About : furniture that stands up to cats
Title : furniture that stands up to cats
furniture that stands up to cats
[applause] >>brendan: so, everyone, you know these twopeople. mike birbiglia is a famous stand-up comedian who has turned filmmaker. this movieis based on his one-man show of the same name-- "sleepwalk with me." and ira glass is a producerand host of "this american life." please welcome to the stage, mike birbiglia and ira glass. >>ira: thanks. wow, thanks you guys. >>brendan: no problem. how are you? >>mike: thanks, brendan. yeah, no. we didn'tdecide in advance who's gonna sit closer to brendan
>>ira: well, you're the filmmaker, writer,star director. i felt you naturally would get closer--. >>mike: but you have a popular radio showthat everyone loves. [laughter] i'm the unknown comedian. >>ira: i know, but i'm the side man in thisproject. >>mike: ok. i guess so. >>brendan: but you're both here and featured.so, it's ok. >>mike: thanks for having us here. it feelsso evil.
it just, i don't know what it is. like, theword "evil" just pops to my mind when i'm here. >>brendan: oh, man. there are no lawyers here,right? ok. i see a few in the back. they're not listening.so, guys. thanks for coming again. >>mike: thanks. >>brendan: we're talking about the movie "sleepwalkwith me," which i watched last night. it's a great movie. >>brendan: it's, as i mentioned, is mike'sone-man show. was, ran to rave reviews, sold out bleecker street theater--.
>>mike: i just want to point out she's videoingthe show like this with her phone going like this. she's over in the fourth row. that isa funny tripod. it was just, it's a very unreliable tripod.is your hands in the "stick the landing" gymnast pose. >>brendan: it's more of a bi-pod than a tripod. >>mike: yeah, it's a bi-pod. [laughs] >>brendan: but the show ran for eight months.sold out bleecker street theater was produced by nathan lane. and then you turned it intoa book. >>mike: that's right.
>>brendan: and, would you mind just givingus the cliff notes of how the movie came into being--transformed from this one-man showto a book? >>mike: i'm gonna, i would answer this, butwhenever i answer anything and ira's around, he just starts steam-rolling whatever i'msaying mid-sentence. he's goes, "no, this is how to explain it." and then he just startsgoing, so i'm just gonna throw it to you out of the gate. how did it happen, ira? >>ira: i don't remember. >>mike: me neither. here's what happened. when you have broadway or off broadway showthat is extended a bunch, like it's extended
a bunch of times, inevitably everyone youknow says, "you should make this a movie." this is apparently something i didn't knowbeforehand. i've been writing screenplays since i was in college, like that's what istudied in school. and i'd always wanted to make films, but iessentially couldn't afford it. there's the short version. and then, around this timethat the show was really successful and i had the opportunity to write the film forthis company that we didn't end up making the film with but we amicably parted wayseventually. but that's when i started writing the film. and i asked ira, "would you wantto be a producer?" and along the way, he worked on it so muchthat in the process he became one of the writers
as well. and so, it took a lot longer thanwe thought. >>ira: yeah. >>mike: that process started in 2008. andwe shot the film in 2011. >>ira: we started working on the movie in2008? >>mike: no, no, no. sorry. 2009. the playopened in 2008 and then 2009 we started the script. so i guess two years later we shotthe film. >>brendan: and just sort of a back story,mike-- >>ira: awesome. >>brendan: mike had appeared on "this americanlife" a few times leading up to when you guys
started making the movie. how did you guysmeet each other originally, or start working with each other? >>ira: i mean, we met each other because mikehad actually told this story at the moth, a story-telling open mic--it's not reallyan open mic. a story-telling show. and i heard a recording and thought it would be greaton the radio. called him up and that's the first time we met. and then since then, wecollaborated on a bunch of stories together and that we put on the radio. and when we do it, you'll have an idea fora story and we'll sketch something out. and then we have a process of working on it that'svery different from other writers on the show
where mike will go on stage and perform aversion of the story and make a little mp3 and email it to me. and then that night orthe next morning, we'll go over it. ok, what worked? what didn't work? where shouldwe fill stuff out? where could we have another joke? what jokes aren't working? and we'lldo that five or six or seven times. and then at the end, have a piece that we'll then recordfull-fidelity and very prettily and put on the radio. >>brendan: so, mike. you said you were, wentfor college and you studied screen-writing. ira, have you been a film buff? i mean, you'vebeen in radio more or less. >>ira: i'm not a film buff at all. like, igo to the movies. i enjoy it. i'm a completely
civilian movie consumer in every way. >>brendan: you have an imdb entry now. sonow you're a filmmaker. does that weird you out? >>ira: no, that seems awesome. actually, that seems really awesome. and wehave, like the radio show has had, since 2002, various projects that people tried to makeinto movies that have been in development with various directors. and one of them actuallygot made. paul feig, who did "freaks and geeks" and "bridesmaids," made one of them into afilm years ago. but i wasn't so, we weren't so popular then.he just like, took an idea and made it into
a film--a film called "unaccompanied minors,"a kid's christmas movie. and, which i felt i had no expertise to bring to that. and so,this is the first film that i've really been so super involved in. >>mike: you know what i noticed looking atthe audience of google employees? no one's old. >>female #1: i'm old. >>mike: you're not old. >>ira: how old, i'm older than you. >>female #1: 46.
