Mike Birbiglia: "If you're not telling secrets, who cares?"
Don't save your best stories for when you're dead.
Mike Birbiglia talked to Pete Holmes and Gary Simons about telling secrets onstage on the “Working It Out” podcast. A few of the standout lines:
“In the best case scenario, you’re telling secrets to the audience. And they’re laughing.”
“Are we gonna save our best stories for when we're dead?”
“If you're not telling secrets, who cares?”
“I’m secrets only now when I watch comics. When someone tells me a secret onstage, I’m like, ‘This is the real dope.’”
Holmes’ big piece of advice to new comics. Ask yourself, “When would you laugh?”
I used that line just the other day when workshopping new bits with another comic. He gave me a premise and explained the whole joke. My response: “When would you laugh?” His reply: “Good question.”
Also, Holmes gives these tips to newbies: Attaching yourself to your local scene in a real way and partner with people at your level and/or slightly ahead of you.
Here’s the full ep:
Funny. When I finally started writing personal essays in a way to be shared and also working different bits for stage I kept telling myself i should wait until certain people die before sharing. But, then I realized that I could die tomorrow or they may live forever. So, what’s the point in waiting? It was advice from listening to and reading Anne Lamott where she simply says, “Every story you own is yours. If people wanted you to write more warmly about them, they should’ve behaved better.” We have all been the victim and the abuser, the hunter and the hunted, we all have a hero’s journey.
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Which can be cloudy. Some people have their own version of the truth from their perspective. Sometimes emotions can cause us to remember things differently and some of us have better memories than others. While some people out there enjoy making shit up. Getting to the truth in any story is always the most interesting part. Even when/if we don’t like it.