Steven Wright: I Still Have a Pony

by Nick A. Zaino III

Back in July, when Esquire’s Jeff Miller was asking the question, “Will the Next Dane Cook Please Stand Up?” he took a shot at Steven Wright. One of his candidates was Demetri Martin, a fine comic in his own right who keeps getting better. In his bullet-point list asking “Why this is his time,” Miller wrote, “Steven Wright hasn’t been funny since Half Baked and Martin’s got a way with one-liners.”

Martin does have a way with one liners, but Miller obviously hasn’t been paying attention. He definitely didn’t see Wright’s one-hour 2006 Comedy Central special, When the Leaves Blow Away or its release on DVD this past spring. And he might want to listen to I Still Have a Pony, the new CD taken from that same special.

The public perception seems to be that Wright hasn’t been around in a while; that’s because he hasn’t released an album since his 1985 Grammy-nominated debut, I Have a Pony, and hadn’t had a stand-up special for 17 years when Leaves was released in April. But he’s kept active, touring and popping in to Boston area clubs for surprise gigs. He’s only gotten better as a comic since the last time he was in the public eye.

All of the things that made Wright special to begin with are still there– the rumbling baritone of his deadpan, the dada-esque one-liners, the expansive imagination. But in the past few years, Wright has been weaving these thoughts into brilliant little absurdist vignettes. On “The Store,” he turns a simple errand into a Rube Goldberg maze of non-sequiturs and bizarre images that almost startle you into laughing.

There’s a new complexity to the material, which sounds effortless when Wright delivers it. Take, for example, this line: “So I’ve been e-mailing my answering machine which has been sending faxes to my cellular subconscious which has call waiting so in case I’m thinking about something else I can get back to myself later.”

It’s impossible to imagine any other comic delivering that line, or even really thinking of it.

Then there’s the quick one-liners that have made Wright’s act ripe for chain e-mailers, who constantly steal his stuff for lists, often throwing in their own sub-par imitations. But it shouldn’t be hard to pick out Wright’s voice, with his odd cadence and even his choice of words.

“I’m addicted to placebos. I could quit but it wouldn’t matter.”

“I went to take her out. Her father said, ‘I want her home by eight fifteen.’ I said, ‘The middle of August? That’s cool.’”

I Still Have a Pony and When the Leaves Blow Away should erase the idea that Steven Wright is anything but a master comedian, still at the top of his game. He’s not the next anything– he’s the original article. And there are plenty of comics who would love to be called “the next Steven Wright.”

Vanessa Hollingshead: Unconditionally funny

by Daniel Petrino

Through her darkest and most triumphant times, veteran stand-up comedian Vanessa Hollingshead could always find stability in comedy

By Daniel Petrino

If you watch comedian Vanessa Hollingshead perform, you’ll quickly discover her off-color comedy comes, in part, from two things: her wacky personal experiences and coping with the obstacles of life.

On a personal level her husband, Lucien Hold, the former general manager and talent coordinator at Manhattan’s Comic Strip Live, passed away in 2004. And on a professional level, it took her years to accept the fact she turned down a $260,000 deal with The Drew Carey Show. Through these things and everything in between, Hollingshead embraced the one constant in her life: the ability to make people laugh.

She’s not afraid to say what’s on her mind, to be a little offensive or even turn The Beatles’ “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” into a modern day hip-hop extravaganza.

With the release of her new DVD An American Anglomanic (filmed at Gotham Comedy Club in New York City) and a ton of tour dates that have her crisscrossing the continent – Reno, Anchorage, Montreal to name a few towns – Hollingshead had plenty to talk about when Punchline Magazine recently caught up with her.

When you see someone walking on the street and they fall, is your first reaction to laugh, help them up or ignore them?
Help them up. Seriously.

Really?
Yeah.

Does that make me a horrible person that I’d laugh and then be like, ‘Oh, do you need help?’
No, that makes you a guy. I used to make a joke about the Germans. They have a very odd sense of humor. Germans would be like, [in a German accent] ‘You know I was playing with my friend and then what I did is I kicked him down a flight of stairs and all his leg was broken. It was good fun. Haha. Just to watch all his falling and the bones jutting out. It was so funny to see his legs all mangled like that. Ya ya.’