>>ira: i'm way, way older than you. >>mike: beat your ass. solid, hardcore 50right here. >>ira: more than that. >>mike: no one's older than you, right? >>female #1: i doubt it. >>mike: you're 46. anybody older than 46?do we have a 47? do i see a 48? >>ira: 49. see, but this isn't news to them. >>mike: it's news to me. breaking news-al.
>>ira: you thought it was gonna be a lot ofold people? >>mike: i thought it was gonna be an elderlytechnology company. sort of a home for hobbyists, technology hobbyists,who wanna compete with apple. >>ira: what's the internet service like inthis building? >>mike: is it decent? you guys get a goodsignal? you guys get a t3 around here? >>ira: like, is it like so unbelievably fastthat when you go home, it's not even worth going on the internet? >>mike: you just have to touch someone inthis building and you're on the internet. >>ira: no one's answering the question. isit super fast?
is it like super fast? >>mike: i'm googling you right now. i'm googlingmy mom as we speak. there's like 150 thousand results. oh, my god, mom. who knew? >>brendan: yeah, the web's pretty quick here.but--. >>ira: you were getting bored with my answer,weren't you? >>mike: i hate your answer. your answer's,'cause we do this, we've been doing a lot of q and as. as a matter of fact, this--. >>ira: [ indistinct ] so many q and a's.
>>mike: this friday and saturday, we're atthe ifc center. we agreed and there's this video where we proclaim it on youtube thatwe're gonna be at every single screening friday and saturday night opening at the ifc centerin new york city. and it was, that seven screenings a day. we sold out, yeah, it's 14 screenings. wesold out eight of them. they added another screen. so now, we're doing 14 screeningsper day. that's, for all you google employees who don't know math, that's 28 screeningsin two days. >>ira: so that's a lot of q and a's. >>mike: it's a lot of a's.
>>brendan: the same qs. lots of differentas. you just gotta mix it up each time. >>ira: i know. i know. we're gonna be likebob dylan. we're gonna start to just make up answers to stuff. >>brendan: yeah. after a week, people justwon't want to see you live anymore. >>mike: just wait till we go electric. >>ira: alright, ask us a question. we're gonnalie. we're gonna lie on this answer. >>mike: like bob dylan in his early work.we're just gonna make up a lore. >>ira: ok. let's try it. let's try it. >>brendan: ok.
>>ira: we've never done this. >>mike: [babbling ]. >>brendan: mike, you mentioned the one-manshow was very successful. >>ira: what is this? bob dylan? are you stoned? >>mike: yeah, i'm stoned. i'm playing thepart. we're doing a bit. >>ira: he's not stoned. have you seen--? >>mike: no, no. but i mean, like he just doesn'tcare. like give me a cigarette. does anyone have a cigarette? does anyone smoke at google?does anyone have a cigarette for real? >>ira: come on. there must be one--.
>>mike: somebody has a cigarette. come on.secretly i know that you'll get fired the moment that people discover that you smokecigarettes. >>ira: there's like a hundred, how many peopleare in this room? >>mike: somebody smokes. raise your hand ifyou have a cigarette. be honest. just say that it was for a friend. >>ira: there we go. here we go. >>mike: can we borrow a cigarette?[audience member responds inaudibly] wait, you might be 47. can we get a camera on this guy? can we geta camera on this guy? that'll be a good cutaway.
thank you very much. >>ira: god bless you. >>brendan: alright. so mike, you mentionedwhen the one-man show was a success. >>mike: uh-huh. >>brendan: and people were pressuring yousaying, "hey, this could be a movie." >>mike: yeah. >>brendan: when did it occur to you to say,"hey, this might actually work as a movie" instead of my friends just saying, "hey, youshould make a movie?" >>mike: [slurring] just let ira answer thisone.
