Mike Birbiglia: Sleepwalk With Me

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Moth Episode Featuring Mike Birbiglia – "Sleepwalk With Me"

Introduction

In this episode of The Moth, listeners are treated to an engaging conversation with acclaimed comedian and filmmaker Mike Birbiglia. Hosted by Kathryn Burns, The Moth’s Artistic Director, the episode delves into Mike’s journey from storytelling on stage to creating his feature film, Sleepwalk With Me. The episode not only explores the creative process behind the film but also features Mike’s poignant and humorous firsthand account of his struggle with REM Behavior Disorder, a condition that significantly impacted his life and work.

Interview with Mike Birbiglia ([01:12] – [04:27])

Kathryn Burns Introduces Mike Birbiglia

Kathryn Burns begins the episode by welcoming listeners and setting the scene at IFC Cinemas in New York City, where Mike is present for the screening of his first feature film, Sleepwalk With Me. She highlights the extensive schedule Mike has, including numerous Q&A sessions across various cities, underscoring the film's broad appeal and Mike's active engagement with his audience.

Evolution of Mike’s Storytelling Journey

Mike Birbiglia shares the fascinating evolution of his story, which began in comedy clubs, transitioned to The Moth stage, and eventually became a widely broadcast segment on This American Life. He recalls the challenges of telling his story for the first time at The Moth under Kathryn’s direction, especially while being ill:

“I was sick the first time I told it, my wife and I had been sick in bed for like a month. And I was like, Katherine, I don't know if we're gonna be able to do this.” ([02:12])

Mike attributes much of his storytelling success to The Moth’s supportive environment, which encourages storytellers to share deeply personal and sometimes uncomfortable experiences. He emphasizes the unique dynamic between storyteller and audience, likening the act of storytelling to giving a gift:

“I feel like those are the best Moth stories. I love going to The Moth because when I see someone who's telling me a story and they're not quite comfortable telling that story, it feels really special.” ([03:32])

The Role of The Moth in Storytelling

Kathryn praises The Moth for its ability to provoke and encourage storytellers to open up, highlighting how this platform has been instrumental in shaping Mike’s narrative style and bringing his stories to a broader audience. This collaboration ultimately led to the creation of Sleepwalk With Me, marking a significant milestone as the first film produced by This American Life based on one of their stories.

Mike Birbiglia’s Moth Story: "Sleepwalk With Me" ([04:27] – [18:13])

Introduction to the Story

Transitioning from the interview, Kathryn introduces Mike’s Moth story, setting the stage for his personal and transformative experience with sleepwalking. The story is titled "Sleepwalk With Me" and provides an in-depth look into Mike's struggles with REM Behavior Disorder.

The Onset of REM Behavior Disorder

Mike recounts the beginning of his sleepwalking episodes, marked by vivid and disruptive dreams:

“About seven years ago, I started walking in my sleep, and I would have these recurring dreams that there was a hovering insect like jackal in our bedroom.” ([04:34])

He describes his initial attempts to manage the condition, relying on denial and everyday routines rather than seeking medical help:

“I thought, maybe I should see a doctor. And then I thought, maybe I'll eat dinner, because that seems more convenient.” ([12:00])

A Pivotal Night and Emergency Consequences

The narrative reaches a critical point during a performance in Walla Walla, Washington, where Mike experiences a severe sleepwalking episode that leads to physical injury:

“I was on the second floor of La Quinta in Waiah Waa, Washington, and I jumped through a window like the Hulk... I landed on the front lawn of the hotel... in my underwear, bleeding.” ([10:15])

Mike humorously yet vividly describes the aftermath, including interactions with indifferent hotel staff and his attempt to explain the bizarre situation:

“I'm the Hulk. I'm the Hulk. And the doctor, God bless him, worked on me until about 5:30 in the morning. And he put 30 stitches in my arms and in my legs.” ([15:45])

Diagnosis and Coping Mechanisms

This incident serves as a turning point for Mike, leading him to finally seek professional help. He details his diagnosis with REM Behavior Disorder and the subsequent lifestyle changes he adopted to manage the condition:

“Now when I go to bed at night, I take a very strong pill and I sleep in a sleeping bag up to my neck and I wear mittens so I can't open the sleeping bag.” ([17:20])

