Mike Birbiglia on making it work
That part about convincing yourself it's going well when it's not? Every comic knows that feeling.
@birbigs, Birbiglia nails it here. That part about convincing yourself it's going well when it's not? Every comic knows that feeling.
The wildest part: his famous sleepwalking story bombed for 6 MONTHS before it worked. Six months of silence. Now it’s the bit everyone knows him for.
How long did you work on your favorite bit before it clicked?
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MIKE BIRBIGLIA
Standup comedian. Emmy-nominated. Storytelling. Specials. Mike Birbiglia's Working It Out Pod. Slide to read.
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PART 1
“To be a comedian you have to be a little bit delusional, you know, because you have to convince yourself it's going well when it's not going well, because otherwise you wouldn't get on stage again. You'd just be like, I guess human beings don't like me. It's such a weird art form in that way” — MIKE BIRBIGLIA
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PART 2
“Comics ask me for advice. I quote Eugene Mirman: 'Start doing it, keep doing it, call me in ten years.' It's a dark joke, but it's true. It takes a lot of failure. Not like a little bit of failure, like a LOT of failure. Comedians who eventually become great bomb really hard for a long time. The bombing in some ways is a gift.” — MIKE BIRBIGLIA
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PART 3
“Everything on my albums used to bomb. Everything. My sleepwalking story where I jumped through a second story window? Six months of silence on stage. But I knew it was funny.” — MIKE BIRBIGLIA
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PART 4
“The key is if it works with people whose taste you trust. Then you know it can work for an audience eventually. You just have to figure out how to translate it - get what's in your brain into their brain. It's not easy. It takes a lot of trial and error.” — MIKE BIRBIGLIA