>>ira: he actually had a, he had a dream. >>mike: i can't do bob dylan any longer. >>ira: there was a talking dog. >>mike: i had a dream there was a talkingdog and it was--. >>ira: wait. what was the question? the questionwas when did we think it could be a movie? >>brendan: yeah, versus people just saying,"hey, you have a show. it could be a movie." >>ira: i actually know, i actually know wheni thought it could be a movie. i could answer for me. >>brendan: mike, is that ok?
>>mike: yeah, go ahead. yeah. >>ira: well, somebody suggested that the filmhad a very traditional structure where what you've got in the film is a guy who has increasinganxiety over--. he's in this relationship. he isn't sure if he should stay with his girlfriend.they've been together for years. he's not sure what to do--super relate-ablesituation. and also, he's trying, he's in his 20s. he's trying to be a comedian. it'snot going so great. and he's not doing anything much about either of these things. and somebodysuggested, "well, you could just kick the thing off at his sister's engagement party."his sister gets engaged. people start asking him, "so, what are you doing with your girlfriend?like, what's going on with your life?"
so, creating anxiety so he could have thefirst sleepwalking incident. that would kick the thing off in a very normal movie sortof way. and when i heard it, i was like, "great. you could do that." and you could build justto, to basically, finally he--. i mean, this isn't such a spoiler because it's on the posterand all. ends up jumping out a window. he jumps through,like there's a series of increasingly spectacular sleepwalk incidents as he doesn't deal withthe stuff in his life. his anxiety gets expressed through these funny and spectacular sleepwalkincidents culminating with him nearly dying, jumping through a window and nearly dying. and then he'll have to decide like, what todo about the girl, basically. and it seemed
like once i saw that, it's like, ok. it'sa very traditional structure. and it could be a film because the way i think about thesethings is so math-based in a way. like, if i can see the structure, but i feel like,ok, then it can be real. >>brendan: yeah. like a sentence diagram.you can see the little parts where--. >>ira: that's exactly right. like, i needthat. and when i'm making stories for the radio show, in fact, like there's a lot oflike, there's diagramming. so. >>brendan: and speaking of the physicalityof the movie, mike, there's a lot of--. i mean, you're primarily a stage performer.this movie, you got a chance to just be chased around and run through fields and jump outof windows and crash off of furniture. was
it weird being a physical specimen in frontof the camera versus where your stage show, you're much more subdued? >>mike: yeah. it was a lot more physicallyrigorous than my everyday life. i had to sprint through that field. >>ira: so many times. >>mike: over and over and over again. andthen what was worse is that i had to do it, fall, 'cause as you can see in the scene,i fall in a field that's not a set on paramount's lot. with a field. it's an actual field that ifall into. i jump up and then i jog over to
where there's playback and i watch what ijust did. and i say, "it's good," or "it's not good." and then, usually it's not good. and then we do it again. >>ira: there was a lot, i was amazed at theamount of falling, yeah. >>mike: there was so much falling. it was,and running. just so much physical ru--. and the other thing is that i make my toplessdebut in this film. this is something rarely talked about, buti feel comfortable talking with you google folks about it because you guys google theword "topless" all the time. i don't know. it was a good google joke. itwas much better than it was received.
shame on you, google. no, it's, mike birbiglia.if you google mike birbiglia topless, this movie comes up because we were shooting thatscene where i sleepwalk down the hallway after i have this certain dream. and i was like,"you know, it's just funnier and grittier and more real if i don't have my shirt on."and i swear. this is gonna sound ridiculous and not real, but like, i swore to myselfinternally when i started acting like in college that i would never do a topless scene. i swear to god. i'm not even making that up. >>ira: really? >>mike: i think that's a decision that everyactor makes.
>>ira: why? wait, why? >>brendan: is it when you're a writer fora different contract? >>mike: usually it's actresses who make thatdecision, but in this case, i'm just so self-conscious that i was like, "oh, i could be an actor,but i would never take my shirt off and certainly not my pants off." but i did just becausei got so swept up in what's good for the movie. >>brendan: the other thing is like you'rethe director of the movie. so, you would have to tell yourself to get over this mental humpthat you have to take your shirt off. >>mike: yeah. i had to say to myself, "hey,mike. it's cool. be cool." and i was like, "alright. i don't know." andthen mike would say, "no, baby. be cool."
i was like, "i don't know." and then the crewwas just staring at me having this conversation with myself. >>ira: but you can tell when you watch thefilm that the directing was done by a black man from the '70s. >>mike: that wasn't a black voice. that was not a black man's voice. >>ira: whatever. >>mike: that was just a cool, high schoolguy's voice. >>ira: ok. alright. point taken. point taken.