Reflection on Denial and Personal Growth

In a reflective close to his story, Mike underscores the role of denial in his life and career, acknowledging that while it helped him remain on stage as a comedian, it almost cost him his well-being:

“If it weren't for denial, I wouldn't be a comedian... But sometimes denial can kill you.” ([18:00])

Conclusion and Wrap-Up

Kathryn Burns concludes the episode by thanking Mike for his insightful and entertaining contributions. She encourages listeners to watch Sleepwalk With Me in theaters nationwide and expresses enthusiasm for future stories to be shared on The Moth platform.

“Mike is a comedian and everyone please go see his movie, Sleepwalk With Me that opens in theaters around the country this week.” ([18:13])

Notable Quotes with Attribution and Timestamps

• Mike Birbiglia ([02:12]): “You'll get the adrenaline from the crowd and...”
• Mike Birbiglia ([03:32]): “I feel like those are the best Moth stories. I love going to The Moth because when I see someone who's telling me a story and they're not quite comfortable telling that story, it feels really special.”
• Mike Birbiglia ([04:34]): “About seven years ago, I started walking in my sleep, and I would have these recurring dreams that there was a hovering insect like jackal in our bedroom.”
• Mike Birbiglia ([10:15]): “I jumped through a window like the Hulk... I landed on the front lawn of the hotel... in my underwear, bleeding.”
• Mike Birbiglia ([15:45]): “I'm the Hulk. I'm the Hulk. And the doctor, God bless him, worked on me until about 5:30 in the morning. And he put 30 stitches in my arms and in my legs.”
• Mike Birbiglia ([17:20]): “Now when I go to bed at night, I take a very strong pill and I sleep in a sleeping bag up to my neck and I wear mittens so I can't open the sleeping bag.”
• Mike Birbiglia ([18:00]): “If it weren't for denial, I wouldn't be a comedian... But sometimes denial can kill you.”

Final Thoughts

This episode of The Moth masterfully intertwines Mike Birbiglia's personal struggles with sleepwalking and his professional storytelling journey, offering listeners a raw and humorous look into the life of a comedian facing a serious sleep disorder. Through his candid narrative, Mike illustrates the profound impact of The Moth on his ability to share his story, ultimately leading to the creation of his acclaimed film, Sleepwalk With Me.

Transcript

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[Kathryn Burns]

Hey, podcast listeners, is Kathryn Burns, the Moth's artistic director. And I'm here this week on location. I'm at the IFC Cinemas in New York City and I'm sitting here with Mike Birbiglia. Mike, tell us why we're here.

[Mike Birbiglia]

I think that people can probably tell from the sound of the soda machine and popcorn maker in the background. We're at the IFC center screening Sleepwalk with Me, which is my first feature film that I directed and starred in and it's based on a story that I told at the Moth and then was later broadcast on this American Life. And so excited for you to see the movie. And I'm doing 14 Q&As today and 14 tomorrow. And then I'm going to Los Angeles next week to do do four Q&As there, then going to San Francisco to do some Q and A's, then Berkeley. I mean, it's crazy.

[Kathryn Burns]

This was a story you'd been telling in comedy clubs around the country. Then you came, you told a 10 minute version of it at the Moth. And then Ira later broadcast that on this America in Life, which introduced the two of you and then that led to this movie eventually being made.

[Mike Birbiglia]

That's exactly right. And then, you know what's so funny is when I listen to the audio that, that we did and you directed me on the story and I don't know if you remember, I was sick the first Time I told it, my wife and I had been sick in bed for like a month. And I was like, katherine, I don't know if we're gonna be able to do this.

[Ira Glass]

You're like, I think it'll be fine.

[Mike Birbiglia]

You'll get the adrenaline from the crowd and. Yeah. And that audio ended up being broadcast sort of everywhere. It's all over the Internet.

[Ira Glass]

And then it led to me being.

[Mike Birbiglia]

On this American Life, and. And then Ira and I worked on a lot of stuff, and then he co wrote the script with me and produced the script, and it was the first film that this American Life has kind of hands on, produced of one of their stories.

