Mike Birbiglia: The New One (2019) ★★★★

Reviewed on FHC 150

Big fan of Mike Birbiglia for about 8 years now. I stumbled upon Sleepwalk With Me (the movie) accidentally and then rabbit-holed my way through the special and into My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend. I will forever swear by the latter being a perfect example of storytelling and standup comedy. I’d never seen anything like it and still haven’t. I’m quite confident I never will. I’ve also worked my way through his other specials, Don’t Think Twice, and his podcast The Old One’s. I LOVE IT ALL.  

All that to say, I’m grading The New One on the Mike Birbiglia curve. It’s miles ahead of 100% of all standup specials from other comedians (Make Happy and Nanette notwithstanding). That said, it’s not Birbiglia’s best. Without giving anything away here, I’ll say that the first half of the show is easily the strongest half- something that isn’t usually the case with his work. A lot of the subject matter drifts into the overly familiar and though it’s, of course, delivered in signature Birbiglia fashion, does lack a little bit of freshness. 

But here’s the thing, I don’t care. It’s fucking awesome. Per usual, Mike is open, honest, and vulnerable. He’s not afraid to paint himself in a bad light ever and even when the potentially “funnier” road might be a different one, he stays the course to serve the narrative. He’s such an unabashed storyteller that no matter what, the stories inform the jokes and never the other way around. 

The New One is a brilliant telling of a new chapter of Mike’s life and it’s delivered in a way that makes the audience feel once again like we’re simply catching up with our extremely funny friend. At the end, all I really wanted was to hug him like his couch would and thank him for saving my best friends life.