>>mike: i sound like a guy i went to highschool with. >>brendan: you both, you both started yourcareers before the web and social media really took off. and ira in particular, shows a prettygood example of how traditional media can leverage the web to expand your audiences. >>ira: yes. yes. >>brendan: do you even, i read an interviewof you a few years ago. you said that when you started the podcast, your weekly audiencedidn't change. it stayed around one point eight million or so? >>ira: one point eight million on the radioeach week.
>>brendan: but the podcast added another halfmillion. >>ira: right now, it's like 700 thousand. >>brendan: seven hundred thousand. and thatskews overwhelmingly towards younger people who may not even listen to the radio at all. >>ira: yes. yeah. >>mike: the only people who don't listen tohis show are that lady and that guy. >>female #2: i've been listening to that show. >>brendan: i was gonna say, do you have apreference for how people listen to your show, or is it all good?
>>ira: oh, i don't care. i mean, i mean, thething--. >>mike: the correct answer is, it's all good,bro. >>ira: it's all good, bro. was that good? >>mike: yeah, it was good. you killed. >>ira: yeah? yeah. i mean, i mean, yeah. idon't care. >>brendan: that's good. it's, you saying "it'sall good, bro," is gonna be an internet meme in about 30 minutes or so. >>ira: i feel like such a--.
[clapping] i think that's such a corny meme, though,that's like, but anyway. alright. >>brendan: yeah. >>mike: it's all good, bro. >>mike: he won't repeat it. now that you knowwhat these google people can do to you. you're like, "a meme? i gotta find out whatthat is." >>brendan: but mike, the flip-side of thatis a lot of comedians now build their entire careers on sorry, mike, bob dylan. they buildtheir whole careers on the web and social media. but you're--.
>>ira: you're the only person i've ever seenwho gets less sexy when you put a cigarette in your mouth. just do that again. like, you have no air of menace. do it again.it's crazy. like, anybody else looks cooler. what are you doing wrong? [laughs] exactly. >>mike: what do you mean? doesn't that lookcool? they're never gonna put this in 'cause it's google has a cigarette and cigarettesare evil. >>brendan: [laughs] i was saying that in alot of ways, the one-man show is the antithesis of the 140-character joke structure that alot of comedians build their careers on now. >>brendan: do you feel strongly about howthe web or social media is affecting comedy
in the comedy world? >>mike: it's certainly affecting it whetherit's positive or negative, there's really no way to know like for a long time. >>ira: that's not it. [laughs] >>mike: what? >>ira: it's affecting it, whether it's goodor bad there's no way to know? that is the most non-committal answer i've ever heardto anything. that could be the answer to any question. what do you think of the oil situation andthe price of gas and is it gonna be going
up? >mike: there's no way to know. it could be good. it could be bad. no wayto know. >>ira: i just think like just for rob delaney'stweets alone it's worth having an internet. >>mike: yeah. it's worth it. >>ira: like, have you ever seen his show? >>mike: i follow him on twitter constantly. >>ira: everyone follows him. no, he's amazingon twitter, but yeah. like, who knows how he is in stand-up?
>>mike: twitter's good for comedy in the sensethat comedians are able to find their audience, which is good. and i don't know. like, itseems good. i honestly--. >>ira: you've been marketing to an audienceover the internet. >>ira: you put up a journal. >>mike: yeah, i have my blog, my secret publicjournal. and i've been writing on that since, it is. it's called my secret public journal. dot com. and i was, i mean, yeah. i guessso. i think the answer is yes. i mean, like i started doing comedy when i was 19 and i'm34 now. so, i guess i've been doing it for like 15 years. and when i--.