Everyone’s got different types of humor. English humor is very dry; Italian is usually very warm; German is very cold.

I watched your comedy special and the “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” rap is one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen.
Everyone loves that.

So do you have a favorite piece of your own comedy?
When I get news jokes funny those usually becomes my favorite. But I like the harder jokes— the jokes that are a little bit more edgy, that once the audience loves you, you can get away with. There was one joke I used to do when I was trying to get pregnant and it went something like, ‘If I knew it was this hard to get pregnant, I never would’ve had all those abortions.’ I’ve never had an abortion, but you know, I was never able to get pregnant, but I used to love doing that joke ‘cause that just came out of left field.

There’s one where I talk about Dr. Phil. I say, ‘Dr. Phil has got to get down to the Middle East and help these couples out. None of them get along with each other!’ Can you imagine him down there? He’d be like, [in a Dr. Phil voice] ‘Now listen Haamil, I think it’s commendable that you want to bring your wife to a full and complete orgasm, but it’s gonna be next to impossible when she’s missing her clitoris.’ Those are the jokes I find funny.

Do you almost see comedy as therapy?
Almost? No. I would most definitely say it is. Four days after my husband died, I was on stage doing comedy. The audience couldn’t see my eyes were completely bloodshot from crying. We were both troopers. He was really a trooper. I knew he wouldn’t want me to be single for too long, which I’ve been, and I know he’d want me to be up on that stage performing. He’d be saying, ‘The show must go on, honey. You’re gonna have to keep going.’

So at that very dark period of my life, which I wouldn’t even wish on Hitler, the audience was literally loving me back and keeping me alive and they didn’t even know it. I had to work moment to moment so for that hour I had to forget that Lucien was dead. It was very therapeutic. If I was in a lot of pain, I was always able to make it funny.

When did you realize you wanted to do stand-up comedy full time?
I was always funny. I was always like Lucy— crazy things have happened to me my whole life. The first time I did comedy I talked about how I lost my hair because I used hair straightener that was made for black people. I was like, ‘Wow. This stuff stings.’ And I had just started a new job. I walk in the office with like, a turban and I needed money to get a wig so I went to my boss and said, ‘Please Mr. Groomberg, can you lend me money to get a wig?’

‘Well, put it on my credit card, honey,’ he said. ‘Just don’t tell my wife. She’ll never understand.’ Those are the things that have happened to me my whole life. And I talked about that on stage just for a few minutes. I was very nervous but I managed to get a little chuckle. I just felt like I was at home. And I’ve always used laughter to get through every dark period of my life

Is there a venue you enjoy performing at most?
There’s this place called Therapy Bar in New York City and it’s completely gay, all gay guys, and they are the most supportive, loving audience and probably the brightest. They’re the ones I can really let it rip with. I love small and intimate places with bright audiences, but not with a crowd that’s too cool for the room. With bigger rooms, I feel like I can’t experiment so much and I feel like I have to be larger than life.

You get enormous applause in bigger rooms and it’s all great, but there’s something wonderful when you can connect with people that have had horrible lives, that have always felt like an outcast, that never see themselves in a good light. When you can make them laugh, that always makes me feel good. I used to be very heavy. Then I lost weight and then I had drinking problems. So it’s so great to go into clubs and talk about these things and have people identify.

So what do you do to psyche yourself up for a show?
I usually say, ‘It’s your quirky way of seeing things’ and I try not to drink too much coffee ‘cause usually I talk really fast. When I did the Comedy Central special I really had to cut down on the coffee that day because I was a nervous wreck. I just say a little prayer like, ‘Please God, just be with me tonight.’ And sometimes you separate; there are times in comedy when you’re performing so much that when you’re on stage performing your inner critic comes out.

It leaves your body and you’re watching yourself performing and you’re thinking, ‘What am I doing with my life? Where do I get the nerve that for the next hour I’m just gonna talk and these people are gonna actually listen to what I have to say? And what do I have to say? And if I do that joke one more time I’m gonna throw up. I can’t stand it. What’s happening? I feel like a fat slob today.’

