hassan Minhaj]

True.

[Mike Birbiglia]

More people than on Netflix. More people than any HBO or anything.

[Hassan Minhaj]

That's a great point. And one of the things I also want to just give you credit for is you're one of the first acts that taught me, if you're going to do a show, what's the point?

[Mike Birbiglia]

Right?

[Hassan Minhaj]

And everybody, I think this is. This is your sixth Netflix. Yeah, six kind of.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Oh, yeah. Theater show, basically.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Theater. Yeah. Okay. I would say this, like, love him, hate him. The. If Mike Birbiglia has a show up in New York City, you have to see it.

[Mike Birbiglia]

That's funny.

[Hassan Minhaj]

No, because of. What. What's the point? What's the. What is it?

[Mike Birbiglia]

Right, right. What's this one about? Sure.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah. What's this one about?

[Mike Birbiglia]

That's. So.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Which actually, like, to your lovers and detractors is like, hey, well, you gotta see it.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Right.

[Hassan Minhaj]

I think you also need to add that as an addendum to the piece of advice to the comics.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Right.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Which is like, with your iPhone 16 Max Pro, you can shoot literally anything. But may I also advise you, it would be great if there's a.

[Mike Birbiglia]

It would be great if it was.

[Hassan Minhaj]

About, you know, it doesn't have to.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Hassan Minhaj]

You're one of the people. Careers that I look at where I was like, man, that's an incredible career to have.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah. I think. I appreciate it. I think part of it is the same thing that I talk about my special that my dad was so tough with us. Like. Yeah, he was like, kind of gruff and he would shout sometimes. Fly off the handle. I. It's hard for me to disconnect that from how driven I am to, like, be good at what I'm doing.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

You know what I mean?

[Hassan Minhaj]

Do you really think it is about being good, or do you think it's about articulating a point?

[Mike Birbiglia]

I think part of it's about articulating a point, but I think part of it is if you have the luxury to have your job be. To tell jokes and stories, you sure as hell be really good at that.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Right, Right.

[Mike Birbiglia]

You know what I mean?

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah. Fair.

[Mike Birbiglia]

There's something about that.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Totally.

[Mike Birbiglia]

I mean, it's just a crazy privilege.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yes. Yes.

[Mike Birbiglia]

I don't take it lightly at all.

[Hassan Minhaj]

And to do it professionally.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah. That's what I mean. It's just an outrageous thing.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah, it is an outrageous. It is.

[Mike Birbiglia]

It's outrageous. It makes sense. If someone took it away, tomorrow I go, yeah, that makes sense.

[Hassan Minhaj]

You know, but, like, you've been enlisted at McKinnon Kinsey. We need you for GDP.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Exactly.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Tyrese Halliburton, a player who plays with the Indiana Pacers, got a little bit of flack of the. On this online, where he was basically being gracious. He was saying, I play basketball professionally. I. I am getting paid to play a children's game. And a bunch of. A bunch of dudes in the comments were like, and this is why he'll never be Kobe. This is why he's not mj. And I'm like, are you. Are you stupid? Like, this is actually really beautiful, what he's saying, which is. At its core, it is a children's game.

[Mike Birbiglia]

And also, Chalamet got made fun of because he was like, I want to be like Kobe. I want to be the really good at this. Yeah. Actors being an actor, I was like, when I saw that speech, I'm like, it's good speech. I don't know. I agree with him. Everyone in the room wants to be great at it. Yeah.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

I don't know.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

As opposed to, like, Adrian Brody, where it's like, all right. It's like, this isn't my first rodeo. Like, what?

[Hassan Minhaj]

Oh, God, what are we doing?

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah. Wait, wait, I didn't see the.

[Mike Birbiglia]

You didn't see that?

[Hassan Minhaj]

No, I didn't. Yeah. I was nodding to the pr.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Okay, so he won the Oscar.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Okay. For the Brutalist. Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah. And it was his second Oscar.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Okay.

[Mike Birbiglia]

And he walks up and he's like, basically like, shut off the music. Like, this is going to be a few minutes. Kind of like, this isn't my first rodeo. He said, this isn't my first rodeo. Oh.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Oh. He literally said.

[Mike Birbiglia]

He literally said it.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Oh, you're not doing the tldr. Basically. Okay. Got it.

[Mike Birbiglia]

This is my first rodeo. Like, what?

[Hassan Minhaj]

Wow.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Like, talk about. I don't know. He's a really good actor and seems nice, but those wouldn't be my words in a speech.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Okay.

[Mike Birbiglia]

If I won an award, I'll say this.

[Hassan Minhaj]

I didn't see his speech, but I do love him on Instagram.

[Mike Birbiglia]

He's good on Instagram.

[Hassan Minhaj]

His Instagrams are incredible.

[Mike Birbiglia]

I hope you're doing well where you are. Yeah, I'm here. Yeah, you're there. Okay. Have a blessed day. We're out here. Keep smiling. Keep being you. I'm gonna do the same.

[Hassan Minhaj]

God bless.

[Mike Birbiglia]

It's a beautiful day.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Can't believe I'm still here.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah. That kind of thing.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

That is roughly. That's an estimate. Yeah. Yeah.

[Hassan Minhaj]

But it kind of does make sense.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Hassan Minhaj]

What he is saying. He has gotten that. People satirize it, but I'm like, every video he does make is an Instagram reel of the POV of it is what it is.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Agreed.

[Hassan Minhaj]

And so you can't argue with that take.

[Mike Birbiglia]

And his performance is great.