>>ira: you are totally pulling out the mathfor these engineers. it's amazing how you're catering the whole thing to this crowd. >>mike: just doing it to process it for myself. but i've been doing it for a number of years. and yeah. even when i started out in '97 or'98, i was, i would keep an email list from after my shows. >>ira: and did you have like, how many peopledid you have on that list? >>mike: well, there was only like ten peoplehad email addresses. it was a very few. but no, it was a smallgroup. honestly, it was like, i was so delusional
starting out. first of all, i was terrible.so it was like, who would wanna be on my email list? second of all, i mean, after like twoor three years, i had like probably 300 people on my email list spread across the unitedstates. so, if i had a show in like, pierre, there'sprobably one person on the list. so, there's not, it wasn't that effective in that sense.but then, as that list grew and i, it became this thing where people started to come outto see me on purpose as opposed to going to see the "comedy show,"-- >>mike: which was always my goal 'cause iwasn't, i was not immediately a comedian who you'd want to see because i was soft-spokenand i was like, kind of strange. i wasn't
that mean. i feel like mean comedy was alwaysselling really well when i started out. people would get up on stage and they're like, "you'refat. you're gay. i'm out of here." and they would be like, "this guy's a genius."i'd be like, i don't think he's a genius. i don't know. i don't get it. but that's nevermy, that was never my sense of humor. like, i was always a little fat and a little gay. i, but, and so like--. >>brendan: that could be title of your nextone-man show. >>mike: yeah. a little fat and a little gay.and, but neither at the same time. alright. did you just stop my joke? i think that'swhat just happened. i was gonna say, ok.
>>brendan: we have--. >>mike: no, but i actually have an answer.i have an answer for the question. >>ira: the question was how did the internetaffect comedy? >>mike: so, the internet, the internet thing.yeah. >>ira: we're still on that? >>mike: i guess so. we got sidetracked, buti think we're gonna end strong. >>ira: bring it. bring it. bring it. bringit. >>mike: so, cut to now and i have like 150thousand twitter followers. and i think some of the first people who signed up for my emaillist are probably twitter followers now. and
that audience has evolved as, and liked meon facebook and all that stuff. and so, i get, in terms of getting an audience thatlikes what you do if what you do is really specific, i think the internet is really good. the same way that like, people are alwayslike, "oh, they make fun of people for going on dating sitesâ€. and i'm like, "well, whywould you make fun of, you're just saying things that you might be compatible with andthen those people are saying what they might be compatible with and then that might workout." you know what i mean? like, it's actuallyvery logical. it's like being set up by a friend, except the friend is a computer 'causethat's our new friend in this era that we're
in. but yeah. and so, i feel like with artists,it's like a dating, the internet is like a dating site for artists with their fans. >>brendan: nice. well, we have a few, twoaudience mics here. we can take a few questions. so if you wanna ask a question of either personhere you can feel free to just line up. >>ira: have we sold the movie hard enoughwhile we're waiting? >>mike: oh, yeah. we love the movie. >>ira: the movie's really funny. >>brendan: it's great. i watched it last night.
>>mike: do you guys feel sold on the moviebased on what's happened so far? that felt light. >>ira: so? >>mike: that felt light. so, let me sell youon the movie. the movie's really funny. >>ira: the movie is really funny. >>mike: and we, it's a real labor of love.and it's something that you can bring your teenagers to or your parents. there's onecurse word in the whole movie. there's nothing in it that's like excessively violent or shocking,but i think it's a pretty compelling story that we're telling and with consistent laughsin it.
and it's, we showed it at sundance and southby southwest and the response from audiences has been really consistently lovely and warm.and i feel like that's why ira and i are here at google today and it's why we're going ontalk shows and why we're talking about it a lot, because when ira and i don't like stuffthat we do, we don't tell people about it. >>ira: we don't promote it. >>mike: we're just like, "let's pretend thatnever happened." and so, yeah. we really urge you to go seeit. >>ira: like my goal was that, like i hopethat we can make a movie that would have the feeling of the best stories on the radio showwhere you just get pulled into it and funny
parts and be emotional. and truthfully, througha lot of the process of making the film, it did not have that quality. and only in the course of editing it, showingit to audiences, and remaking it, did it start to feel like something from the radio show.and i feel like it really does. >>brendan: great. and we have our first questionover here. >>female #3: hi. i listened to the original"sleepwalk with me," one of the original iterations of it and it's just such a--. >>mike: can you come closer to the thing? >>female #3: hi. [laughs]
