Mike Birbiglia: One-on-One Interview: Newport Comedy Series
Saturday, August 09, 2014
Standup comedian Mike Birbiglia talked to GoLocal about his current tour, Thank God for Jokes.
Birbiglia will be performing at the Newport Summer Comedy Series on August 15.
A native of Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, Birbiglia is also an award-winning author and filmmaker. He wrote, directed, and starred in Sleepwalk with Me. The film is adapted from his one-man off-Broadway show of the same name.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTBirbiglia discussed the development of his tour, screenwriting, and working as a standup comedian.
How is the tour going so far?
It’s good, it's a lot. It's a 100 cities and I'm about half way through. Newport is a really interesting, gorgeous town. It's a great place to walk around. Just a cool little spot there on the water. I have a lot of family in Providence. My brother Joe, who writes with me a lot and produces a lot of stuff I do. He lives in Providence with his family. My sister who introduced me to comedy, when I was a teenager, she lives in Providence with her family. So, it's a big family affair. They will be there in full attendance with their family and friends. My niece and nephews will be selling the tee-shirts at the merchandise table.
What do you think is the biggest challenge switching from stand-up to working on a long form narrative such as screenwriting?
I feel like stand up is a building block for larger stories. Ultimately when you tell a joke, you're telling a miniature story, with a condensed story. Almost like a poem. Then when you're telling a story, sort of like a series of jokes thrown together to form a narrative and then when you're talking about like even larger story, like a full show, one man show or writing movie, it's like a series of those jokes strung into stories, stories strung into a full narrative arc, and so I think it is all very interrelated actually.
What advice would you give to any aspiring comedians or those who want to pursue a stand-up career?
It sounds like the worst advice but it's the only advice. You just have to get out, figure out how to get on stage and, and fail and repeat and fail and repeat and, and call me in ten years. Cause there's just no other way. Being a comedian is a strange profession because it's the illusion of a person talking on stage. But, when you typically see a comedian, such as Bill Cosby or Louis C.K., these are people who have been getting on stage for ten, twenty, thirty years. There are a lot of people who get into comedy and they're like, well I'm just gonna get it right away and, I'll figure it out in six months or something. It's like, no, it's never happened like that.
It's a little bit deceptive of a profession in that sense. There's a sense of I should do that, but other professions don't have that. People don't go to the doctor and say I should be a doctor. That would take a long time. But a lot of people go to comedy shows and say I should be a comedian. Maybe they should but then again, it's takes you longer than you think. I remember being twenty-two and thinking I'm gonna be great next week. I wasn't.
I thought I might as well keep trying. I thought I'll be better, I'll be great in six months. Then I wasn't, and then I better keep trying, and then you cut to ten years later and you're like, oh, yeah, I guess this is how it happens. You just keep going and going and going and you just get so far along that there's no turning back at a certain point. I feel like everything in comedy takes seven years longer than you think it does.
Let’s talk about the current tour you are on.
I wanted to set out to write the funniest show I've ever written. That was the goal. I had just done Sleep Walk With Me and My Girlfriend's Boyfriend. I wanted to write a show that was just pure funny.
That was just pure jokes and stories and it was kind of more in the vein of Two Drink Mike, which was my second album. And, in the process of it, what ended up happening was, schematically all of the stories and jokes ended up being kind of about stories and jokes. It became its own sort of schematically type show which is pretty exciting. It's been a pretty exciting process. It's kind of about how jokes can sometimes get us in trouble and then can sometimes make us feel closer to people. Telling jokes is always a gamble but I think it's worth it. That's really what the show is about.
What do you want to work on next?
I'd just like to take a nap for five weeks. A really long, long nap. That’s my dream. I just want to rest.
Tickets are still available for Mike Birbiglia's show on August 15. For more information, please visit NewportComedy.com or call 800-745-3000.
