Mike Birbiglia's Working It Out

Hannah Einbinder received Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for her breakout performance in HBO’s “Hacks.” Today Hannah and Mike discuss what it means to be yourself in auditions, risking rejection in front of audiences, and the miracle that is crowd work. They kick around new jokes about the time Mike’s Apple Watch called the police and what it means to say I love you from the other room. All that, and some deep thoughts on deep sea fish. Please consider donating to: The Trevor Project

In addition to his new hit book “The Anthropocene Reviewed,” John Green has written several novels that have debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list including “The Fault in Our Stars” which was adapted into an indie blockbuster with Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort, and featuring Mike in the role of Patrick the youth pastor. Mike and John recount meeting each other on the set of the movie and in the slow round John recalls getting a banana smushed in his face in 4th grade. John helps Mike work new out jokes and they end up in a rabbit hole of summer camp nostalgia. John also becomes the first guest to try to place his own Jack Antonoff music sting. Please consider contributing to: Partners in Health Check out Mike's tour dates at: Birbigs.com

Rosebud Baker can make anything funny. She has jokes about the tragic death of her sister, her own struggles with addiction, and why nurses seem to be a little too cocky. Mike and Rose kick around jokes about what to do when your Uber is filling up with water, how much urine is in a public pool, and why some of us marry our dads. All that, and a story about toasting a U.S. president when she was a kid. https://www.safehorizon.org/

In December Mike presents Alex’s Edelman’s solo show, "Just for Us" off-Broadway at the Cherry Lane Theatre. It's an award-winning comedy in which Alex (who is Jewish) tells the story of being accidentally invited to a gathering of white nationalists & then what happened when he…showed up. Mike & Alex crack open that story as well as working out jokes about rollerblading into museums, why Socrates had a hard time at parties, & how texting the tooth fairy can backfire. https://www.childrensdefense.org/

Legendary British comedian Jimmy Carr joins Mike for an hour-long chat discussing the power of laughter and how it can heal us. They jump from jokes to roasts and explore the universality of humor in navigating difficult situations. They also touch on their friendship with Stephen Hawking, memories of their childhood, and processing death through humor.

Fresh off his Emmy win (with stage companion Conan O’Brien) Stephen Colbert joins Mike for a discussion of comedy, anxiety, and why he’ll never run for Senate. He explains that the reason he loves improv is that there’s nothing like failing with someone else and laughing about it with your scene partner, and he explains why Bill O’Reilly was never his scene partner. https://somosamigos.org/

Atsuko Okatsuka makes comedy videos featuring her grandmother & her husband, which Mike is convinced should be a feature film. The two comedians discuss Atsuko’s move from Japan at age 10, her grandmother’s run-in with a praying mantis, and why Mike might end up making a cameo in Atsuko’s feature film singing “Amazing Grace.” Earnestly. https://downtownwomenscenter.org/

Filmmaker Sterlin Harjo co-created the smash comedy hit Reservation Dogs for FX about four Indigenous teenagers growing up on a reservation in Oklahoma. Sterlin tells Mike about the time he accidentally taped over someone's wedding video while applying to the Sundance Film Lab. He also discusses Native representation in film & how his new series may represent some sense of hope. Many laughs. Many challenging topics. A little backstrap. https://wellforculture.com/

The last time Phoebe Robinson and Mike hung out, they were waiting to be picked up by an Uber on the side of a highway after their tour bus broke down. In this episode, they discuss Phoebe’s third book, "Please Don't Sit on My Bed in Your Outside Clothes,” the eternal question "to prenup or not to prenup," and why Mike was qualified to be a token white guy on Phoebe's "Sooo Many White Guys" podcast. https://www.girlswritenow.org/

Mike welcomes back one of our most beloved guests, Pete Holmes, to celebrate the paperback release of The New One. Pete has a lot to say about hardcovers, hardbodies, and how his father asks him questions just he so can answer them himself. Mike calls this "an expert's edition" of Working It Out because the slow round and the new material all swirl into one singular soft serve ice cream comedy cone. https://cac.org/