Spinning a riotous tale of young love gone awry
The show: My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend The moment: The Scrambler “Here’s what happened with Lisa,” says writer/comedian/actor Mike Birbiglia, in this 75-minute standup routine about his travails with love.
“I built up the courage to ask her to go to the carnival with me. I thought, ‘Maybe this will be like one of those romantic comedy montages.’ ”
Instead, he eats a ton of junk food and goes on the Scrambler.
“The premise of the Scrambler is simple,” Birbiglia says.
“You sit on a two-person pod with the person you’re in love with, and that pod goes in a circle, which is part of a larger circle, which is part of an even grander circle.”
(In a minute he acts this out. It’s hilarious.)
He imagines carnival workers asking, “‘But who will be in charge of this dangerous piece of equipment?’
“And one guy goes, ‘I have a nephew who’s 16 years old and smokes pot 24 hours a day.’ And they’re like, ‘He sounds amazing. We don’t even need to interview him.’ ”
Naturally, it ends badly for young Mike.
But that’s good news for us, because Birbiglia is a brilliant storyteller, sweet, wry, riotous.
(He’s a frequent contributor to radio’s This American Life, whose guru, Ira Glass, is one of his producers.)
For 75 minutes, he spins out one tale that will continue unspooling in your mind long after you watch it. Eventually, you’ll realize that what felt like digressions — the Scrambler — are metaphors of great delicacy and wit.
His new show Mike Birbiglia: Thank God for Jokes, drops Feb. 28. Can’t wait. My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend is streaming on Netflix. Johanna Schneller is a media connoisseur who zeroes in on popculture moments. She usually appears Monday through Thursday.