Mike Birbiglia’s The New One
Written and performed by Mike Birbiglia
Directed by Seth Barrish
Cort Theatre
December 23, 2018
Production website
💉💉💉💉 out of 5.

How does a successful stand-up comedian who has spent a life traveling through the midwest in town’s where “everything centers on the action at the local Applebees” translate to the Great White Way?  How can one man fill he stage when he is used to filling a few square yards of staging shoved in the corner of some bar pushing a two drink minimum?   Mike Birbiglia is how you do it!

Of course what sets this “play” different from a standup routine is that it includes an interesting set, subtle lighting, sound effects, and a surprise prop drop from the ceiling.  But, most importantly, Mike Birbiglia has crafted a play in which he gives his life a story line that leads him from the purchase of his first couch as a newly claimed adult – – through the years that see him getting married and through the delivery of his girl that has  now staked her “claim on the couch.”   This play was so genuinely funny,  and when you weren’t laughing you were smiling from ear to ear at the totally likable, although not perfect, Mike Birbiglia.   This pushing-40 married guy, having determined he absolutely should not father a child, will do so, and we’re going to hear about the fallout.

Some audiences were a bit taken back by the moments in which he wished he hadn’t become a father or moments in which he becomes jealous of the role that the baby has taken in his wife’s world.  But the “warts” to this experience just brought me closer in to the reality of the story.  I was won.

In all the flash and trash that goes for so much of theatre today, it was nice to spend the afternoon with a warm, simple man just getting real with us.