Going Off Script

Often times during a stand-up routine, heckling the crowd will be a part of the show. For well-known, older comedians especially, it’s a chance to get to know the people that have been fans for a while, as well as revisit their improv days. For an audience member in the front row, this can be pretty nerve-wracking, but most know what they’re in for.

Mike Birbiglia is one of the biggest, and one of my favorite, names in comedy today. And he’s no rookie. He has been performing stand-up since the very early 2000s, and writing since even before that. He’s been through all of the phases a comic can go through to get to where he is today; he’s been in an improv group, been a server at a comedy club, written and performed his own routines, toured them, put them on Netflix, and he even wrote and directed his own movie. About comedy.

Someone of this caliber of work has to have joked with a few audiences in his time and I know that he’s generally a funny person. So when I was watching his latest work on Netflix, Thank God For Jokes, I couldn’t help but give in to laughter when I watched him heckle the audience.  

Not to spoil the set, but in this special, Birbiglia talks about getting pulled over and arrested for a driving on a suspended license when he was just starting out in the comedy world. He takes this opportunity to ask his audience if they had ever been arrested and he finds one participant willing to offer his story.

So he goes over to the man and asks, “What did you get arrested for?” to which the audience member responds, “I got arrested by a woman cop… and put in a headlock”. Now, this is a confusing response for anybody who’s asking, but especially for someone whose source of income somewhat depends on this conversation. Birbiglia, though, wastes no time in responding with, “I don’t like how you said woman cop”. The audience then erupts into laughter and applause and Birbiglia, himself, has to laugh. He follows, “It was very obnoxious,” when he regains his composure, hitting the audience’s funny bone once again.

Mike Birbiglia continues on to talk some more with this storyteller and gets many more laughs from his fans. Even though the situation started out rocky, he made the best out of it, and rolled it into a joke.

The relatability of his offhand jokes is something that reigns high above others’ in comedy today. Birbiglia knows his audience. It’s shown through his own comedy, interviews, and social media. He has presented himself to the world as a leftist in American politics and someone who fights against injustice in the world. He’s an outspoken person and those who didn’t like it have turned away from his work.

But those who do stay are the ones that the jokes are focused toward. They are the people who keep coming back to his shows. They are the ones who laugh with him when he talks to the audience. They are the ones who laugh when Birbiglia makes a joke out of a situation gone awry.

Watch Mike Birbiglia’s Thank God for Jokes on Netflix here:

Mike Birbiglia Thank God for Jokes

Get tickets to Mike Birbiglia’s new Broadway Show:

Mike Birbiglia The New One

Watch more by Mike Birbiglia on Netflix:

What I Should Have Said Was Nothing

My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend

Don’t Think Twice