Site icon The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss

Mike Birbiglia, The Sleepwalking Comedy Giant (#176)

  • Tim Ferriss
    • Photo credit: Evan Sung
    Photo credit: Evan Sung

    “Art is socialism, but life is capitalism.” – Mike Birbiglia

    Mike Birbiglia (@birbigs) is one of the best-known and busiest working comedians in the world, both behind and in front of the camera. His standup blends elements of theater, film, storytelling, and comedy.

    Mike has been deliberate in studying many crafts and tying them together, which is reflected in a diverse string of successes: sold-out tours as a solo theater act, New York Times bestselling books, off-Broadway shows, feature film, TV, and more. In recent years, his work has appeared on public radio’s This American Life, where he began a meaningful collaboration with host and producer Ira Glass.

    Currently, he is the creator, writer, and star of the new film Don’t Think Twice, which was just released. I loved it, which I do not say lightly. Check it out.

    Get exclusive content from Tim right in your inbox

    So…how the hell does he do it all? I aimed to find out.

    In this conversation, we cover a ton, including:

    If you only have 5 minutes (and need a good laugh), here are Mike’s rules for good sex.

    Enjoy!

    You can find the transcript of this episode here. Transcripts of all episodes can be found here.

    #176: Mike Birbiglia, The Sleepwalking Comedy Giant

    Want to hear another podcast related to comedy? — Listen to my conversation with Bryan Callen, who is a world-class comic and prolific actor. Stream this episode below or right-click here to download.

    Ep 47: Bryan Callen on Eating Corgis (Yes, The Dogs) and Improving Creativity

    This podcast is brought to you by Four Sigmatic. I reached out to these Finnish entrepreneurs after a very talented acrobat introduced me to one of their products, which blew my mind (in the best way possible). It is mushroom coffee featuring chaga. It tastes like coffee, but there are only 40 milligrams of caffeine, so it has less than half of what you would find in a regular cup of coffee. I do not get any jitters, acid reflux, or any type of stomach burn. It put me on fire for an entire day, and I only had half of the packet.

    People are always asking me what I use for cognitive enhancement — right now, this is the answer. You can try it right now by going to foursigmatic.com/tim and using the code “Tim” to get 20 percent off your first order. If you are in the experimental mindset, I do not think you’ll be disappointed.

    This podcast is also brought to you by Wealthfront. Wealthfront is a massively disruptive (in a good way) set-it-and-forget-it investing service led by technologists from places like Apple. It has exploded in popularity in the last two years and now has more than $2.5B under management. Why? Because you can get services previously limited to the ultra-wealthy and only pay pennies on the dollar for them, and it’s all through smarter software instead of retail locations and bloated sales teams.

    Check out wealthfront.com/tim, take their risk assessment quiz, which only takes 2-5 minutes, and they’ll show you — for free — exactly the portfolio they’d put you in. If you want to just take their advice and do it yourself, you can. Well worth a few minutes to explore: wealthfront.com/tim.

    QUESTION(S) OF THE DAY: What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.

    Scroll below for links and show notes…

    Selected Links from the Episode

    Twitter | Website | Facebook

    Show Notes

    People Mentioned

    Get exclusive content from Tim right in your inbox

    Exit mobile version