← Mike Birbiglia's Working It Out
Mike Birbiglia's Working It Out
WIO Q&A: 4th NYC Show Added and Mike Answers All of Your Questions About The Good Life
00:26:46
In this Working It Out Q&A Mike breaks down the development of the New York City finale of his show The Good Life. He explains the evolution from Please Stop The Ride to The Good Life. Plus, he answers your questions about embarrassment, fear, jealousy, and inspiration.
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Hey, everybody, it's Mike Birbiglia. We are doing a question and answer this week. We answered your questions about craft and writing and stand up comedy and creativity and also about my upcoming show. We just announced that I'm going to be doing the finale of my show at the Beacon Theater March 19th, 20th, 21st and 22nd. And the final title of the show is the Good Life. Which leads me into the first question, which is someone William B. Says, is your Beacon show the same show that I saw at the Beacon Theater last year? This is a big answer that applies to the entire tour. So the tour, which has been the last roughly two years since Old man in the Pool, has been called a bunch of different things. Mike Berbeglia, Alive Please Stop the Ride, which is currently I'm touring under that name. And Christmas Parmesan was what we called it in Boston, which was a reference to the old man in the Pool joke about Christmas Parmesan. And the final title is the Good Life. So if you've seen me in the last two years and it isn't the Old man in the Pool, chances are it is material, stories, jokes, et cetera, from what will be the Good Life. So when people ask me, like, for example, I saw you at the Beacon last year, will it be different from that show? Yeah, I would say probably 50% different. If someone said to me, is it different from the Boston shows in 2023, in December? I would say 60% different, maybe 70% different. Basically what it is. And standup comedy is just a unique art form where it's sort of a reverse engineered art form, kind of the opposite of like a rock band or a musician or an author, where they're working on something in the studio or writing a book for years and years, and then they release the book or they release the album and then they tour and perform songs or excerpts from the book or the album. With standup comedy, it's just the reverse. It's like I'm out there and I'm performing stories and jokes and kind of sculpting what will become the album. And it's interesting because it's, you know, I wrote about this. If you're not on the mailing list, go to rubberbigs.com, sign up for the mailing list. I actually wrote a whole essay about this, how my wife Jenny, sometimes her favorite shows on the whole tour are the first month, the first two months of the tour, when it's really raw and it's really unhinged and it's and it's really stream of consciousness. You know, it's like I'm just throwing jokes out and stories out that don't necessarily add up to one solid thing at the end. The final shows, typically, this is just sort of my aesthetic. This is the kind of shows that I create. This is what Sleepwalk with Me was. It's what my girlfriend's boyfriend was. Thank God for jokes. The new one, the Old man in the Pool and now the Good Life is a series of stories that add up to being a single story. And that's sort of the goal. And usually, honestly, it just takes a long time to develop shows like that. Like this one took two years in the past. It's taken as long as three, four, sometimes five years to do that. And so that's what the Good Life is. So if you saw me a year ago, I think you really like the final version of the show and it's different enough that I think you'll really enjoy it. But it also, you know, has some of the jokes or some versions of the jokes and stories from a year ago. So for example, like in the show I talk about going to Vatican City and meeting the Pope in June. That's like probably 15 minutes of the show. So if you saw me in April, I had not gone to the Vatican, so that 15 minutes just didn't exist. So so much of these shows is as an autobiographical storyteller. You're just kind of living your life and observing and writing a lot of stuff down and figuring out, hmm, what might be worth including in the show and what remains on the cutting room floor of your life experience. I should point out that the Beacon shows are now on sale. It's on Burbigs.com and if you're not near New York, some upcoming shows are Detroit, Pittsburgh, Louisville, Kentucky, Nashville, Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, Asheville, North Carolina. I will also be in Charleston, South Carolina. I'll be in Iowa City. These are the new ones I announced. Iowa City. I'm going to be at a gorgeous little theater. A little 700 seater they have there called the Englert Theater. Has a classic marquee at it. I just love it, love it, love it. I'll be in Pickering, Ontario. I'll be in Baltimore, Maryland at the Baltimore Center Stage.
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I've never been there.