>>mike: yeah, that's gonna help. >>female #3: it's such a dear story to youand it involves a lot of people you're really close with and you go into a lot of detailabout them. i was wondering about the casting process and how surreal that must have beento try and find your family and your ex-girlfriend in this sea of actors. i'd love to hear moreabout that, how you went about finding these people. >>mike: well, lauren was the first personwho we asked to--. >>ira: this is lauren ambrose who plays hisgirlfriend. >>mike: and yeah. my, that was my wife's idea.my wife, jennie, who's very close to like
every part of the process of all my projectssince we've met. we were always talking about like it's really, how it's really importantthat whoever plays the girlfriend in this film, that plays abby, has to be, has to emanatestrength and humor because if she doesn't, then we'll feel bad for her at the end, inevitably. and we don't wanna feel bad for her. we wannafeel happy for both of these characters that things are gonna be better for them both.and so, my wife is a big fan of "six feet under" and i never had seen it 'cause i couldn'tafford cable when it was on. and so, i caught up with it a little bit. and i was like, "oh,yeah. she's perfect." and so i invited her to a show that i wasdoing at town hall. and her and her husband
came and we struck up a conversation and shecame to some of the readings. she did about four or five readings of it over the courseof a year. so, she was, that was done. she was always great in the readings. and then,carol was similar. carol was someone i had met in the castingprocess of a pilot i did for cbs on 2008, where we were talking about casting her. andit didn't work out for like a variety of reasons. there were a lot of chefs in that process.but carol and i--. >>ira: it's so crazy that you can meet carolkane. like, the fact that we know carol kane to me is really--. >>mike: i know. it's really wild 'cause like,when we were in the casting process for that
pilot, they were like, "what about carol kane?"and i said just that. i was like, "we could ask carol kane to do this?" and they werelike, "well, you can ask anybody." and i was like, "ok." and we sent her the script andshe really liked it. and then she and i became friends and hadjust kept saying, "let's do something together," because i just think she, her sense of comedyis so unique. and what she brings to it is so special. it's like, what we wrote on thepage is like this. and then what she does is like this. and so, we'll be indebted forher, to her forever. >>ira: the thing is, like with all the casting,we didn't try to make them be like the real people. like, they don't physically look likethem--
>>mike: true. >>ira: and the parents especially are verydifferent than mike's real parents. >>mike: and that's why we had them, part ofthe reason we had fake names--matt pandamiglio, not mike birbiglia. linda pandamiglio andall that 'cause we wanted to nod to the fact that it's autobiographical, but not to saythat it is a documentary. >>ira: it's funny 'cause i think the weird,the person through the whole thing was the weirdest for was mike's girlfriend, who themovie is about. >>mike: my ex-girlfriend, yeah. >>ira: his ex-girlfriend who came and sawthe film. after it was done, she saw it at
bam. we did this screening. and so it's likewhen the bam opera house and it's 15 hundred people or two thousand people or whateverthat thing holds and afterwards, she came. i said he was there and she like came up toyou and like, i think she had the weirdest experience, much weirder than yours 'causeyou had like gone through every stage of filming it. but can you image like your ex-boyfriend makesa movie about your relationship, depicting actual things that happened. and then, you'reat a movie theater and there it is. it's like a period of your life depicted by incrediblyskilled actors, shot by a great cinematographer. it's like for her it was so weird and shewas so teary, like so moved. it was really
an amazing thing i think for her. i mean,hearing her talk about it afterwards was really interesting. >>mike: and then the rest of the casting wasby jennifer houston, who is a brilliant casting director who casts "girls" on hbo and whoi've known for a long time and i've auditioned for successfully for years. >>brendan: thanks. >>female #3: thank you very much. >>brendan: i have another one. >>male #1: hi. you're both doing tons of qand as, press junkets, and screenings. what
do you do to relax or cool off once you'vefinished your 14 screenings a day? >>ira: we don't actually. i mean, i'm gonnago back and go back to writing this week's radio show because it's not clear. we've recordedtwo different versions of the top of the show and one should be, by nature, three minutesand one should be, by nature, like, neither one is gonna work basically.[chuckles] so, i'm gonna just go back to my job. andthen you haven't really been working. you haven't had any time off at all. you seem so burned out. >>mike: you seem burned out.
nice glasses, loser. >>ira: are you asking that because you cantake us out and get us ecstasy or something? >>male #1: i can't comment. >>mike: memed. you're gonna get memed on that,because you can take us out and get us ecstasy? you don't think they're gonna meme that? youdon't know what memes even are. >>ira: i was semiotics student. i know whatmemes are. i knew memes before they were on the internet. >>mike: that's gonna be memed. so, the question is what?
