Mike Birbiglia: Sleepwalk Unplugged

The show was held at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in Los Angeles on February 4, 2010. It was great.

If you're a comedy dork and also an NPR dork, there's a very good chance you're already familiar with Mike Birbiglia. He frequently contributes to This American Life, and also has a couple of albums under his belt in addition to some Comedy Central specials. He's what you call "good." So good, in fact, Nathan Lane came along and saw some of his stuff and went on to finance a show in New York where he told the audience the perils of a sleepwalking disorder mixed in with tons of jokes. And tonight, he brought it to Los Angeles for five bucks a head.

Having not seen the regular Sleepwalk With Me show, but having heard bits and pieces of it on the radio and elsewhere, I can't say how much this show is like the regular show, particularly because through an unfortunate directional issue we stumbled into the show just a couple of minutes late. For all I know, he said what was different, but the entire tale of woe and why you should date someone who will demand you go to the doctor when you have a potentially crippling sleep disorder were all here.

Since he's based in New York and tours a lot, Birbiglia coming to your town is kind of like an eclipse. In that you probably won't know until it's too late, unless you're paying attention to this sort of thing, which you absolutely should. As one of the most likable comics working today, this is an act you can absolutely take your parents and, most likely, teenish or older kids to without fear of looking like a horrible, horrible parent. The audience was quite respectful and the show was excellent. If you have the means to see Birbiglia-- this show in particular-- let me suggest that you do so. (Unless there's like a DVD of it you can just score, in which case you can probably just go ahead and get that.)