[Hassan Minhaj]

This episode of Hussa Minhaj Doesn't Know is brought to you by booking.combooking. yeah. Whether you're planning a getaway for just you or the whole crew, booking.com has summer stays across the United States to match every single personality you can think of. From light sleepers to late risers, picky teens to chill partners, you'll find just the right spot and vibe for everyone. When I travel with my family, we're not just looking for a place to sleep. We are looking for a place that works for our entire family. That means a big kitchen where we can cook breakfast together, separate TV room where we can wind down at night, and a hardwood floor so my girl can dribble. She's a Hooper. Whether you're going on a road trip upstate or hitting a beach, booking.com helps us find the perfect stay that checks all of our boxes. Ridiculously big fridge. Check. Blackout curtains for grown men who can't sleep without them. Check. Quiet neighborhood that is extremely unpopular with spring breakers. Check. Whatever your family needs to feel at home, booking.com makes it easy to find your kind of place. And hey, if our family can find their perfect stay on booking.com, anyone can find exactly what you're booking [e-mail] booking. Yeah. Book today on the site. Are in the app.

[C]

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[Hassan Minhaj]

Do you mind if I give away what the point of the special is?

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Is that okay?

[Mike Birbiglia]

You can say anything because it's out. I can.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Specials out.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Spoilers. Spoilers. Glore.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah. Okay, so watch the special. Watch all six of his specials that are on Netflix. But I will say that the point that I took away from it is it's about you and your dad, but really the good life is the appreciation of these, like, little small moments that are within your control or agency or purview.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Mm.

[Hassan Minhaj]

That's what I took away from it. Based on the. The final lines of the show. When did you come to that conclusion?

[Mike Birbiglia]

Oh, that's a good question. Yeah. Like, I worked on the special for two years, and early on, the special was all about my relationship with my daughter and feeling like, you know, at the time when I started it, she was 8. And I just started to feel like, oh, I don't know how to answer a lot of questions. I don't know. A lot.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah, yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

You know, and then my dad had a stroke and I was like, oh, man, this is an even harder thing to explain. You know, life, death, you know, illness. And then I would say probably Six months into talking about my relationship with my dad and visiting my dad in a hospital, I started to talk about just, like, rubbing his shoulder and how when he was in the hospital, like, to rub his shoulder. And it hit me, like, and you.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Guys didn't do this growing up?

[Mike Birbiglia]

No, it hit me like, oh, the reason why this feels weird is that there was no physical affection growing up. So then it's like a reverse engineer. I go like, okay, wait, I'm rubbing my dad's shoulder. It's a deep feeling of connection. I didn't feel this as a kid.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

And then I started going to flashbacks of like, okay, when did I feel like this as a kid? Oh, well, actually, when I. When I was hypotonic in the hospital, my dad brought me a Curious George. Jolly rub my shoulder. I remember that. And then, like, there's another time where, like, I asked. I thought. I thought I had cancer because I was a hypochondriac as a kid. And I was like. Took off my shirt. My dad felt my nipples, which is absurd thing in the special.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

And, like, took a while with audiences to, like, make it work.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Right.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Because it's such an awkward story to tell.

[Hassan Minhaj]

I love that story about that.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Thanks.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

But it's, like, awkward the first few times you tell that. You're like, and then my dad felt my nipples, and. And you're trying to navigate, like, it's not, like, abuse. It's just actually like, he was examining me.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yes.

[Mike Birbiglia]

As a doctor.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yes. As a physician.

[Mike Birbiglia]

As a physician. Yeah.

[Hassan Minhaj]

But the audience is trying to figure out. I'm like, is this a molestation?

[Mike Birbiglia]

Is this a molestation? Is this story?

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

They don't know.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Totally.

[Mike Birbiglia]

I mean.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Right. They're in the microbiglia show.

[Mike Birbiglia]

You trying to walk them through it, like, in a way. But. But the first few times, I think the audience was like, whoa, where is this going?

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

So. So then it's like a reverse engineer. So I would say, like, I probably had that ending of the special maybe like nine months ago, 10 months ago. And then I'm doing it on the. On tour, and I'm trying to see, like, is that connecting with people? Because you can kind of tell in a room full of a thousand people, like, is this connecting or not?

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

And then it started to connect and.

[Hassan Minhaj]

But you believed it that many months ago. Right. There's always that moment. And we'll have these conversations backstage in the green room where. And to me, this is when I feel like the show's the best Actually, comedians, we will have these moments where we're talking backstage, and there will be these, like, little cracks where I'll be talking to you or I'll be talking to, like, a Lewis Black or Colin, whoever it is.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Hassan Minhaj]

And they'll be like, da, da, da. And I'm like, oh, that's what you actually believe. And that's. That's what this is all about.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Totally.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Do you know what I'm saying?

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yes. And with this one, that's part of the reason I didn't take it to Broadway and off Broadway was two. Two reasons. One, I wanted to capture the feeling of it.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

In. In the moment that I was still experiencing the feeling.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

So it wasn't like a long. In the past kind of thing.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

The other thing is, I didn't. I couldn't perform it anymore because it felt painful to talk about my dad, who's, you know, now still alive, but with AIDS and, like, medical aids and, like, I just thought, why don't I. Instead of going to Broadway or off Broadway, why don't I just bring this to the Beacon? Do three nights, four nights. It ended up being, like, six nights, and I'll film it, and then I'm gonna let it go.