How did your family respond to your decision to pursue comedy as a career?
My dad passed away so he never knew about it, but he knew I wanted to be an actress. And my mother was like, ‘Oh, well…you know I should pay more attention to you, shouldn’t I? You’re gonna wind up like Judy Garland and Marilyn Monroe. You’re just gonna kill yourself, aren’t you?’

My mom actually heckled me for drugs in a show. Heckled me. She came to see me once and I was talking about how she likes to smoke pot. My mother stood up in her seat and said, ‘She’s right. I like good grass. If anyone has some good grass, tell me.’ Without missing a beat I said, ‘I hope everyone can see why I do comedy.’

What comedians have inspired you?
Probably the biggest influences were Richard Pryor and George Carlin. And I had the opportunity to meet Richard Pryor and he told me I was funny so I felt like I had arrived. I loved the way Richard Pryor would take his real life experience and make it funny and the way George Carlin understood language and words and didn’t give a damn what anyone thought of him. But I loved English comedy as well because I’m half English; so part of me loved Monty Python and Eddie Izzard.

Do you ever watch yourself on television?
Yeah, I do. It’s painful, but I do watch it. I’m always thinking, ‘Do I look fat? Do I look like I have a double chin? How’s my hair? How’s my timing?’ I just pick myself apart.

Do you have any advice for aspiring comedians?
First off, they need to understand that you’ll be married to comedy. If they really wanna be a comedian, they can kiss a lot of life as they understood it goodbye. They have to be prepared to be lonely, to be on the road and to write a lot. And you need a very thick skin and a very strong ego.

You should also keep to yourself and stay a little mysterious. I didn’t get involved with any men, I wasn’t drinking, I wasn’t doing drugs. I just knew what I wanted and I just kept my eye on the prize. In two years I was finally able to make a living at it. I had four development deals but I made some horrible mistakes.

I turned down a $260,000 deal to be on The Drew Carey Show because another network wanted to use me for The Billy Club and they ended up never making the show.

I beat myself up for five years after that. But I just had to forgive myself when I made that huge blunder. Since then, I never looked back and I ended up getting TV shows and good things have happened to me. ‘Life is about the journey.’ I remember Lucien saying to me. ‘Vanessa, if everything should fail, if everyone should let you down, you have a skill. You can do this until you’re 65 years old. You can make people laugh.’

I remember just feeling so bad about myself that I didn’t get famous. I’ve traveled all around the world and I just love what I do so much. Now, it’s not so much about getting famous as it is about wanting to be remembered and respected for what I did— for being a true artist.

For more info on Vanessa, check out www.vanessahollingshead.com.

The New York Underground Comedy Festival: The NYUCF gets its wings

by Meredith Daniels

The former little festival that could proves it’s here to stay– and invites the rest of the world to watch

By Meredith Daniels

The fifth annual New York Underground Comedy Festival is almost underway, taking place this year from Sept. 27 to Oct. 8th. And, according festival organizers, it’ll be the first ever ‘global comedy festival.’

While obviously the majority of the over 200 shows will take place in New York City for the first time there will also be shows in China – at the only comedy club in Asia, Take Out Comedy – South Africa, Ireland and Australia— featuring Melbourne comic Lou Pardi. “I think the best tagline would be ‘the earth will unite under one synchronis voice of laugher,’” says festival Publicity Manager Ryan McCormick of Rising Sun Public Relations.

Highlights of the festival will be uploaded directly to New Media Comedy, a broadband network company with 34 million subscribers that calls itself the ‘premiere destination for global comedic content.’ And in addition to the media buzz from the local networks, national morning shows and VH1, two international news crews will cover the festival.

And while 200 shows does seem like a lot, that’s actually half the number of shows compared to the 2005 festival. With former festival producer George Sarris’ exit this year and the global factor, planning has become that much more extensive.

And the process for comedians to be considered for a show has also grown more difficult with a record number of comics submitting demo reels. This year, expect to see top headliners such as Dave Attell, Vanessa Hollingshead, Eddie Brill, and comic/NYUCF director, Jim Mendrinos.

