Reading the product description of Mike Birbiglia's new album, My Secret Public Journal Live, you get the sense that his tongue-in-cheek, sarcastically self-deprecating style has carried over to his publicist. Though he's described as "one of the nation's most beloved comedians," Birbiglia never really came up on my radar until last summer, when his second album, Two-Drink Mike, was already a few months old.
On his new offering, he considers the level of his celebrity, his parents' technological shortcomings, and the power of his brother's alter ego. More importantly, he puts together a show that may very well earn him that "beloved" moniker that he seems to like so much.
Though it's difficult to tell at times, Birbiglia fills the album with entries from his "secret public journal," that is, true stories that he has turned into a blog and regular radio gig. He gets a lot of mileage out of the fact that his last name is uncommon, but the bit never seems to get old. Similarly, he makes a theme out of his brother's nickname, Joe Bags, given to him when Birbiglia worked at a restaurant and convinced his coworkers that his brother was one of their favorite former colleagues. The bit works remarkably well.
Birbiglia's style is like a mix of Mitch Hedberg and Patton Oswalt, combining the good natured, laid-back delivery of the former with the elaborate storytelling of the latter. The best bit of the album comes early and details his worst performance ever, where he followed Hall of Fame quarterback Phil Simms and a cancer survivor at a celebrity golf tournament where he was expected to be a celebrity, much to his own surprise and embarrassment.
It's that quality about Birbiglia that makes his comedy so approachable; he seems bewildered by his own success. The tone of his shows, then, is affable and modest, not forgoing what's truly funny for louder, more obnoxious bits. Those have their place, but Birbiglia gets by on understatement.
My Secret Public Journal Live will please anyone who has heard of Birbiglia before and should do a great deal to earning him new fans. So, though he may not be one of the nation's most beloved comics right now, he may find himself there more quickly than he imagined.
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