[Hassan Minhaj]

How did you navigate the whole. My dad is sick, my dad is recovering. I'm processing this tough bump in the road, family wise. That's deeply personal.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Hassan Minhaj]

I'm living through it, and I gotta make a show about it.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Right.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Like, how did you navigate that part of it? And also, you had to very much, I'm sure, navigate the. When you were going through it, there was also a possibility of your dad passing.

[Mike Birbiglia]

That was very. That's very true. And then the Pope, who's in the special, who I met a year ago, did pass away.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yes.

[Mike Birbiglia]

So we acknowledged that in the credits. And, you know, special thanks, Pope Francis. First. First ever. First ever.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Shout out to the Pope.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Prayer hands and. Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah. But, like, no, that. That. And that crossed my mind. Like, my dad could die at any stage of this. And basically about five times we thought my dad might die in the last, like, year. That were pretty hard. And I. Yeah, it was. It's hard. You know, I. I'm lucky because I'm. I have very supportive siblings. My brother Joe works with me professionally. He's one of the producers. My sister Gina kind of introduced me to comedy when I was younger. My sister Patty's very funny. They're all super supportive of what I'm doing.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

And I think that they would tell me if it was over the line. But I don't call them to vet it with them. Know what I mean? Like, I don't.

[Hassan Minhaj]

You just invited. You invited to the Beacon.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah, this is.

[Hassan Minhaj]

They see the Netflix little.

[Mike Birbiglia]

This is the show insignia at the bottom. Yeah, they. I mean, they all saw and gave notes on, like, the show at different stages, particularly Joe, who's a producer.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Right. So Joe B. Is Mike bir's brother.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah. 20 years.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah. He's been a co producer and co writer of many things.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's written a lot of stuff, so that's hard. I mean, look, it's. I feel guilt over it, but then I. But then at a certain point.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Oh, I'm not. I'm asking. I don't have a.

[Mike Birbiglia]

No, no, no. I don't think you're telling me I should feel guilt, but I'm volunteering. I do feel guilt about it. Sometimes I think maybe that's my Catholic upbringing about being confessional about my dad. But I. But ultimately, I'm like, it is my story to tell.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

If. If you've had this relationship with your dad that's somewhat stilted, like, that is your story.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Right.

[Mike Birbiglia]

And by sharing that story, people are able to process their relationship with their parents. And. And so I think it's more healing than hurting. But. But I do think about it a lot, and I also think about. In relation to my daughter. Like, I like my daughter.

[Hassan Minhaj]

And your dad's seen the Special, right?

[Mike Birbiglia]

No.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Oh, he hasn't seen it.

[Mike Birbiglia]

No. And I wrote a piece in the New York Times the other day. He hasn't read that either.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Wow.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah. And I don't know by choice. I don't know. I don't know.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Your father's name is Vince? Yes, Vince.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Vince Rebiglia.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Dr. Vince Birbiglia.

[Hassan Minhaj]

When I read it. So you just wrote this New York Times op. Ed?

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Hassan Minhaj]

And when I read that his name was Vince, I'm having this weird brain fog thing where I'm like, there's no way that an older gentleman is named because Vince is so. It feels so contemporary.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Hassan Minhaj]

It doesn't feel like a. Dr. Vincent Paul Birbiglia. Okay.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Grew up in Bushwick over here.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah. I mean, it's a bigger deal that your dad has not read the New York Times op. Ed. A New York Times op. Ed is.

[Mike Birbiglia]

It's a big thing, right?

[Hassan Minhaj]

Oh, yeah. It's like my dad missing a Fareed Zakaria op. Ed. I mean, it's a big deal.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah, it's a huge deal. This is catnip.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah. No, I don't.

[Hassan Minhaj]

For men in their 70s or plus. Yeah, yeah, yeah. New York Times dot com.

[Mike Birbiglia]

No, I know.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Huge deal. Do you think. I think it's a love letter. I think this is a love letter.

[Mike Birbiglia]

I do think it is. I intended it that way.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

I do love my dad. I feel like. I feel like he loves me. I think he. I think it's hard. When I was the youngest of four.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Okay.

[Mike Birbiglia]

And so I think I was a little bit of an accident, which. Nothing wrong with it. Right, right. But. But also, I think he was a little bit, like, done with parenting.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Oh, interesting. Like, you tell a great joke. You were like, your dad basically became a physician and got his. Got his. He got his J.D. and his M.D.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah, that's. And the joke is that's how much he didn't want to be a dad.

[Hassan Minhaj]

That's how much you don't want to be a dad. But I. I would have loved for you to empty the clip on just the JD, MD. Thing. It's crazy because it's two wildly different things. It's like, hey, do you love social studies and microbiology, like, equally? And how about you go really deep on both?

[Mike Birbiglia]

It's crazy. He got. He basically got his law degree, like, in his free time for fun.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

He never practiced law. He didn't take the.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Which is insane.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah. It's very strange.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Who are these people? I wanted you to.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Who are these people?

[Hassan Minhaj]

Analyze that.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah, yeah, totally.

[Hassan Minhaj]

And then what type of essay? I always think about the JD, MD Essay. They're always like, why do you want to do this?

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah, no, totally. And so anyway, so that's. I think that's part of what. What makes me meticulous about the shows too, in some way is because I'm. That's my background. My background is this person who's really, really academic.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah. Do you mind if I ask this? So you wrote this really great New York Times op ed. And in one of the opening lines, one of the opening paragraphs is, I got into this political discussion with my dad and we had a disagreement.