>>ira: he wants to know--. >>mike: the question is like what do we dofor fun. we just party, you know what i mean? like, we have a hollywood lifestyle. we'reguys, we're guys that like, five nights a week we are trolling the bars. we are outon the town. we see broadway musicals. >>ira: you think that's the party lifestyle? who told you that? >>mike: i turned it gay at the end. i startedout being like an "entourage" thing. and then i made it like a "glee" thing. no, we don't do anything for fun except hangout with my wife and our cat, ivan. that's
like the best thing we do. we watch movies. >>ira: it's actually the truth. >>mike: no, like that's all we do. my wifeand i go see movies. this weekend we saw "ruby sparks," which is really good. we saw "beastsof the southern wild." saw "hello, i must be going." there's a lot of really good indiefilms out right now. we saw "compliance." i see a ton of movies and i hang out withmy wife and our cat. thanks very much. >>female #4: ok, so this is for mike. i knowthat your brother joe bags is in a lot of your stand-up. is he in the actual movie,like making a cameo? 'cause that would be awesome.
>>mike: no. and there's a reason he didn't,which is, and he's one of the co-writers on the film and has a lot of hilarious linesin the film. he, we were gonna use him in the wedding scene where it's like my family,but so many people come up to him thinking that he's me because we look very similar,that then it's even worse on the big screen. it's like, even if you catch a glimpse ofhim, you go, "wait, is that the protagonist?" and then, it takes you out of it. and so,that was why he wasn't in there. >>mike: well, look out for joe bags in futurefilms. joey bag o' donuts. by the way, for peoplewho have no idea what she's talking about, there's a track on my album, my secret publicjournal live, which i think is called joey
bag o' donuts, or joe bags, joey bags, aboutmy brother joe. and it's a funny story and you can listen to it. you can rip it for free off the internet 'causeyou guys are good at that. >>brendan: the last question. >>male #2: thanks. hi. this is a questionfor both of you. how have you found your story-telling styles changing as you've grown and been inthe industry more and more? >>mike: well, ira's grown a lot longer thani have. >>ira: well, that's true. that's not evena joke. but i also started later than you did. like, i feel like you're much more precociousthan i am. like, you were more successful
in your 20s. like, you were hugely successfulin your 20s, whereas i was a late bloomer. but anyway, like for me, i feel like wheni listen to earlier work, i can hear myself trying so hard to make the stories have significance. and listening to recordings of myself, listeningto old pieces where i'm just trying so hard to make the stories have like, meaning andimportance has made me back way the hell off on that and just say less about them and letthem talk for themselves more. i mean, on the radio, like when you're telling a story,like you wanna move the plot forward, but then also periodically someone in the storyhas to say like, "here's what i'm trying to say with this story. here's what the storymeans. here's the point."
and early on, i was so worried that the storiesdidn't have a point. i would just totally, it was like pouring syrup on the stories.when i listen to some of the early episodes of the show, i feel kind of embarrassed. >>mike: and now, you're so indifferent whenyou speak on the radio-- that it's comical. people are just, peoplehear you go, "act one, holocaust." "act two, somalia." >>ira: yeah, that's a good point. >>mike: "act three, east africa." and peoplelike, isn't it more important than that? like, isn't it more dramatic than the way that you'rejust throwing those lines away? you're like,
"well, i guess so." >>ira: wait, is that your imitation? >>mike: it fell away at the end and it justblended into me speaking with a high voice. >>ira: i feel like your whole, your wholesituation has gotten so big in your story-telling in the last four, five years. >>mike: by my situation, you mean--? >>ira: your skills, your massive skills. arewe fighting? >>mike: we're having comical repartee. >>ira: ok. feels a little like fighting.
>>mike: "act one, we fight." "act two, we make up." what was the question?i'm just kidding. i know the question. it's, how do we change as story-tellers or evolveas story-tellers? >>male #2: yeah. >>ira: that's a good question. >>male #2: thank you. >>mike: yeah. the, when you guys get finished,i'm gonna answer this one. sorry, i thought it was funny 'cause he goes, "thank you."it didn't allow for me to answer. i hope they edit this. that's what the opening shot shouldbe.
>>ira: write a note to the editors, whereever you are. >>mike: can we just go in, the tight scene,of me going, "i hope they edit this." and then it's unedited. >>brendan: they'll add the cigarette in there,too, at the end. do you have the cigarette? >>mike: oh, my mom is gonna be so ashamedof the cigarette thing. mom, mom, mom, mom. i'm not smoking. i'm doing it as a joke. >>ira: it's not lit. >>mike: yeah. but she doesn't even understandhow cigarettes work. mom, i'm kidding.