Branded shows such as Letterman Auditions, Pajama Party, and the 2nd Annual Funniest Reporter Contest help maintain the festival’s unique local flavor. Shows like Comedy Fights Cancer will take place at private venues such as Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, for patients and families of patients.

But the majority of the shows will take place at well-known city venues like Gotham Comedy Club, Comix and Broadway Comedy Club. The Comic Strip Live has also been added to the list of the fest’s venues.

McCormick says that after four years, there’s been a change in public perception too. “Many wondered if the NYUCF was simply going to be a flash in the pan festival just running on hype,” he says. “But I think the industry now knows that the NYUCF is on the fast track to emerge in reality as the blissful dream of George Sarris and Jim Mendrinos’ original vision – ‘A dominant, respected comedy festival’ that helps hundreds of comedians, and a festival that New Yorkers can truly call their own.”

Well, this year the Australians, Chinese, Irish and South Africans may have some claim as well.

For more information on the 2007 New York City Underground Comedy Festival, go to www.nycundergroundcomedy.com and www.newmediacomedy.com.

Greg Fitzsimmons: A total poser… literally

by Alana Grelyak

When Punchline Magazine visited Chicago’s Edge Comedy Club on its opening weekend, we found veteran comic Greg Fitzsimmons more than happy to take some time from his set to strike some poses.

Words and Photos by Alana Grelyak
alana@punchlinemagazine.com

Chicago’s a city that’s well-known for its cultural outlets; we have blues music, we have theater and we also have plenty of comedy; in fact, there’s been an addition to the city’s laugh scene in the form of The Edge Comedy Club, which opened its doors for the first time Sept. 7, and welcomed comic Greg Fitzsimmons as its very first headliner.

Fitzsimmons has made a number of appearances on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, The Late Show with David Letterman, and you can regularly hear him chatting with Howard Stern on Sirius satellite radio.

The club is setup theatre style, with seating that’s practically on top of the stage and arranged in an upwards-rising semi-circle. After brief sets from Chicago locals Dave Odd and Dustin White, Fitzsimmons took the stage.

His laid-back style had a bit of brassiness to it, allowing him to make off-color jokes about whatever the hell he felt like talking about. He had no trouble picking on audience members of all races and colors and no topic was off limits, including his sex life— right down to the conception of his children.

The few that were smart enough to attend are now also privy to information regarding the powdering of Fitzsimmons’ testicles and his experimentation with faux female body parts.

And when he found out he was being photographed for Punchline Magazine, Fitzsimmons struck a series of poses that would’ve made Tyra Banks jealous.

Regardless of the squirm factor, Fitzsimmons’ comedy was absolutely hilarious. The Edge should be proud to have had him kick off their opening night and will hopefully be lucky enough to book comics of Fitzsimmons’ caliber in the future.

For more info Greg, check out www.gregfitzsimmons.com; for more info on The Edge, check out www.theedgecomedyclub.com.

Comedy Death-Ray: Various Artists

by Dylan P. Gadino

As with any art compilation – whether it’s a book of landscape paintings, a CD of jazz standards or a double-live album collection of some of LA’s best known and under-the-radar comics – there’s going to be, at best, some disposable samples and, at worst, so much collateral damage that you spend most of your time sifting through the rubble for something with a pulse.

Luckily, in the case of Comedy Death-Ray, Comedy Central Records’ newest 18 tracks of stand-up, it’s more of the former. And even at this collection’s lowest points (see Andy Daly’s excruciatingly heavy-handed satirical look on clichéd comedy premises and one-liners or Neil Hamburger’s needlessly slow-paced 11-and-a-half minute series of bad – and not in the ironic way – jokes) you’re still experiencing something unique.

More than a random selection of comics, Comedy Death-Ray gives its listeners a peak inside an entire culture of comedy. This weekly show in LA (from where the name of the album derives) not only showcases talented comics but has also over the last five years created a community. And while it’s surely an exclusive community, it also brings together comedians of wildly contrasting levels of popularity.

While obvious stars like Patton Oswalt, David Cross, Maria Bamford and Paul F. Tompkins turn in killer sets on Death-Ray, what makes this album such a satisfying listen is that it’s exposing newer talent.