[Mike Birbiglia]

What is the political.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah. And then I walked away. What was the political discussion? What was the political disagreement?

[Mike Birbiglia]

It was terrible. I don't say it in the op Ed because it's so polarizing.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Okay.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Like, because I was like, I don't want.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Your dad was pro segregation. And you were like, I can't have this.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Like the, the this. It was, it was. It was just a nasty Conversation.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Okay.

[Mike Birbiglia]

It was. It was probably 2010. Ish.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Okay.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Whatever it was. So it was. It. And it was like email forwards.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Okay.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Of like, Barack Obama conspiracy theory.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Oh, got it. The birth certificate one or which one?

[Mike Birbiglia]

Maybe. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Oh, God.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Maybe. Right.

[Hassan Minhaj]

And who knows?

[Mike Birbiglia]

I think we know.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Okay, we know. We know. Birth certificate.

[Mike Birbiglia]

I think it's locked down.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah, we know. We know that he was born in the United States of America. Yes.

[Mike Birbiglia]

And it was that thing that people do, and it's very common.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Oh, I'm just asking the question.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Just asking questions. I don't know.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Interesting.

[Mike Birbiglia]

I don't know. I read this thing. I don't know.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Got it.

[Mike Birbiglia]

And it's like, no, but we know. And what's. What are. What's the end game here?

[Hassan Minhaj]

Oh, what are you getting at?

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah, what are you getting at? The thing I learned from talking to my dad about political stuff through the years is just, like, it's not worth it. Like, it's like, I have the line in my show, like, all these years, I wanted to be my dad. At a certain point, I realized I wanted him to be me. And, like, that was the point where I was like, I can't do that anymore. Like, it's not. He's not gonna be me, and he shouldn't be.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Right.

[Mike Birbiglia]

He's just. He's on his own journey. And, like, it's. It's a weird thing to realize that.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah. That he's not going to be you. Yeah. That was. That's. That was a very interesting thing to read. It's also, before I forget, you always have in your specials, there is one run where it's really fucking good. And I'm always like, surely between Jim Gaffigan, Jerry Seinfeld and all the greats, somebody has, like, scraped the meat off this bone.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Right.

[Hassan Minhaj]

You empty the clip on Urban Air, which is basically like, you probably have one of the best three to five minutes on just children's birthday parties.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Hassan Minhaj]

And I cannot believe this has not been mined.

[Mike Birbiglia]

It's insane, I think.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Crazy that. It's insane that it was just sitting right there this whole time.

[Mike Birbiglia]

I think about that. Yeah. Because I basically say, like, I go to 2, 300 children's birthday party.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

And I hate. And I hate it. It's my least favorite part of my life.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yes.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Because I don't like my daughter's friends. And. Yeah. It's funny how when you stumble upon a bit that you feel like someone must have hit this, and then you do. I do sometimes Google, like, Is there a joke about, blah, blah, blah, comedian joke about. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was. I got lucky. I hit a thing that people didn't.

[Hassan Minhaj]

I mean, it, it is, it is such a rich vein. And it would be in the pilot episode of the 20, 20, 25, like everybody loves Raymond pilot.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Hassan Minhaj]

That you would shoot for cbs. I'm like, this is so. And I could not believe that it hadn't been hit. And then I'm watching this at the Beacon and I'm like, leaned in and I'm like, one, enjoying the bit. But then two, I'm like, how the fuck has this not been done?

[Mike Birbiglia]

Do you go to them, the birthday parties?

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah, of course.

[Mike Birbiglia]

They're awful.

[Hassan Minhaj]

They're terrible. Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

I mean, I don't think I've enjoyed one.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah, every part of it is pretty bad. Every part of it is bad. And all of it, like this bit surely has been done. But we're all at the age where we don't have to do this. This is not about us.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Right.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Like you have your friends and they're in Boulder and I have my friends and they're in Sacramento.

[Mike Birbiglia]

I went to another one last week.

[Hassan Minhaj]

It's this weird UN diplomacy thing where we have to maintain the peace for our respective civilians of our state because our children and your children have this alliance through, you know, Ms. McKenzie's class, which will be over in two months.

[Mike Birbiglia]

I went to my daughter's one last week, my daughter's birthday. It was at an escape room. Except because it's modern times. You can get out of the escape room. The door is open.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah. Right.

[Mike Birbiglia]

All right, well, what are the obstacles here?

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

And then at one point, like imagine this wall just opens up. And then there was. One of the clues was baked into. There was a. You have to shoot a rifle. It's like a, it's like a rifle. It's, you know, it's not, it's not actually you have bullets or something, but. But it's the, it's the, it's the weight of a rifle.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah, yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

And all the kids, bunch of 10 year old girls going, we don't know how to shoot a rifle.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Oh my God.

[Mike Birbiglia]

And I was right. All right, well, I'll give this a shot. Yeah. And so then I, and then I shot the things. I was like, okay, 2, 1, 9, 5. And then we moved like, I was the rifle shooter, you were the bunch.

[Hassan Minhaj]

You were the second amendment guy.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah, apparently that's really.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Okay. So you also have this thing in your shows where a common thing and at least four of your six specials. Is your health true you are always on the verge of death?

[Mike Birbiglia]

Seemingly.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Seemingly, yeah. Has this been a thing that has just loomed over you for your entire life? For real? Even when you were a young man.

[Mike Birbiglia]

The first sign of that I was gonna die was, yeah.

[Hassan Minhaj]

So it has been. So it has been.

