Comedian Mike Birbiglia reveals his near-fatal sleep issues and more four nights a week in his one-man show Sleepwalk With Me. Following each performance he invites a special guest to share 10 Awkward Minutes with him. This past Saturday that special guest was This American Life host Ira Glass. While stagehands prepared the set for a special TAL taping, in which Birbiglia would tell the story of his worst gig ever for the final episode of the second season of the Showtime series, Glass told the audience about his dinner with Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston.
But first, we waited—since Glass was late to his own taping. "I was in Brooklyn getting my haircut," Glass admitted sheepishly (but isn't he always admitting things sheepishly?).
"Wait, you went to Brooklyn, even though you live in Manhattan, the show is in Manhattan and the taping tonight was in Manhattan?" Birbiglia said, trying to hide his obvious annoyance and near panic.
"Well, I had my hair cut by this one guy and someone told me my hair finally looked good," Glass admitted. It's true, Glass did look extremely fit and well-coiffed. We remember when he first transplanted to NYC in 2007 and he still protected his nebishy attributes. We profiled him in New York Press and he told us about his joining David Barton gym near his Chelsea apartment. And in Lisa A. Phillips' Public Radio: Behind the Voices, we learned that Ira Glass was
offered a spot as one of People's 50 Most Beautiful People, but
inexplicably declined. Now we're not so sure he would. Birbiglia, on the other hand, wears that schlubby mantle with pride.
Once they were ready, Glass explained that the room would be pumped with a fog made from "mineral spirits" so that it resembled a taping of an infamous Lenny Bruce routine. Birbiglia cut in, "you mean breathable AIDS?" Hmm, maybe we know why Birbiglia bombed.
But Glass' Brad and Jennifer story was too good to miss. He told us about a dinner party they had when his producers thought they might be able to start optioning TAL stories for feature films (Brad thought that one quirky segment about a man who knew the tones and chords of his household appliances might be perfect). When Aniston went for a smoke, Glass' producer joined so she could be close to the secondhand smoke, as did Pitt. She later told Glass a sweet story: Aniston reputedly learned to smoke from an ex-boyfriend. And this made Pitt jealous. This was when Pitt was at the height of beauty and fame, according to Glass.
"The idea that this made Brad Pitt jealous was incredible. Other men could say, 'Well, he's no Brad Pitt." But this was Brad Pitt jealous of an old boyfriend!" Glass explained. Of course, he promised the audience—which included Battlestar Glactica's Grace Park and Ugly Betty's Michael Urie—all to secrecy.
Birbiglia's tale of woe centered around a charity golf benefit for cancer in which he was a "celebrity" and embarrasing guest speaker. I won't give it all away, you'll have to wait for that episode of TAL to air on Showtime. Let's just say, it's not easy to follow a cancer victim's story with quick and easy comedy quips.
