Mike Birbiglia talks 'Sleepwalk With Me'
By Scott A. Rosenberg
• ‘Sleepwalk With Me’ is at the Bleecker Street Theatre through June 7.
Comedian Mike Birbiglia has a well-publicized sleeping disorder — rapid eye movement behavior disorder — which has been the topic of his stand-up routine and a focal point of his hit off-Broadway show, “Sleepwalk With Me.”
Strangely enough, after years on the road dealing with the disorder — which was severe enough that he caused himself bodily harm, as he would act out his dreams while asleep — doing his show about it helped alleviate the problem to some extent.
“A somewhat happy accident that occurred from the show is I’ve been able to spend seven months in one place,” Birbiglia, 30, says. “I hadn’t spent more than three weeks in one place since I was 22 years old. And one of the things that aggravate sleep disorders is travel. I have to say, I’ve had my best sleep in years because of the show.”
“Sleepwalk With Me,” produced by Nathan Lane, is centered around Birbiglia’s sleeping issues, providing a hilarious and often touching look at him growing up, falling in love and building his career.
While the one-man show is derived from his stand-up routine, the comedian says the major difference is that it is more refined. His director, Seth Barrish, forced him to pare down some of the throwaway ideas and tangents and make sure that they all serve a purpose.
“There were a lot of jokes on the cutting room floor that were really funny,” Birbiglia says.
Since “Sleepwalk” opened in November, nearly 30,000 people have seen the show. And unlike at his stand-up shows, which he says are typically the biggest fans coming together for a cultlike atmosphere, the audience at the off-Broadway show is more diverse.
“Everybody comes,” Birbiglia says. “Old people, young people, theater people, arts people, comedy people. I feel like I have a lot more types of fans than I used to.”
For publicity, ‘The View’ rules
Want to know a good way to sell out your off-Broadway show for three weeks? Appear on “The View.”
Thanks to producer Nathan Lane, Mike Birbiglia, star of “Sleepwalk With Me,” was surrounded by the likes of Barbara Walters, Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar publicizing his show.
“It was very strange,” Birbiglia says. “I grew up in a house with three women, so I knew what that was like, being surrounded by women shouting in all directions. It’s hard to get in a word edgewise. But when you do, it’s very good.”