[Mike Birbiglia]

I had a bladder tumor when I was 20.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Which is crazy.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

What a crazy thing to happen. Blood in my pee, you know, I went home, told my parents, they took me in to the hospital. Next morning, they put me under. They looked in, there was a tumor. They took it out.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

I was very lucky because my dad's a doctor and sort of has good instincts. He was like, I don't think Mike should do chemo or radiation. So I didn't actually have all the stuff that's really painful.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Oh, wow.

[Mike Birbiglia]

And then it didn't come back. And I go for, like, regular checkups. So that was like the first thing that happened. And then I ended up with. I sleep walked through a second story window.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Right.

[Mike Birbiglia]

And I was like, 25.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Wait, so. But the thing that I wanted to just ask was, at that age, then, does death become a looming thing?

[Mike Birbiglia]

100.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Really?

[Mike Birbiglia]

100%. Not as a joke. No. I was literally like, I was facing down death. I mean, I really was like, all right, I guess. I guess that's it for like, the. Before the. Before the biopsy came back on the tumor.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Right.

[Mike Birbiglia]

I was like, I guess that's going to be a wrap on me. It's been a good run. And then when, you know, when I found out that it was. It was. It was it actually, I should say it was malignant. But they got all of it, so I was very lucky. And then I was like, oh, well, we can always. We could drop over tomorrow. It was like, because I'd seen death. I'd seen that for 10 days. Like, I guess I'm gonna die.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

So it really made me go hard at goals because I was like, I want to be a comedian. So I think it just, like, it amped me up by like 2 or 3x.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Really, I do.

[Mike Birbiglia]

And then I. I think too far, you know, jump through a second story window. Maybe I was a little too amped up, you know, I was like, sleep deprived. I was driving around the country in rental cars and doing seven colleges in five nights kind of thing. It was crazy.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Have you ever had this really dark conversation with your friends? Which one of us is going to die first?

[Mike Birbiglia]

No. I like that, though.

[Hassan Minhaj]

A buddy of Mine has dropped that into the group thread, and it is pretty wild where, like, you're. The boys will tell you pretty candidly who's going to die first. It's very funny.

[Mike Birbiglia]

That's interesting. Do you think that their theories are accurate?

[Hassan Minhaj]

100% accurate.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Really?

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Where do you land in it? I feel like you'll live long.

[Hassan Minhaj]

No. They're like Du Bois, when they roast me, they're like, if you have to. If you're not taking the MTA to work every day and you're driving, they're like, you're gonna die within 24 to 48 months.

[Mike Birbiglia]

No.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah. The running joke is, and it is true, I am kind of a. I am a notoriously bad driver.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Wow.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

But other than the driving accident, do they think you die because you seem in good health?

[Hassan Minhaj]

No, I'm in good health.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Then there's another buddy of mine that I'm not gonna name. I'm not gonna just, like, ruin his LinkedIn life. But, yeah, he's. We have a buddy on the thread that does not take good care of his health, and we're like, you're for sure dying.

[Mike Birbiglia]

I could see that.

[Hassan Minhaj]

But it's a very funny, very dark bit that is sequestered to iMessage between six fellas.

[Mike Birbiglia]

No, I get it.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

You and I had a very good conversation on my podcast about who's the fastest kid in your school.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yes.

[Mike Birbiglia]

And to this day, people are commenting.

[Hassan Minhaj]

The video goes so hard.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Who? The person fastest. Yeah. Full government name. Fastest kind of school. You texted me last night. Do you remember the fastest kid in your elementary school? I remember the government name of the fastest kid at elementary school. Because people are watching this at home or listening to it, and they're in there immediately thinking, the fastest. Right.

[Hassan Minhaj]

In the comment section, write down the full government name.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Oh, yes.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Of the fastest kid in your school.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Come on. The comments. I think there's thousands of comments at this point of, like, the fastest kid. I mean, it's almost like you can make a document.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Totally.

[Mike Birbiglia]

You could do a Google Doc that has like.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah, yeah, totally.

[Mike Birbiglia]

That clip is great.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

I hope you do that as a bit in your next special.

[Hassan Minhaj]

I did, I did. But the thing that's good. That needs to take it to the next level of. Okay, this is true. Now what? Yeah, the place where it's. It's. It's still. I've been working on it. It's pretty surface level, which is like. You guys remember when it's a. You guys remember when.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Sure.

[Hassan Minhaj]

But if you can flip that on its head and take it to a new place. So the two new places that I've taken it to, that I've kind of figured out, which is, why was that such a big flex? It had no real value. But then I started to realize speed is kind of important at varying points in your life. Elementary school, who's the fastest. Like, it's not about being in the NFL, but I can get from that tree to that tree very quickly. But then in high school, it's. Who has a car? Who can get the. So it's like, Ryan has a Forerunner, and we can go to Chipotle at lunch, and it's a big deal. And then as an adult, it's TSA PreCheck.

[Mike Birbiglia]

That's right.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Which is, like, clear. Yeah. Clear is huge. And Global Entry. Global Entry, like, when you're returning and you just walk past these peasants.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Hassan Minhaj]

I mean, it's a pretty powerful.

[Mike Birbiglia]

It's huge. It's a huge flex.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

I can't get my wife to get Global Entry. It drives me crazy.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Really. She just doesn't want to do this.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Like, going to government office. Ah.