>>ira: so, anyway. so, speaking for mr. birbiglia. >>mike: no, no, no. no, i was, when i startedout, i was just doing jokes. i was modeling myself after jerry seinfeld and steven wrightand a lot of observational comedians who i really admire. and then, over the years, likei started between performing at the moth in 2003 and just doing these longer sets. i got booked at a ton of colleges startingout because no one else would book me. and colleges have really low standards. they'rejust like, "we need someone to stand in the coffee house for an hour who's an adult."and so, i performed. and you can perform for like an hour, an hour and a half, two hours.
and in order to fill the time, a lot of timesi would just tell more and more stories. what i found was i was like, well this is just,these are actually, i'm better at this. i think this is something that happens a lotof times with artists or people in all fields is they start on one path and they realize,"oh, i'm actually better at this other thing." and i think what i found was that when i wastelling stories, there was more passion in my delivery. and as a result, more passionfrom the audience coming back at me because i cared about what i was talking about, asopposed to, i feel like there's, right now, we're witnessing a post-seinfeld--and i loveseinfeld--but a post-seinfeld era of--. it's not observational comedy anymore becauseobservational comedy has become ubiquitous
in tv ads, in billboards. and it's like everythingis a joke. everything's an observational joke. i feel like comedians have gone the otherway between like louis ck and marc maron and maria bamford, and even in the movie realmlike judd apatow, where its become more personal and more specific. and i think that that's the, i don't know,that's the direction that i went in and i just find it to be, i'm able to connect withpeople more by telling stories. and then meeting ira was great because he just, when i metseth barrish, that was really--. >>ira: he directed your one-man show. >>mike: he directed the one-man shows. thatwas really helpful for me developing longer
stories and longer pieces. so, my one-personshows are, have more of an art to them. and then when i met ira, it really got me focusedon elements of story-telling that i hadn't considered. like, if you watch ira, and this is a goodplace to say this 'cause people are watching this online, there's this incredible youtubeseries of clips of ira talking about story-telling, how to tell a story. and i feel like, theyall have to do with surprise. >>ira: those clips, it's the craziest thing.that was this thing where somebody just came by the office to videotape as a training videofor al gore's television channel of how do you tell a story. and i feel like on the internet,i am more famous for those videos than i am
for my actual work. like, that's--. >>mike: and that's how it should be becausethose videos are really exceptional. >>ira: versus your work? and yeah, no. soyeah. but when you and i started working together-- >>mike: those videos are great and i highlyrecommend them. >>ira: like, you were naturally going to storieswhich had more emotion and more feeling in them anyway, so they weren't just funny storieswith more just a real story arc. >>mike: and i was really lucky because i wasable to work with the oracle. >>ira: no, i was very lucky. >>mike: i was very lucky. i was very fortunate.i feel like i was very lucky.
>>ira: no, i was the lucky one. >>mike: i feel like i was so blessed. i feelso blessed that i'm able to work with these people who are so brilliant geniuses who wejust met who are just exuding the sense of creativity and have natural arcs to the stories.and we're just so lucky. [indistinct] >>ira: [indistinct] working on the radio becauseyou have a good editor because you have a radio show and the sense of going on and onand talking about nothing at all and just sort of talking to yourself--. [indistinct] [applause and cheering] >>mike: i don't know. how does it end? howdo you end these things?
>>brendan: i think you, and you can't endit any better than that. but i was just gonna say for people in the audience here, the movieopens at the ifc center on 6th avenue on friday. tickets are still available. they'll be doingq and as, as they said, at the shows. so, if you'd like to--. >>ira: and then, the week later doing thesame thing in chicago and in los angeles. >>mike: sorry. is this thing--. and i'm doinga san francisco september 2nd at the embarcadero. and the theater in berkeley, movie theater--. >>ira: does google have an office in san franciscoyet? >>female #6: yes.
>>mike: are you joking? >>ira: yes. >>mike: the, and i'm gonna be at the embarcaderoin san francisco on that sunday night. and on that monday night, i'll be at the movietheater in berkeley, california, which is one of my favorite places to go. and so, youguys in the google west coast--. >>ira: they've already seen you now. theydon't need to see you again. >>mike: no, but they'll see the movie andthen also they'll see the answers. >>brendan: and with that, ladies and gentlemen,please join me in thanking mike birbiglia and ira glass.
[cheering] >>mike: thanks, brendan >>brendan: my pleasure. >>mike: shake the man's hand.