STAGE TIME Magazine: Mike Birbiglia

How did you get started in comedy?

I was introduced to comedy by my brother Joe, who I write about in my secret journal. I
write this online travel blog about my life on the road. We're developing it as a series for
Comedy Central. I read it regularly on The Bob and Tom Show. We're doing a series of
vignette shorts from the road on this bus tour and one of the characters that I talk about is
my brother Joe, who was very influential in my comedy molding because he started writing
comedy pieces in high school and I would sort of help him out. Then, I started writing satire
pieces for my school newspaper and I experimented with sketch comedy. When I was 17,
my brother took me to see Steven Wright live in Cape Cod, and it was sort of at that
moment where I was like, "This is what I'm going to do." It just made sense when I saw
him onstage.

What was your experience winning "The Funniest Person On Campus" contest? Was that
your first time performing stand up?

Actually it was. I went to Georgetown [University] and I looked around for sketch comedy
groups and there wasn't one, but there was an improv group. I auditioned for that and got
into that. About a year into doing that, there was a contest for the "Funniest Person On
Campus" and I entered that when I was a sophomore. Victoria Jackson was the host. She's
from Saturday Night Live formerly. It was very exciting moment for me.

Were you nervous being onstage?

The most nervous I've ever been onstage was probably doing the Letterman show, which
was my first time being on television and being in the "Funniest Person On Campus"
contest. It was the two most nerve wracking stage experiences. It's almost like undergoing
anesthesia where you don't feel like you're there and then come out of out.

You won an opportunity to perform at the DC Improv. What was your experience working
there?

It was really great. It was a tough sell for my parents. It's tough to convince your parents
when they're supporting you going to college that you should be working 20 hours a week
at a night club, working the door and busing tables. It was great training, kinda like going
to comedy college. You would see Jake Johanssen, Kathleen Madigan, Brian Regan and
Margaret Cho and all these people who you see on television. I really respected their stand
up and I got to open for a bunch of them.

What is your advice for comics who are working at comedy clubs in exchange for stage
time and are trying to move up to the next level? And how were you able to do that at the
DC Improv?

I was able to do that, but never able to move up. I think this true in a lot of businesses
that to move up and be promoted, you need to go somewhere else. I was always an emcee
for three years, even at the point when I could have been a feature act, but they didn't see
me as that. I had to go to other comedy clubs around the country. I ended up for two or
three years driving around the country in my mom's station wagon going to any comedy
club, dive bar or anything. I was writing like crazy trying to develop an enough of act where
I could make a living.

I went all over. I lived in Queens, NY. I was broke; I had cheap rent in Queens and I lived
on an air mattress. I would borrow a car and I would drive to New Jersey, Massachusetts
and as far as Pittsburgh or Ohio and Chicago.

When did you start doing stand up?

It was '97. I graduated in 2000. I moved to New York and I was temping and working on
the road at the same time. About a year into that, I was able to quit my day job and
temping stuff and just go full time on the road. That was at the point when I was asked to
do the Montreal [Just For Laughs] Comedy Festival in the "New Faces" category. I was 23
and then that got me seen by the Letterman show. About a year later, I ended up on the
Letterman show.

That credit gave me the wherewithal to headline at comedy clubs. I was able to start doing
longer sets and work out a bulk amount of material, which was why I was able to make my
own CD. It was self-produced; it was called Dog Years and the producer for Comedy Central
Records, Jack Vaughn listened to the that and signed me to make a CD for them.

How did you prepare for Just For Laughs?

With "New Faces," it was a lot of six-minute sets in New York City at comedy clubs, just
trying to hone that specific set. In "New Faces," all you really do is seven minutes.

How was it different for you performing last year as a headliner?

It was great. It was a lot less pressure. When I did "New Faces," I really didn't have a
career. You're kind of auditioning for the industry...I'm doing an Italian-themed show,
which is absurd because I'm Italian, but I say in my act that I'm not real Italian.
I'm "Olive Garden" Italian. I think to mix it up they put me in there.

You have a huge college following. What are the advantages to working the college
market? How is a college audience different from than a comedy club audience?

This tour has been really neat because college kids can't really go to comedy clubs.
There's usually an age 21 requisite for comedy clubs. It's been really cool to go out to
these schools and do shows for people who really watch Comedy Central. A big part of
Comedy Central's audience is college students. I'm 27 so I feel like a peer in some way to
college kids. We have similar points of reference. Sometimes, I feel a much bigger gap in
comedy clubs like when I'm performing for people who are 40 and 50 years-old.
Sometimes there's an insurmountable gap because the points of reference are so
different.

There's been media buzz about comics promoting themselves on the Internet and
MySpace. How important is that to use the Internet and launch a website to build a fan
base?

There's advantages either way. In some ways, I respect these guys who don't have a
website. They don't have any interest in that. They just want to focus on the art of it. And
they're like, "If people find me, they find me." I just so prefer doing shows for people who
enjoy my sensibilities and are into the stuff I talk about. Last year has been really cool
because Comedy Central and The Bob and Tom Show - people are started to come too my
shows on purpose. That's a really fun way to do things. It's almost like hanging out with
your friends. You don't have that awkward the first 10 minutes of meeting someone at a
party.

You've accomplished a lot in a short period of time. How do you deal with envy?

I feel like I got more of that when I really new to the scene. Since I did Letterman when I
was young, there was a sense that I had skipped some steps along the way. But the longer
I've been around, people are like, "Oh okay. He's just a comic like the rest of us."
Everybody knows it's hard for everybody.

How do you challenge yourself to be a better comedian?

Lately, I've been trying to tell more stories onstage. Guys like Richard Pryor and Bill Cosby
were able to tell stories and great jokes in a way that you felt like you really knew them
and the show on a whole can have some kind of arc to it. My next project is a one-person
show I'm writing called Sleepwalk With Me, which is basically a series of stories of my life.

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