[Hassan Minhaj]

She just wanted the. The interview with the government.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Like, the. The. The rigmarole of it. It's hard.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

You must find this in marriage sometimes where you're, like, revved up. We're gonna get Global Entry. We're gonna get clear. We're gonna get this. But then you got. You get your wife or husband to do it also.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Right.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Because otherwise, what's the point? Yeah. Yeah.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Equal.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Go through the Global Entry line. Then your wife and daughter are in the. In the regular line.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Who needs it?

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. That's the toughest thing. Yeah. How do I get this?

[Mike Birbiglia]

Obviously, obviously, that's the most challenging thing about marriage.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah. Yeah. And vice versa, by the way, where she's just like, I can't convert you on this.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Oh, yeah.

[Hassan Minhaj]

I don't think I. I'm just not buying the premise.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah. For sure.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah. Yeah. And especially being comedians were uniquely stubborn about certain things.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Just from the itunes user agreement, I'm like, I actually don't buy into this at all.

[Mike Birbiglia]

No. And Jen's a poet, which is, like, almost more extreme.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Oh, interesting.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Like, poets are even. They don't even engage with human beings.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Oh, right.

[Mike Birbiglia]

They're just like. No.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Oh, right, right. Institutions at all.

[Mike Birbiglia]

No.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Right.

[Mike Birbiglia]

There's no even end game with being a poet. There's no. There's no. Like, we all know the best poet.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Right.

[Mike Birbiglia]

You know what I mean.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Oh, yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Kind of like this super subjective thing.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Oh, wow. What a wild hall of Paris. But then for you to be a comic, which is, like, you have to be so dialed into your pov.

[Mike Birbiglia]

I think so.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Specifically with stand up.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Oh, that's really fascinating. I never thought of that. Hey, so you empty the clip on Catholicism?

[Mike Birbiglia]

Sort of, yeah. You said that to me backstage. You go. You go. Are you ready for the Catholic people to come at you?

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah. I was like, why ruin the one thing.

[Mike Birbiglia]

My one.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Your target demo. 55 and up.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah, yeah, totally.

[Hassan Minhaj]

But people were getting oddly, like, really uncomfortable in their kind of chairs during the taping.

[Mike Birbiglia]

I like that.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Okay, so what got you to that point? I mean, was it all the stuff that came out about the church and the boys? What made you come to this point?

[Mike Birbiglia]

I think what probably radicalized me on the Catholic Church was the kind of.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Spotlight era stuff, specifically with the priests and.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah. And I was. I, fortunately, was not treated that way, but, you know, we definitely. When I was a kid, like, there was a kid, there was a priest that they moved. They're like, father. You know, I'm not gonna say his name, but, like, father Patrick is gone. Oh, yeah. Where did he go? Like, it was like our favorite priest. Where'd he go? Oh, no, he's at another school now.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Right.

[Mike Birbiglia]

And looking back, you're like, he is. You know what I mean?

[Hassan Minhaj]

Oh, no.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Like, they move. They just move him to. The other thing is.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah, yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Awful.

[Hassan Minhaj]

He's been traded to Dallas. Should he be.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah, he plays for the Sun.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah. He should be out of the league. He shouldn't go play for the Mavs.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Hassan Minhaj]

But, like, be in that organization. Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

You know, the evolution of it was I. At a certain point with the show, I took down Catholicism, but I took down all religions. Like, it. Like, I was going after everybody. At a certain point, I was like, I don't think I can really go after everybody. You know what I mean? Because it was like, it's. It's my. It. Like, you can go after your own religion. I. I don't know if you can go after. Well, south park did it. Went after all religions. Sure. But it's a. It's a bold move.

[Hassan Minhaj]

It's a bold move. You know, we. On this show, we had Rain Wilson on the show. Oh, yeah. Rain is. Is very open, very spiritually. He's very open. He's very spiritual, and he's very behind, but he is. He's willing to pair. His Bluetooth is open. And he's willing to pair with almost like every faith. But he had this pretty interesting take, which. Which was about expecting perfection from religion, where he's like, in no other part of your life do you expect perfection in your partner or. Yeah, but why do we expect.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Well, that's fair.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Perfection.

[Mike Birbiglia]

I totally get that.

[Hassan Minhaj]

My only pushback to that is that they are offering you divine salvation. Salvation.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Hassan Minhaj]

And eternal.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Hassan Minhaj]

It's the number eight sideways, right? Infinite salvation, infinite utopia and salvation for infinity.

[Mike Birbiglia]

No, I get that. And I. And I have, like.

[Hassan Minhaj]

But it is a very interesting point.

[Mike Birbiglia]

I have an extraordinary amount of respect for my friends, like you, who pray. You know, I think prayer is really powerful. I mean, well, my.

[Hassan Minhaj]

My only thing with it is, like, I've lived long enough to be like you. You tr. You guys trust this?

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah, yeah, totally.

[Hassan Minhaj]

You trust this?

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah, yeah.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Like, how many. Yeah. You trust all of this?

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah, yeah.

[Hassan Minhaj]

You know, not to sound just as building. Yeah. Not as conspiracy theorist, but it's just like, how many recessions have we been through?

[Mike Birbiglia]

Some guy named Lance sign a paper that barely read.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah, totally. And I'm like, believe all of this.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah, totally.

[Hassan Minhaj]

I from.

[Mike Birbiglia]

I completely agree with you.

[Hassan Minhaj]

So I'm like, there has to be something that makes more sense than whatever this is.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Hassan Minhaj]

And that's really what it is. It is that.

[Mike Birbiglia]

I get that.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah. It is a form of the serenity.