Coming off an excellent showing at the New Faces show at Montreal’s Just For Laugh’s comedy festival, for example, up-and-comer Ian Edwards proves on Death-Ray that he belongs with the big boys and girls.

His shark attack bit – wherein he pits Bethany Hamilton’s supposed bravery at facing another surfing accident against most people’s common sense that tells them never to go in the water again – is not only hilarious but also well-measured; somehow after spewing venom, he avoids sounding like a cynical jerk.

Guitar-wielding comic Nick Thune turns in a down-tempo series of concise, smart quips: “What if you could respond to what people wrote in your senior yearbook?” Thune asks. “Dear, Mackenzie: Thanks for encouraging me to have a kick ass summer. ‘Cause I did. Sincerely, Nick. PS: I haven’t changed.”

Doug Benson, recently knocked off of this season of Last Comic Standing, proves that with a little insight and a lot of talent, a comic could take contemporary traditional comedy premises – O.J. Simpson, Tivo, smoking pot (he’s the “Rosa Parks of pot smokers”) – and make funny jokes out of them.

But if there’s a best part of these two albums – and why not have some balls and pick one – it would be Jimmy Pardo taking nine minutes and three seconds to get to his first joke. He uses all that time to mess with the audience, start and stop the first lines of bits and explain that he’s about to tell jokes; it’s hilarious.

Pardo’s faux cockiness and his perfectly proportioned old school, buttoned-up-charm-meets-hipster-swagger makes for an incredibly funny and wholly welcomed recursive comedy ride.

That it’s safe to assume that Pardo was the host of that night’s CDR show, and thus was afforded a lot of time to soften up the crowd (where other comics were expected to launch right into jokes) doesn’t matter. You’d struggle hard to find another comic that could entertain so thoroughly for that long without telling one joke.

Bob and Tom: Ambassadors of Comedy

by Noah Gardenswartz

For nearly a quarter of a century, Midwest radio gods Bob Kevoian and Tom Griswold have been pushing some of the greatest (but underexposed) comedians into the spotlight. With a new Comedy Central special, DVD and massive tour set to launch, the duo has just given comedy fans three more reasons to laugh.

By Noah Gardenswartz

In 1983, radio personalities Bob Kevoian and Tom Griswold joined forces in Indianapolis to create The Bob & Tom Show. The morning radio program that started as a local phenomenon quickly became a national favorite on account of the two hosts’ ability to apply humor to their daily broadcasts, whether it be analyzing national headlines or by simply chatting with their guests— many of whom – and this is key – are well-known comedians.

The show has been nationally syndicated since 1995 and is now broadcast in over 150 markets. The tandem has decided to parlay the strength of their radio show into a comedy tour that will be traveling across the country beginning in the fall, with the first show airing on Comedy Central on Sept. 6. Half of the pair, and the producer of the Comedy Central show, Tom Griswold, chatted with Punchline Magazine to discuss their success, their future and the state of stand-up comedy.

Throughout the course of the national Bob & Tom Comedy All-Stars Tour there are a lot of comedians rotating in and out of the line-up. How did you guys go about selecting which comedians got to be a part of the show?
For the most part they’re friends of ours that have been on the show and done well. Now there are some comedians that I love and think are great at stand-up that don’t do well on radio because their material doesn’t translate.

Sometimes it’s because their material relies a lot on visuals, or they can’t clean up their act to make it appropriate for radio and still be funny. But most of the comics on the tour are people that I think are great stand-up comedians, and our listeners have enjoyed them on the show as well.

Who’s your favorite comedian?
I don’t really like to play favorites, but for my money, right now, it doesn’t get any better than Mike Birbiglia. He’s just such an original thinker. He truly does have his own voice.

How did the idea to turn the radio show into a stand-up tour originate?
About three years ago one of my daughter’s friends was diagnosed with a serious illness and they were trying to raise money really quickly to help with the medical bills. So I called a few comedian friends and we arranged to do a benefit show kind of on the spot, and we ended up packing a room and entertaining over 300 people, most of whom had never been to a comedy show before.