[Kathryn Burns]

Why don't you tell our audience about the first time you ever told a moth story? Because that's actually kind of a funny story too.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah, it was you and me. You directed me at the US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colorado. The moth was there, and I was there as a comedian. You asked me to tell a story, and I told the story about my first girlfriend in high school who. Who told me that I couldn't tell anyone that she was my girlfriend because she had another boyfriend. And I was like the backup boyfriend. This is what I think what's really special about the moth and what you do as a director that's so great is that you provoke people and encourage them to open up about themselves and tell stories. Like, I still have the audio of my first moth story, and I was.

[Ira Glass]

So nervous because I was like.

[Mike Birbiglia]

And this is when the moth is the best, when people are telling something that they just aren't comfortable telling. And it led me to feel that excitement between me and a live audience, where you feel like you're giving something to the audience. It's like a gift. And I feel like those are the best moth stories. I love going to the Moth because when I see someone who's telling me a story and they're not quite comfortable telling that story, and that feels really special, and it feels like we're so lucky the person's telling the story.

[Kathryn Burns]

So, Mike, thank you so much for taking the time out of your crazy day to talk to us for a second here. We want to wish you and Ira and everybody involved in the film the best of luck. I know it's going to be great. So in honor of the movie opening in theaters around the country this week, we present to you for the first time ever in the Moth podcast, Mike's moth version of the story reported in New York City in 2008. Here's Mike Birbiglia. Live at the moth.

[Ira Glass]