[Mike Birbiglia]

I might take this up in my next special. Was like, I think at some point, I think. And maybe I'll run it. Maybe you can run it. I think we have an all global, all world conference about what all the religions believe in. And just so we know, it's like, what's our take on gay people? What's our take on women? And then we have real conversations. You know, we go, yeah, I'm Catholic, but I'm like, level three. I'm not with that guy.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Got it.

[Mike Birbiglia]

You know what I mean?

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

There's a lot of qualifications, so.

[Hassan Minhaj]

You know, there's a lot ofbishops on YouTube. I'd love for you.

[Mike Birbiglia]

I didn't know that.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah. There's all these bishops on YouTube. Yeah. So. So Maya Hawke and Ethan Hawke did this, like, podcast with the bishop. And I'm, by the way, really. I'm trying to get booked for real. Yes.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Okay.

[Hassan Minhaj]

And he's bishoped up really full black. Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah, no kidding.

[Hassan Minhaj]

The red. The red doping. Oh, it's great.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Is it a podcast?

[Hassan Minhaj]

It's a podcast. I want to be on the show.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Wow.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

But don't you feel like we should have a referendum just on the world religions of like, I don't think we even know what religions believe in.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Do you want me to do the better? Do you want me to be, be for real? If I'm going to be real. If I'm going to be for real. The, the gamut for each of all the fates. It's, it's, it's too wide.

[Mike Birbiglia]

No.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah. Between people that are really orthodox to the most secular like that, that delta is huge.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah. It's true.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Here's the one thing that gives me hope in regards to religion. Okay. If you look at the Internet comment section about any religion, it is a cesspool. But if you look at the Wikipedia of religions, it is actually very pretty clean. It's pretty, it's, it's pretty even tempered and I, I feel like it gives a fair assessment of all.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Gotcha.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. YouTube comments. Very different than the Wikipedias.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Of the great faiths of the world. You met Pope Francis.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Okay.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Similar to the Obama Biden thing, though.

[Hassan Minhaj]

It's like, really?

[Mike Birbiglia]

No, I used to shake hands and take a photo.

[Hassan Minhaj]

I would say, man, rip To Pope Francis, though, as one of the goats. There was this really beautiful montage that I saw that was put together about Pope Francis that moved me a lot. There was this photograph of him where he met these two rival political leaders in Sudan, I believe. And he kissed their feet. Oh, yeah. To be like, that's beautiful. Yeah. Like, let's put an end to the violence. And one of the things that I felt, this is just for me personally is that pettiness, anger, pain, suffering, murder, war. There is no shortage of that in the world. He was one of the few people that was incredibly popular that represented the opposite of that. And that is a, that is a very rare category.

[Mike Birbiglia]

No, whenever people criticize him, I always just go compared to what you got. You got to go compared to what? Compared to the other popes, he's great.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Oh, interesting.

[Mike Birbiglia]

You know what I mean? Yeah. The joke in the special is like, if you met him at a party, you'd be like, this guy.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

But like, compared to the other. Some of the popes were Nazis, like literally Nazis. And so, yeah, you got to incrementally look at him. Yeah, the, you know, the Sudan, Sudan story. That's beautiful. There's a lot of stuff like that. There's a really beautiful documentary. Before I decided to go, I watched this documentary on him called Pope Francis, A Man of His Word, which is A great, great documentary.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

But it did, like, really express, like, the interfaith efforts he made. He. He really, like, visited like, religious leaders of all faiths and, and went to all parts of the world that were war torn and struggling and, you know, go to children's hospitals and things. I mean, to me, he didn't feel like a photo op.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah. To me, he's one of. He was one of the most popular people that genuinely did, in his dying days, care about the poorest and weakest.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Hassan Minhaj]

From what I understand.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah, from what I understand, exactly. Yeah.

[Hassan Minhaj]

I haven't been informed of other further. Okay. You considered not going?

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah, yeah. Why? I feel like in some ways my comedy is in. Is so much a reaction to being raised Catholic.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Okay.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Like, I feel like it was. I feel like I was. My upbringing was so repressed. I never felt like I could express how I feel about things. Like, and I think that that was very Catholic. I felt like that was very baked in. And then when I saw Spotlight, the movie, you know, Tom McCarthy's incredible Oscar award winning movie, it really hit me hard. And so when they were like, do you want to come to the Vatican? I was like, I don't. I mean, I don't know if I support the organization and all that, but I also felt like it's really, in a lot of ways, it's for my parents and, you know, they grew up. My mom grew up going to Latin mass and Buffalo, New York, and the idea that her son would meet the Pope is an outrageous concept.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Right. You brought back rosary beads.

[Mike Birbiglia]

I brought back rosary beads that were blessed by the Pope. And my dad was struggling and, you know, he was raised Catholic, went to a Catholic high school, Xavier in Manhattan. And like, so it was a big deal for him. And he was. He was just out of the hospital. So that's sort of. I mean, I would say that's a majority where I went.

[Hassan Minhaj]

So you went out of guilt, which is the most Catholic thing you could do.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Exactly. Ira Glass said something to me one day. He goes, the thing you're not saying in your show is that your parents wouldn't have gone for you.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Oh, that's so funny to see, like, Richard Pryor. Right?

[Mike Birbiglia]

You know what I mean?

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah, yeah, totally. Totally. They're like, why would you go see him? Yeah, he does one liners.

[Mike Birbiglia]

He has one liners. Yeah.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Watching the show, man. I don't know if you've gotten this feedback, but it definitely got me to start thinking about why I don't know more about my Own parents.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Good.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Why don't we know more? I don't know about our parents. Why don't we.