It went really well and I realized that there are a lot of people who have never seen live comedy that would enjoy it. So I figured to do this in a theater style setting with a comedy tour would be a lot of fun and very successful. We’ve been doing it for almost three years now.

What’s your preference: radio or stand-up comedy?
Radio for me, but that’s because I’ve been doing it so long and I’m just comfortable being on the radio. One advantage to stand-up comedy though, is that there’s a live crowd right there to feed off their energy, which is not the case in radio.

After doing so many shows on the radio, day in and day out, how do you keep it fresh for your listeners?
We’ve been lucky enough to have great guests over the years ranging from comedians to politicians to Peyton Manning, so that always helps. And you know, we’re funny, but we still do news, so the advantage to being on so early in the morning is that we have first crack at the news. Every day the newspaper gives us dozens of new headlines that we can make funny.

Outside of the radio show and the comedy tour, you also produce a lot of albums, both comedy and rock. Is that a side passion for you, or something you’d do full time?
It’s definitely a passion of mine and over the years I’ve just become so familiar with the studio equipment that I’ve learned how to do it well. I’m actually very proud of the fact that Bob and I have recorded or produced over 50 albums over the years and donated a lot of money from the proceeds to different charities.

With all the success you guys found, have you pretty much done all you’ve set out to do? Or do you plan to keep on going for a while?
There’s no point in stopping now, we’re having too much fun.

For more information on The Bob & Tom Show, check out bobandtom.com. For dates and venues for the upcoming tour click here; and click here to buy the new DVD.

Mike Birbiglia: Stand-up comedy’s next future legend

by Dylan P. Gadino

With the release of his new Comedy Central offering My Secret Public Journal Live, comedian Mike Birbiglia proves he’s no longer an up-and-comer. Punchline Magazine tells you why, at the age of 29, this New York City comic is his generation’s best.

By Dylan P. Gadino

When I interviewed Mike Birbiglia for Punchline Magazine’s launch in September of 2005, the then 27-year-old comic told me a story about how during his time at Georgetown, he used to work the door at the DC Improv. He explained how that afforded him a unique look into the inner sanctum of the national comedy scene; in part, that meant he had access to the likes of Dave Chappelle, Margaret Cho and Brian Regan, all of whom young Birbigs had opened for.

But it was Regan that seemed to impress him most— and for good reason. If you’re unfamiliar with Brian Regan, let me sum up: He is arguably – that is, barely arguably – the best comic working today.

On top of that, in my limited experience interacting one-on-one with Regan – timidly asking him to sign his now classic 1997 album, Brian Regan Live for me five years ago, chatting with him earlier this year backstage at a theater in Tarrytown, NY and interviewing him over the phone – I’ve also found him to be an incredibly nice person.

At least a half dozen comics I’ve spoken with have, without any prompting, had similarly positive things to say about the man. In short, he’s hardly the worst guy to pattern your career around.

As Mike’s story goes, manning the Improv’s door and getting stage time at a well-respected venue, not to mention realizing that Regan made a solid living performing comedy, eventually inspired him to tell his older brother Joe – Joe Bags, to dedicated MB fans – that he wanted to make money being a comic— a comic like Regan.

“I’m going to become a comedian and go on the road,” he told Joe, positing Regan’s success as reason enough to embark on the seemingly impossible goal.

Coming from a family of pragmatists, Joe’s response was, to put it nicely, pragmatic: “But he’s Brian Regan, Mike.”

Mike paused.

“Yeah, but that’s what I’m going to do.”

That’s as far as his logic went. And it’s a good thing.

***************
On Sept. 25, Mike will release his third album of stand-up comedy— his second for Comedy Central Records. It’s called My Secret Public Journal Live. It’s the best comedy album of this generation.

Let me explain.

On stage, Birbiglia has always had an engaging presence; he’s got energy enough to keep you hanging on his words but knows when to hold back.

He’s not a slacker; he’s not a hero; he’s not skinny-jeans-floppy-haired hip like Demetri Martin; he’s not coolly aloof like Zach Galifianakis; and, he doesn’t score many points for being ultra edgy or controversial. I could even understand it if, after a superficial listen, blue or cringe humor fans might label Birbigs as too vanilla.