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Ira Glass has told me he went to plays there as a kid and it is awesome. It's like a little 500 seat theater in Baltimore that looks really, really pretty. I'm excited to see it for the first Time. Then I'll be in Northampton, Massachusetts, Western Mass. At the Academy of Music for two nights. I'll be in Burlington, Vermont at the Flynn center, which I love. That is just a fantastic theater. And then I'll be at the Beacon Theater in March and hopefully working on visiting Los Angeles. Stay tuned on the mailing list forbigs.com to find out about that. The next question comes from Ivan L. Where does fear and embarrassment show up for you most in your work these days? Where does fear and embarrassment show up for you most? So I'll take this in two parts. Fear. Where does fear show up for me in my work? I think with my shows I'm always hyper aware of not letting the audience down and sort of bringing myself to every one of the shows. So if I go to Dayton, Ohio, for example, I'm playing the Victoria Theater this month. I know that the people of Dayton, Ohio haven't seen me for like six years or like seven years. It's been a while. And I know I may not be back there for another four or five years. And so I'm like, I gotta make sure. I gotta bring the show. I gotta bring it to these people. So that, that is stressful. Again, it goes into my whole day. I think all day I'm thinking, how do I catapult my energy into the show and really fill up this theater and give this audience the best experience they can of the show? So I would say that's the biggest challenge in my career, which is, by the way, different from what it was early in my career. Early in my career, it was like, I need to impress the gatekeepers of comedy. I got to impress the comedy club manager. I got to impress, you know, like, you know, just people in show business. And as I've gotten older and you know, you folks who are listening to this, it's like you've become my audience and I appreciate it so much. You show up for my shows when I show up in Pittsburgh, you know, when I show up in Nashville. But it's a double edged sword, you know, I also feel like, well, I gotta bring it. That that's, that's my part of this relationship. And so that's definitely the fear. And then when it comes to embarrassment, honestly, it's like every, every time I perform my show, everything I say is sort of embarrassing. And it's like it. And you wouldn't think so, right? Like you'd be like, well, he's saying it on stage. You must feel okay about it. Like, not really. Like I'm actually grappling with the topics, particularly with this show. And I don't want to give away much of what's. What I talk about in the show, but it's like what I'm talking about is probably the most personal stuff to me in my life. It's hard for me to talk about in some ways, it's hard for me to joke about, although it is cathartic. And I do have sometimes this feeling on stage in the middle of a story, like, wait, am I telling this to a group of strangers? Which, if you've heard the Pete Holmes episodes, he and I always talk about how, you know, if you're not telling secrets on stage, what are you doing? Why are you wasting these people's time? And I think, you know, I really believe that. I think Pete believes that. If you haven't listened to those episodes, by the way, those are really fun. And if you're looking for something fun and mindless at this moment in your life, which. Why would you feel that way? I don't know. But if you did, the Pete Holmes episodes are so fun. We just make fun of each other a lot and goof around. Actually, the Jack Antonov episode is like that too. That's a recent episode that's super fun in that way. But, yeah, I feel embarrassment all the time. I will say it never, never, never, never goes away. If you're being honest about what you're obsessed with on stage, if you're talking about what you're obsessed with on stage, then chances are you're gonna be a little bit embarrassed. The next question is from Kayla W. Kayla says, what outside of standup comedy has influenced your work the most? Oh, my gosh, what a great question. You know, so many of my shows are inspired by movies. James Brooks movies, Cameron Crowe movies, Noah Baumbach movies, like, you know, Greta Gerwig movies. I love character driven films. You know, a lot of people will say, like, oh, you're not a standup comedian, you're a storyteller or whatever. And it's like, I, you know, I actually sort of disagree in the sense that the whole show is filled with jokes, you know, so it's. I do think I'm a stand up comedian, but ultimately I want it to have a story and to be character driven and lead towards something. So like, you know, some of my favorite stuff on the planet is like Francis ha. Or the Squid and the Whale or Broadcast News. Like, there's so many movies that I'm so influenced by. And then in reference to sort of outside comedy entirely. What's influenced my work the most? I would say I think teachers, like, I think, like, I can think back. I think of this all the time because my daughter is in fourth grade and I. And I like, went to the parent teacher conference the other day and I'm talking to all the different teachers and I'm. And it just reminds me of, like, I remember like, all my teachers in grade school, all my teachers in middle school, all my teachers in high school, and all my professors in college, and it's. And I don't remember that much stuff, but I remember all of those teachers. And I feel super, super lucky to have had good relationships with my teachers my whole life. And, yeah, this is a public service announcement thanking teachers for what you do every day. It is such important work. So the next question is from Cindy P. Cindy P. Says, do you have to go to film school? I mean, I don't think so. Maybe I'm being irresponsible by saying this. There's a quote from Quentin Tarantino, who's a film writer director, who I enjoy, I have very niche interests, where he says, I didn't go to film school, I went to films. And I always love that quote because I do think, like, I think there is sometimes