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I am uncomfortable saying this, but youre one of the people who intimidates me the most.
Thats howMike Birbigliaopened his Storytellers talk withSarah Silvermanat the Tribeca Film Festival on Monday.
(He did flub many words, but in his usual endearingly sheepish way.)
Here are the seven biggest things we learned from their conversation.
Its actually gonna be announced in like two weeks.
This is a musical.
Cursed From the Start.
I go, All right.
We noodled around with it and we started working with this beautiful playwright.
Im not in it.
Its [about] the year Im 10.
Its the one joke I didnt write.
Birbiglia yelled, Oh my God, really!?
We were at the Improv and she wrote it on a piece of paper and slid it to me.
I read it and I went, Youve got to do stand-up again.
This joke is perfect!
She goes, No, Ill never do stand-up again.
I want you to do it.
This is your art!
And it kills me.
She Regrets Some of Her Problematic MaterialIts not evergreen.
I dont stand by lots of comedy.
I can only accept myself and know that I grow and change.
She also pointed out how she used to describe things as being gay.
I used to defend it that way: I have gay friends.
It just means lame.
Im from Boston, she said.
I have colored friends.I should be creative enough to think of something besides gay.
Now, I am how I feel, she said.
It was challenging, oddly, to be funny as yourself.
I was going,How do I write more material?
Otherwise, the only other choice is to be this caricature of yourself.
This led Birbiglia to sheepishly ask, Do you think youll run for president?
Silverman said, No, Ive had too much therapy.
I have a lot of skeletons in my closet.
Im the only person qualified to be me.
He told me that through the television and I believed him.
I said something like, Oh, I hate my this or whatever, she recalled.
I dont know what I said something shitty about myself.
And Tig goes, Dont talk about my friend like that.
I was like, Whoooa!
The room went silent, save for a few sympathetic murmurs, to which Silverman said, Right.
There wouldnt be a laugh there.
But I know, youre taking it in.
You know when you dont say something funny and theres no comic blow to it?
Birbiglia replied, Thats my whole career.
I didnt know a lot about business.
When the laughter died down, Silverman said, Im going to say something crazy.
I think thats a good idea.
