Transcript
Elizabeth Gilbert (0:00)
I was coming into the country from Central America in New York at jfk and I was traveling alone and I gave them my passport. And the woman's like, what was the nature of your travels? And I said, just traveling around. And she was a little suspicious, I think. And she's like, what's the nature of your work? And I said, a writer. And she said, what kind of things do you write? And I just said like, well, I'm most well known for this book that I wrote called Eat Pray Love. And she goes, you're Eat Pray Love. You're Eat Pray Love. And I was like, yeah. And she goes, hey. And she starts like calling down the line of every, like not the, but the other immigration people.
Mike Birbiglia (0:37)
And she's like, oh my gosh, this.
Elizabeth Gilbert (0:38)
Is Eat Pray Love. And I'm like, why are they having this reaction? And then she's like, no, you don't know. Every day women are coming back into the country alone. And I say, what were you doing? And they say, I was having my own eat pralo. Multiple times a day we hear this.
Mike Birbiglia (0:55)
I believe it.
Elizabeth Gilbert (0:56)
And she's like, I can't believe you're the actual one.
Mike Birbiglia (0:58)
Crazy. That is the voice of the great Elizabeth Gilbert. Elizabeth Gilbert has written many, many books and is most well known for her book Eat Pray Love, which she mentions there at the beginning. You know, massive book. I mean, it sold over 10 million copies. It was, it was made into a major motion picture with Julia Roberts playing her, which we talk about today. And we talk about so many things today, such an interesting episode. We talk about the double edged sword of being known for one huge thing that you didn't even know would become popular. She's written one of my favorite books on writing, which is called Big Magic, which is about writing and creativity. I highly recommend it. Elizabeth has a substack called Letters from Love and that's actually how we first got in touch. We talked about a little bit on the show today, but she asked me to write. She always, each week she has a guest, a guest writer writing a letter from Love to the author. And I'm gonna do it. I'm working on it now, but we talk about today. It's one of the things we work out on the show today. And so check out that substack. It's fantastic. By the way, I wanna thank everyone who bought tickets to my show, the Good Life at the Beacon Theater in New York. We have added a fourth. Yes, a fourth show at the Beacon Theater on March 19th. And actually the other night I performed there as part of the New York Comedy Festival. There was a Judd Apatow and Friends show. When he does live shows, he always does them for nonprofits, and it was benefiting people who were affected by the hurricane in North Carolina, which I felt great about. A quick note about the Asheville show on December 12th. Obviously the people and the businesses of Asheville have been through a lot from the hurricane. I actually was torn on doing the show in Asheville for a while. I was getting emails from a lot of you who live in North Carolina. People saying, do the show, some people saying, don't do the show. I've spoken with one of my closest friends lives in Asheville. I've spoken to the venue and we ultimately decided it would be best to go ahead and do the show. And if you cannot make it to the show, you can get a full refund. And if you're having trouble getting a full refund, contact the venue. I spoke to them on the phone and they're going to make sure that everyone who cannot make it gets a full refund. But we're going to have a great night in Asheville. I have donated to United Way of Asheville as well as the Mana Food bank, so please donate there if you can. People in Asheville still need help. So in January I will be in Iowa City at the Englert, which is awesome. I'll be in February in Pickering, Ontario, at the Pickering Casino Resort, which looks awesome. February four and five, I'll be in Baltimore at the Baltimore Center Stage, which was recommended to me by Ira Glass, who's a Baltimore native and he used to go to the shows there as a kid. February 21st and 22nd, I'll be in Northampton, Massachusetts at the Academy of Music. February 23rd, I'll be in Burlington, Vermont at the Flynn. We're going to be adding one last city, which I think is Los Angeles. Stay tuned on the mailing list. All of that on burrbigs.com I love this episode we do today with Elizabeth Gilbert. We talk about the sort of unexpected ripple effects of her book, Eat Pray, Love. We talk about her novel that was set in Russia that she decided to put a pin in for now and maybe forever. She tells some dirty jokes and stories which you might not expect. She has phenomenal insights into writing that. We recorded this a couple weeks ago. I feel like I think about them every day. This is like one of my favorite episodes in a long, long time. Just truly someone who has thought so deeply about creativity and writing. This is especially interesting I think if you write autobiographical work, the ideas of making peace with creative failure. And it's just a lovely conversation. Enjoy my chat with the great Elizabeth Gilbert. I'm here with Elizabeth Gilbert. Can I call you Liz? Other people do. Stay, please. I'm trying to take my cue from other interviews.