[Mike Birbiglia]

I, for me, I think, and I think some other people have this too.

[Hassan Minhaj]

I have a theory, but you tell me your theory.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Well, I just think like you, it's like you sort of think, you know, and at a certain point you're like, wait, do I? And then also like, I think part of it is you don't quite. Or I don't. For a long time I didn't quite view my parents as. People viewed them as my parents.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yes.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Which is kind of crazy. But it's. I think it is something you experience. People experience.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah. I think the problem is there's just two hard gears and they're wildly different.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Which is. There is. It just seems like it is a never ending period of your life where your parents are the cops. Yes, they are the police state.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Right.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Like you're reading 1984, you're like, this is the same. Okay, yeah, they're the cops. And then on a dime.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Hassan Minhaj]

You come home one day for like winter break and you're like, you're old.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Right.

[Hassan Minhaj]

And that is a tough thing.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah, it is a tough one.

[Hassan Minhaj]

You're their parents now.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Hassan Minhaj]

And that's, that's the thing.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Right. That's what people keep saying to me, that I'm in. I'm a sandwich generation comic. Like, I'm living in the my. I'm taking care of my parents and taking care of my daughter.

[Hassan Minhaj]

But. But actually at its core, I think to open this part of our convo to a more empathetic channel which is trying to understand who they were and are in the context of the lives that they lived. What do you think his core operating system, like, values were?

[Mike Birbiglia]

I think a lot of what he was trying to do was simply achieve, which, like, achieve and succeed and then I think do well by people. Like, I think whenever I would meet his patients, they would come up to me on the street sometime and be like, your dad is a great dad. You know, wow. Or I'm sorry, your dad's a great doctor. Yeah, your dad's a great doctor. I was like, oh, okay. And they would even literally say, like, he had. He has great bedside manner. You know, I've gone to a lot of doctors and your dad is different. He's really special. So I think, like. And that was just almost without fail, people would compliment him and how kind he was and. But then I think he had this thing that he was just so motivated that he was, Yeah. I mean, I think he wanted to succeed. I think he did view his life as a success. He was a doctor. You know, he had a family of, you know, four kids and everyone. He was very serious about education. We all went to college and, you know, that was like a huge part of his life because he. He lived in Bushwick and completely as a fluke. And I found this out when I was visiting him in the hospital, just asking him a lot of questions. Completely as a fluke. He applied for the entrance exam for Xavier, which still here. Catholic Jesuit School in Manhattan. Because his friend did it. He's like, my friend, you know, my friend goes, I'm doing. What are you doing Saturday? I'm doing this entrance exam for his high school. Oh, I'll do that too. He scored really highly, got a scholarship. He's at Xavier. He's taking the training from Bushwick. Where are people applying? Colleges, Holy Cross Catholic College in Worcester. And then he gets in, and then he goes there, and then he goes to med school, University of Buffalo. And that's where he meets my mom. It's like a series. I think the thing that you don't realize about your parents is it's a series of flukes. Whereas from the kids perspective, you're like, he planned it this way right now. He didn't plan any of it.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Oh, interesting.

[Mike Birbiglia]

He was just doing his best in the moment.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Oh, wow.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Kind of like, you are totally right. And then you go, oh, okay.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Taking in information and then making a decision in real time.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah. And then he blinks and he's 80, 84 years old and he's, you know, could die any day just to give.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Your dad his flowers. Do you have a story about your dad, Vince, where you go, I'm proud to be his son.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Oh. I mean, the thing that my dad, I think, got right in such a deep way was just education. He got himself out of the situation he was in through education. And then with us, with. With his kids, he's just super intent on no matter what, anything costs, education wise. You know, all these schools we went to are so expensive. Sure.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

I think he really believed that that was the path, you know, that was kind of the only, you know, way was just like higher education. And, you know, as I get older and I look around, I go, like, I think he was right. And at the time, it felt snobby. And in hindsight, I'm like. Like, a lot of my best friends are people I met in college. A lot of the people I work with Professionally. People I met in college. And it's like. I don't know. Like, it's. In some ways, I do. I do think it's snobby, but I also think, like, he had a real strong inclination that. That that was what we needed.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

It'S a hard one.

[Hassan Minhaj]

So you criticize him for his drive?

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Hassan Minhaj]

You know that you kind of have his drive, right?

[Mike Birbiglia]

Sure, I've been told.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Do you see that or no.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah, yeah. No, I'm accused of it by my siblings all the time.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Got it.

[Mike Birbiglia]

They call me Vince Jr. Oh, interesting. Yeah.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Oh, got it.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Okay.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Oh. So this is the whole Simba Mufasa thing. You are him.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah. Yeah. There's something there. Yeah.

[Hassan Minhaj]

But you. You made him seem like he was scar, but you actually are.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Maybe. I don't know. I guess so. I mean, there's a case to be made for it, and certainly my wife would make it for you, but I'm not here to make it.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Mike. Thank you for being my friend. And thank you for being an inspiration.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Oh, thank you.

[Hassan Minhaj]

I didn't even know how to end. That's.

[Mike Birbiglia]

That's so fun.

[Hassan Minhaj]

Yeah, man. That was it.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Awesome.

[Hassan Minhaj]

That was rad.

[Mike Birbiglia]

That was great. It was deep. That was the deepest interview I've had. Hurry right away.

[Hassan Minhaj]

No delays are make your daddy glad to have.