I. I was thinking about conviction, and I think that sometimes denial can be one of the greatest convictions. About seven years ago, I started walking in my sleep, and I would have these recurring dreams that there was a hovering insect like jackal in our bedroom. And I was living with my girlfriend at the time, and I would jump on the bed, and I would strike a karate pose. I'd never taken karate, but I had the books from book fair. And I would say, abby, that was my girlfriend. There's a jackal in the room. And she got so used to it, she could talk me down while remaining asleep. She said, there's no jackal in the room. Go to bed. And I would say, are you sure? And she would say, yes, Michael, go to bed. There's no jackal. And I would say, okay. And I would go to bed knowing that there was a jackal. And that's trust. It was around that time I had a dream that I was in the Olympics for some kind of arbitrary event like dustbustering. And they told me I got third place. And I stood up on the third place podium, and I'm feeling good about myself. I'm new to the sport, you know, and they say, you know, actually, we reconsidered. You got first place. And I was like, oh, that's a marvelous promotion. You know, I got first place. I move over to the first place podium, and it starts wobbling, and it's wobbling and wobbling, and I wake up, and I'm falling off the top of our bookcase in our living room, and I land on the floor hard on top of our TiVo, and it broke into pieces, and I'm disoriented on the floor. It's like one of these stories where people blackout drinking and they wake up in Idaho and they don't know where they are, and they're like, oh, no, Hardee's, you know, or whatever is there. But it was. But it was in my own living room. I was just like, oh, no. Devo pieces, you know, And I went to bed, and Abby woke me up in the morning, and she said, michael, what happened to the T foe? And I said, I got first place. And it's a long story. So at this point, I thought, you know, maybe I should see a doctor. And then I thought, maybe I'll eat dinner, because that seems more convenient. And. But a lot of people would say this to me. You know, my parents, you know, my dad's a doctor. He'd say, you know, you should really see a doctor. And I remember, you know, saying, you know, I'm really busy, and thinking these people were crazy, you know, like, they don't know how busy I am. And so I never went to a doctor, but I did purchase a book by a doctor named Dr. Dement, which is not the most calming name for a sleep doctor, but it's called the Promise of Sleep. And I learned. And these are helpful tips. I learned turn off cable news or the news before bed, turn off your cell phone, turn off the Internet computer, don't have big meals, that kind of thing. And I came across in the sleep disorders, a disorder that resembled symptoms of mine, and it was called REM Behavior Disorder. And people who have this have a dopamine deficiency. And dopamine is the chemical that's released from your brain into your body, that paralyzes your body when you fall asleep so that you don't do what's in your brain. So I thought, maybe I have this. And then I thought, maybe I'll eat dinner. So I never went to see a doctor until about three years ago. I was performing at a college in Walla Walla, Washington. I'm a comedian by trade, and I was staying at a hotel called La Quinta Inn. And some people correct me. They go, no, no, no. It's La Quinta. I'm like, that's not fair. You can't force me to speak Spanish. I didn't press 2, but I met. I met La Quinta in. In Waiah Waa, Washington. And I fell asleep watching the news, you know, and it was sort of a story about war and something very chaotic. And I fell asleep, and I had a dream that there was a guided missile headed towards my room. And there's all these military personnel in the room with me. And I jump out of bed, and I'm like, what's the plan? And they say, it's come to our attention the missile coordinates are set specifically on you. And I thought, that's very bad, because I don't have a plan for that one. So I decided to jump out the window in my dream. And as it turns out, in my life. And there are two important details. One, I was on the second floor of La Quinta in. And two, the window was closed. So I jumped through a window like the Hulk. And I say that because that's how I described it at the emergency room in Walla Walla, Washington. I was like, you know, the Hulk, you know, he just kind of jumps through stuff. I have a habit of preemptively shouting when something traumatic is about to happen. Like if someone were gonna come up to me after one of my shows because they didn't agree with something I said and they were gonna punch me in the face, my defense would be to just go, ah. That's all I got. You know, Then maybe the person would be like, this is weird. I'm out of here. You know? And so this is a traumatic situation. I jump through the window and I scream, ah. And what was remarkable is that people of this disorder are capable of doing things they couldn't do in their everyday life. It's like blacking out drinking, where you don't feel any pain or inhibition. I jumped through a second story window and I landed on the front lawn of the hotel. I took a spill, I got back up and I kept running. And I'm running, and I'm slowly realizing I'm on the front lawn of La Quinta in. In waiiu, Washington, in my underwear, bleeding. And I'm like, oh, no. And it was one of those rare moments in your life where in retrospect, you're like, what the hell? And at the time, you're like, I guess I'll walk to the front desk and explain what happened. Fortunately, the person working at the front desk was mildly retarded. And I say fortunately because he was completely unfazed by what had just happened. It's three in the morning. The phones are ringing off the hook from people staying at the hotel who just saw the guy jump out the window screaming, I'm bleeding in my underwear. And I say, hello? Because as it turns out, you have to start somewhere. I'm staying at the hotel Credibility. I had an incident wherein I jumped out of my window, I am bleeding, and I need to go to a hospital. And I'll never forget his reaction because he just goes, huh? And I thought, this is the best possible reaction I could receive at this juncture. And so I drove myself to the hospital. You know, I'm all alone in this very remote place, and I wasn't gonna knock on people's doors at random. Hey, did you hear that guy screaming? That was me. I need a ride. You know, I mean. And so I drove myself. I checked myself into the emergency room. I had to explain what happened three times. You know, the nurse and the doctor and the front desk. I'm the hulk. I'm the Hulk. I'm the Hulk. And the doctor, God bless him, worked on me until about 5:30 in the morning. And he put 30 stitches in my arms and in my legs. And even he's an emergency room doctor. And even he was like, you should be dead. And I was like, no, you should. I zinged him. And then about 5:30 I drove back to the hotel and I checked out and I actually, I paid for the window like any good window jumper would. And. And it was $300 for the window and about 49 for the room. And I went back to New York and I did what I should have done in the first place. When I saw the Jackal, I went to a doctor who specializes in sleepwalk disorders. So now when I go to bed at night, I take a very strong pill and I sleep in a sleeping bag up to my neck and I wear mittens so I can't open the sleeping bag. So literally, if I had the same dream again, it would just be like. And so in closing, I think that if it weren't for denial, I wouldn't be a comedian. Because to be a comedian you have to go on stage that first, those first few years and bomb and then walk off stage and think that went great because otherwise you'd never get on stage the next night. You would just think, human beings don't like me. But sometimes denial can kill you. Thank you very much.

[Kathryn Burns]

That was Mike Robiglio live at the Players Club in New York City. Mike is a comedian and everyone please go see his movie, Sleepwalk with Me that opens in theaters around the country this week. Thanks to all of you for listening. Our regular host, Dan Kennedy will be back next week, but in the meantime, we hope you have a story worthy week.