I greatly enjoyed Mike Birbiglia's comic monologue Sleepwalk with Me two years ago. His gentle self-deprecating manner and his way of embellishing a story with a multitude of funny detours appealed to me. I was afraid that his latest solo comedy, now at the Barrow Street Theatre, might be either repetitious or disappointing. My fears were unjustified. If anything, Birbiglia is even better now. To his previous strengths he has added a knack for physical comedy that is hilarious. His recreation of a queasy carnival ride and an airport run with an unwilling rolling suitcase were knee-slappers. The focus this time around is on the history of his social ineptitude from seventh grade to his thirties. Stories that first seen loosely knit turn out be part of a seamless arc. The 70 minutes flew by enjoyably without any letdowns. Seth Barrish directed.
I was surprised that there were only a handful of people over 40 in the sold-out house.
2 comments:
Thanks for checking out this show for us!
We love Mike Birbiglia in our house. We know him from his frequent visits to the weekend NPR program "This American Life" and on the satellite radio channel "Laugh USA."
His whiny, lazy speaking style makes his humor all that much more surprising.
As much as we like him, I was hesitant to get tickets to his show because we have had several disappointing experiences buying expensive tickets to one-person shows by comedians and not finding them as funny as we hoped (Collin Quin and Ellen DeGeneres are 2 examples).
But after your thumbs up review, we will definitely go. BTW, do you think it would be appropriate for a 13-year-old?
Thanks. Sue
Compared to what a 13-year-old is exposed to every day, the material is pretty tame. However, I did not see anyone under 21 there.
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