Regardless, up until now, Birbiglia has made a name for himself by being incredibly funny— and nothing more.

If Birbiglia put out an album as good – and with similarly veined jokes – as his first two efforts (Dog Years, Two Drink Mike), it would’ve been an amazing accomplishment; consistency, especially in comedy, isn’t easy.

Instead, Mike has created something wholly unique. On Journal, named after his entries from My Secret Public Journal, which he periodically e-mails out to thousands of people and reads on the nationally syndicated Bob & Tom Show, the Boston-area native relays deftly constructed stories to his audience at the Funnybone comedy club in Columbus, OH.

This shift in style would be less noteworthy had Bibrigs been this type of comic all along. But he hasn’t— not on stage, anyway. He was never a one-liner comic but he was also never a storyteller in the classic sense.

Now in one album’s time, Birbiglia, 29, has matched, if not, surpassed, the greatness of other contemporary comedic storytellers (see Ron White, Christopher Titus, David Cross).

I’ll take it a step further.

During my repeated listens of Journal, I couldn’t help feeling the same way I do when I go back and listen to Bill Cosby’s bits about the childhood revenge he had on Junior Barnes or his experience at the dentist or every minute of Bill Cosby Himself, for that matter.

If you’re asking yourself, “Did he just compare a guy named Mike Birbiglia to Bill Cosby— one of the greatest stand-up comedians – storyteller or otherwise – of all time?” then here’s your answer: Yes.

***************
Most comics, no doubt, tell us a little something about themselves through their jokes. Mike’s no different.

For years, he’s been telling crowds that he’s an Olive Garden Italian (an Italian-American who really doesn’t look, act or maintain any ethnic traditions) and that he’s not so much a man’s man and that he’s got a hard time waking up thanks to Sleepy Karl, the part of his subconscious that temps him to stay in bed.

And all those things are present on Journal. But this time, we learn so much more about Birbiglia because he’s relaying stories not just about himself but about the characters he’s created and about the people around Mike — his parents, his childhood friends and, especially, Joe Bags.

In short, and to paraphrase your high school English teacher, Mike’s “showing” more in lieu of “telling” this time around.

Now, we see Sleepy Karl in action: he’s the reason Mike showed up once to his Introduction to Computers and Networks course in college and failed to show up again— until what he thought was the class before the final.

Now, we see Mike’s dad actually sitting at an Olive Garden in a strip mall expertly pronouncing the restaurant’s embarrassing interpretations of traditional Italian fare; we see his technologically challenged mother dealing with a computer porn virus and a cell speakerphone.

Now, we know why Mike’s not a tough guy. After all, he shows us with a childhood story about jumping out of a 30-foot-tall tree at Old Mill Pond that ends with Mike getting what seemed like “a back alley colonoscopy from Dr. Old Mill whose instruments had been sterilized in frog piss and pond scum.”

And instead of a passing mention of brother Joe, Mike gives him starring or supporting roles in no less than five stories, maybe most endearingly and most hilariously at the punch of “Celebrity Golf,” the album’s 13-minute opening story about Birbiglia performing comedy at a fundraiser for cancer.

***************
Like a classic book or movie, My Secret Public Journal Live, ebbs and flows seamlessly, has relatable characters and is well crafted.

Journal, also like most classic pieces of art, maintains deeper, layered, almost time-released qualities that enrich its audience’s experience by offering much more than the piece’s main, intended purpose— which, in this case, is creating plenty of laughs.

Make no mistake; Journal is amazingly funny throughout. But even if you took the humor out, it would still be an album with a dozen examples of finely crafted stories. It would still be great.

I’m not saying Birbigs’ latest is a classic. It’s not— yet. Only time and the opinions of comedy fans can determine if it will endure to become as important as a Billy Cosby Himself or even a Brian Regan Live.

But I will say this, if Brian Regan-respect is what Birbiglia was after, he’s already got it.

For more info on Birbiglia, check out www.birbigs.com. Listen to a track from My Secret Public Journal Live.