an overstatement of how much education we need and an understatement of how much we just need to immerse ourself in the thing we want to make. And from that attempt to sort of emulate. You know, I talk about this in the Lynn Miranda episode. And by the way, thanks everybody who's watched the Lynn Miranda episode because it's been one of our most popular episodes ever. And if you have, if you've listened to it, I would recommend you watch it on YouTube because I think that the body language of it is kind of great. Like, I think we were both having a really good time. And if you haven't listened to his warriors album, now it's out and it's super, super good. It's just such a great album. But we talk about this a lot, which is. Which is sort of when you starting out, you know, he talks about Jonathan Larson, how he loved seeing Rent. He saw Rent, I think, when he was in high school, and how he just wrote a ton of 15 minute musicals that were like Rent, you know, and he basically says, like, you keep making a thing and making a thing to emulate someone else, and hopefully along the way you learn who you are and what you sound like and what your own artistic voice is. So that's what I have to say about film school. I think like you can learn very quickly how a camera works, how lighting works, but there's no substitute for watching like a ton of classic film. And then the other thing is like a lot of times I will, I will look up the films. If I like a director, I'll look up all of that director's films and then if I love that director's movies, I will look up their influences. I will google Greta Gerwig influences and you see what movies and film directors she has referenced in interviews before. Because it's just a common question. I don't know. I think that's film school. I also think camera technology is so inexpensive right now that you could shoot a brilliant film on an iPhone extraordinarily inexpensively. Sean Baker did it with the film Tangerine. It definitely something that can be done. Next question is from Max. Max says, who would be your dream celebrity to meet? Oh my gosh, I'm trying to think of the one who I would be. I think Bob Dylan. But it's like at the same time, it's like one celebrity like Bob Dylan absolutely cannot live up to the mystique that he has created through his music and mysteriousness. And so I don't know, it's like at a certain point you just go, oh, I don't know if it, I don't know if it's worth it. Oh, and speaking of which, we just started the pre order of my vinyl record for the Old man in the Pool. I just announced this on Colbert last week where I was on the Stephen Colbert show and I announced that there's a vinyl, we're doing like a Limited printing, 500 copies. The old man in the Pool. And the reason I bring it up is that I just love vinyl records. So like when I'm talking about Dylan, it made me think of it because I used to listen to Bob Dylan records and then I would drive in the car and I would listen to Bob Dylan CDs and I would listen to comedy CDs. Actually I used to listen to tons of Bob Dylan CDs and then I would listen to an audio cassettes before that a lot of like Steve Martin and Bob Newhart and Richard Pryor and I really, you know, a lot of people ask me like, why are you making a record, like a vinyl record of your comedy? And for me it has to do with like, that's how I take in an hour of comedy or a comedy special from people. I'm much less into the visual of the comedy special, as a fan, and I'm much more into listening to it because there's something about the listening to it that it's somehow kind of like an intimate, private experience with hearing the comedians arguably their innermost thoughts. And I think it's kind of a deep experience. And I'm hoping that my old man in the pool record has that effect on y'all. All right, so the next question is from Jacob, who says, when it comes to creative process, what separates standup comedy from other art forms? When it comes to creative process? Well, I'll break this apart because I think stand up comedy, I think it is just as an art form. What I love about it as an art form is I think at its best, it's either unfiltered or feels unfiltered. So, you know, when I watch, you know, John Mulaney or Maria Bamford or Doug Stanhope, you know, I feel like I'm watching someone kind of work through their innermost feelings about something. And that's just. I don't know, for me, like, that's. That would. That's what makes me most interested in it. Like, I like when I feel like the person is kind of like almost less like speaking out of turn, like saying the thing that, you know, if their parents were around would go, hey, maybe don't mention that. Because I feel like so much of my childhood was. Was in central Massachusetts in like a Catholic town where, where people would, you know, if I said the things I say on stage now, they would be like, hey, maybe don't say that out loud. And I think in my childhood I was kind of like, no, but I think this stuff's pretty funny. And truthfully, I think the truth lied somewhere in between all these years. Like, when I was a kid, I think some of the things I was saying were somewhat funny but also were somewhat inappropriate. And I feel like over the years I've figured out how to straddle that in a way that is, you know, is my show or, you know, are my shows. And so the question is, when it comes to creative process, what separates stand up comedy from other art forms? And I, yeah, I mentioned this in the other question, but I think just the reverse engineering of trial and error in front of an audience. Like most, most things, trial and error, you know, with a group of collaborators or friends, you know, with, you know, if you're in the studio, maybe it's your, your technicians or your, your collaborating musicians and then, you know, when. Or your producers, but when with Stand up comedy. It's like it really is the audience. And in the case of the Working it out podcast, I'd see other comedians that's we try to simulate that on the show is just the idea of like. Yeah, a lot of times you're just bouncing stuff off of people you support.
