Mike Birbigliahas essentially made a career out of brutal honesty and stark vulnerability.
(Or stark honesty and brutal vulnerability.)
So suffice it to say Birbiglias take on parenting was never going to be entirely warm and fuzzy.
Credit: Eric Liebowitz/Netflix
I feel very joyful and connected [now], Birbiglia tells EW.
And there is a real connection you see between parents and their grown-up kids when they see the show.
[Laughs] Its very eye-opening.
And in that way, it being on Thanksgiving is sort of great.
And then I was excited just cause its sort of a prime time of the year to release something.
Its always under the radar.
How do you feel about that?People say, like, What does Broadway mean to you?
And, Why this show for Broadway?
And a lot of it has to do with, I aged with my audience.
But then theres sort of a twist on it, which is that it is pretty dark.
Its a dark take on a familiar topic.
A lot of this writing came out of journal entries I had written, privately.
So early on, I would put versions of those journals on stage.
And there were certain ones that really connected, and there were certain ones that, less so.
And how all different ages and groups of people feel about it.
I hope thats okay.
And we talked through that, and she was sort of okay with it.
And the festival director said, Theres a storytelling night, and the theme is jealousy.
Do you want to tell a story?
And I said no.
And then Jen said, You should talk about Oona, because youre jealous of Oona, our daughter.
A couple of the lines, like, I didnt know what nothing was until became a dad.
You know, I became this pudgy, milkless vice president of the family.
That was literally one of the first lines that I wrote, and it made it all the way.
Which is, going from feeling disconnected to your own family to feeling connected to your own family.
Those are two different ways to look at the arc of the show.
And shell go like, She wont believe it.
So I think in that sense, Im okay.
[Laughs] So Im very proud of teaching that, which is honesty.
Or an attempt at honesty, an attempt at having candor with people.
What was your approach to finding a new angle on on those topics?That was definitely a fear.
I think that in comedy, originality is paramount.
The most essential thing is being original, and then also connecting with people.
Its a balance of those two things.
I remember, [Wet Hot American Summerdirector] David Wain came to the show when it was off-Broadway.
I thinkRobin Williamshas that line in one of his specials.
And so I was like, Okay, so I gotta change that.
Jen is so private, and it wasnt something that she wanted to necessarily be in the show.
And I said to Jen, Do you have any good memories of Oona crawling or anything like that?
So, can I just say this on stage, and say that you wrote this?
And she goes, Yeah, you’re free to do that.
And then it became, there are three poems in the show that are sort of laced through.
So I think it was a good way to attempt to represent her character.
What do I like versus what do I love.
This was a show where I felt like I had to make it.
I was like, Ive never heard this take.
Whenever I speak privately with mothers and fathers about the experience of this, theyre like, Oh yeah.
Thats true, but nobody talks about that.
And Im like, Oh, okay, Im gonna talk about that.
I think what I have to contribute, if anything, is the creation side of it.