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Stevie R. Says what is something you're really bad at and really good at? Oh man. Really bad at. It's like just so many things I will say. I don't think I am great at swimming and I've become a little bit of a mascot for swimming and a lot of people, a lot of strangers come up to me and they give me updates on how their swimming is going because the old man in the pool and I'm not, I'm just not fluent in it. I don't really, I don't know that much about swimming. So that's something I'm not great at. I'm not great with my hands. I'm not great with cooking. I'm not great with. Yeah, I mean like, honestly, like, like this answer is like unlimited because I would say it's like what? And then what are you good at? Is the follow up from Stevie. It's like stand up comedy. It's like talking about the things I'm bad at. Like, it's, you know, wrestling, you know, it's like basically like I'm really good at constructing narratives and jokes around things I'm bad at. So there's definitely an interrelationship between these two questions. I'm good at stand up comedy. I'm bad at everything else. And I'm trying to think of if there's a thing I'm good at that I that people wouldn't expect me to be good at. I think the thing I'm Good at that I think people would be surprised at is it's. It's not unrelated to directing movies. So, like, when I directed Sleepwalk With Me or Don't Think Twice, it's almost like a student council skill of organizing people together towards a common goal. I think that is one of the things that, weirdly, I'm okay at. And I think that it was student council and student government that fostered. That is assembling a group of people towards a common goal to me is just kind of fun because essentially, like, if you're making a movie, for example, like, everyone, everyone, whether it's the gaffers or the sound recordist or the cinematographer, everybody sort of really wants to be there. The actors, you know, the crew. It's like, you know, because you. Movies are so hard to make that unless you really want to be there, you'll just get another job. It's not like jobs on those movies or TV shows pay that well. And so it's like, people really have to wanna do it. And so for me, it's kind of fun to try to foster this feeling of reminding people of, oh, what's fun about this?
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Oh, yeah, it's this.
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And we're all making this thing, and that's cool. And we're gonna make a thing that didn't exist before. That's cool. And, yeah, that's something. This is a question from Alyssa D. Did other comedians or artists discourage you early on? How did you get past that? Oh, my God, Alyssa, you read my mind. Yeah, many of the, many of the guests on this podcast discouraged me, although a couple did. Yeah, I think, like, I mean, of course you can't name names, but it's definitely. There are people. Like, if you're on a comedy journey or an artistic journey, like, I. You've probably experienced this. Like, there's definitely people who will pop your balloons, so to speak. And it's hard because. Because it. The interrelationship of feedback versus criticism, I think, is complex. Right? It's like you want feedback. You. You actually, you need feedback. Like, you, you actually need friends and audiences, in the case of standup comedy, to tell you, by laughing or not laughing what they think is funny or not funny or working or not working. And, and, and. But if your friends or your family are so critical, you know, at a certain point, it, you know, could make you not want to do the thing at all. And, you know, in some ways that's good, but sometimes you gotta say to people, and I've had to say this at different points is, well, you know, I really feel passionate about this and whatever the project is or joke is or whatever it is, and I'm gonna see this through, and it might not work, but I'm actually good with it not working if it doesn't work, because I think it could be something larger than it is currently. And, yeah, I don't know. That's one way to deal with it. This is a question from Max M. Max M. Says, who are you jealous of early on? This is a question we've been asking recently on the podcast. Who were you jealous of early on? Do you think competition is important to get better? You know, I feel like I was jealous early on. I definitely think, like, it. It weighed into writing my movie Don't Think Twice, and very much about jealousy. I've said this before, but I think making the movie about jealousy sort of cured me of jealousy in a sense. Because if you spend literally years thinking about wildly jealous characters, at a certain point you go, well, this is ridiculous.
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Why are.
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You know, this is a wasted emotion. This is wasted amount of time on something that's really outside of your. And when I say something outside of your control, it's just someone else's success or someone else's attributes that you might not have or possess at this moment in time. And so it's just. Honestly, it's a waste of time. And I'm saying this from the position of someone who experienced this in a super big way. So I'm not judgmental if you're experiencing jealousy. So, yeah, I'm trying to think of people I was jealous of early on. Like, I think, like, I can't name names, but it's like a few people when I was in my 20s, like, we're really blowing up really young. And they were just really, really popular. And at the time, in my head, I was like. I was like, they're not good. I'm good. You know, and it was really hyperbolic. Like, it was really like, in my mind. And I didn't express it out loud a lot, but in my mind I was like, this person is. They're not a real artist. They're not a real comedian, and the way I am or whatever. And years later, now that I have distance from it, I'm like, oh, no, I was just being overly emotional. And they were pretty good. They just were good in kind of subtler ways that I either couldn't fully grasp or was too clouded by my own jealousy to understand that. And hopefully we'll have them as guests on the show someday and talk about it. All right. Well, that's going to do it for the Q and A. If you have a question of your own, email workingatoutpodmail.com Subject A question for your Q and A. Thanks for listening. And we got some great episodes coming up. And I hope to see you out on tour in Iowa and Baltimore and, of course, New York City for the finale of the show. All right. See you next time, everybody.