Mike Birbiglia and Atsuko Okatsuka, filming Sounds good.
Photo: Peacock
Peacock's Good One: A show about jokes is not your run-of-the-mill comedy documentary special. Throughout his seven-hour show in Rhode Island and Washington, D.C., Vulture screenwriter Jesse David Fox and director Eddie Schmidt will introduce comedian Mike Birbiglia to a world we've never seen before. I see it in a way. I'm still thinking about the content.After his Broadway performance and subsequent Netflix special of his 2022 show old man and pool, Birbiglia is back to square one, wondering how far he can go from a show about death.And if she's ever heard a Vulture song good one Podcasters, you know that those magical, awkward, open stages of great comic joke cycles are something Fox loves to delve into.
With unprecedented access to Birbiglia's family, childhood friends, and writer's room, good one A gift for comedy geeks. In Vulture's elusive interview with Fox (how on earth did they get him?), he talks about what it takes to make a podcast his streaming special. It's more about the food than you think.
What you have created is good one I started podcasting in 2017. How long has the special been in the works?
I received an email introducing Eddie Schmidt, who will be the director of this production from April 2019. That was just five years ago. We started planning the show on Zoom during the pandemic and filmed it last April.
The format of a special program is different from a podcast. How did you decide on the format?
We had a million conversations. In the early days, podcasts weren't guaranteed to last more than 10 episodes. I think you realized how you could adapt it as soon as you tried to do more. It was around the time that podcasts were starting to be adapted to TV, and I was watching a lot of comedy documentaries, but I didn't really like them.
I've been watching a lot of food documentaries and thought to myself, why can't that be? this for that matter I Want to know about it? I wanted to do it like the show Chef's heart They participate in the chef's creative process.or chef's table, but chef's table Too serious.So I thought Ugly and delicious. Eddie was the showrunner for the first season of Ugly and delicious. I knew there were aspects of the podcast perspective that I wanted to visualize better, but I didn't feel like getting in front of the camera. Therefore, a documentary made the most sense.
What was different when I made it? good one Will it be created as a 45-minute document or as a podcast?
We took tons of photos. It was incredible, or at least unbelievable, for someone like me who had never made a documentary before. In a podcast, you understand the content of the interview before going into the discussion. I'll finish by arranging the questions. There may be some editing, but the flow of the interview will remain the same. There are many ways to go about this documentary. How do you want to structure it? Does it need narration? Need more talking heads?
How did you arrive at Birbiria as a subject?
I've interviewed Mike before. I knew he was a process expert and had the most visual process possible.There were a lot of his things thing around his office. We set up cameras and walked around taking insert shots of things like “Zoom up this joke on the bulletin board!” And since his process is so closely intertwined with his personal life, it was going to be more than just a documentary about how joke writing works. It's not just people who think, “What would happen if we changed this word to that word?” There are parts like that, but that's not all.
If there's a reason why most people don't have a documentary team when they produce something, it's that they're really vulnerable. It's really mentally exhausting. So doing that was also asking me to reflect on my entire life, which was a lot to ask of someone. But Birbiria was the game that drew us in.
Was he aware that you were filming the process of writing his jokes?
Yes, I think so. Eddie did a good job of keeping as few people in the room as possible when he felt like something was really going on.
I think the advantage of using a comedian as a subject is that this joke is bound to be played out loud. I mean, there was something organic about writing these jokes in front of people the same way he would say them in front of people. They weren't having a fake meeting. These were necessary meetings for them. he writes so. He felt there were other people involved. I had always heard that his brother was involved, but I had no idea what it was like. He's very unique in the way he basically involves his writing staff.
I don't think stand-up venues have writers' rooms.
Or you do When I imagine a stand-up with a writing staff, I think it's like Kevin Hart on a private jet surrounded by people. But it helps that Mike has a small staff, one of whom is his brother. This can be helpful when trying to involve family members in telling their personal stories. For example, his sister was selling merchandise at a show in Rhode Island with her nephews and nieces. You can't see them all on screen, but they're all textures. Even if you don't capture every part, you get a feel for it.
Photo: Jesse David Fox
good one It also includes lots of backstage footage and clips from his set. Was he worried about giving something like this away?
We really wanted to use his material early on, so that was definitely a conversation we had to have. In some of those shows, he uses printer paper to read out the stories. He's not going to film it for a special. When you watch the special, it's hard to imagine that it started from nothing. And Birbiglia's finished product is more complete than anyone else currently working on it. It's a very complex combination.
Seth Meyers is a hot name in this field, but people may not realize how involved he was as a producer. What was that like?
Seth really appreciates the voices of different comedians and is always talking about other comedians, so his role was partly to champion the project and help the conversation about its tone. He has a really good bullshit barometer.I like it, I see it, I love it chef's table, But there's a lot of bullshit in it – that's part of the fun. But if you're making a comedy documentary, you can't do that. Any comedian would be embarrassed if they were that serious.
What do you want viewers to take away from this special?
With this, we hope to dispel the idea that explaining a joke makes it less funny or funny. I think passionately about how untrue that is. And not only will people be more impressed with Mike's work, but they'll be more impressed with what comedians can do, and they'll appreciate comedians as different artists and say, Comedians do the same job.Its job is to make me laugh in this particular way.
I wish I had a chance to make more good one Special, who is the subject of your dreams?
There are other types of stories we've told as well. For example, someone preparing for an award ceremony, a musical comedian filming an album, or a physical comedian. Mike's process makes a lot of sense. He has a diary, and his diary becomes notecards, and notecards become pieces of paper. But you'll probably find someone with a more instinctive process. Periodically, people say things on podcasts that make me think. That would be great to see. I remember Patton Oswalt saying he would write jokes while doing the dishes.
What else did you learn from making the special?
As an executive producer on a television show, I've never been very comfortable using my weight to its full potential. But we were shooting right near a Nando's in Washington, D.C., so I thought, “Can I have Nando's for lunch?” And they said, “Oh, we already have lunch plans.” But then they arranged for us to eat Nando's at something like an after party. That's what they don't tell you when adapting your podcast into a TV show. Several influence on what you eat.
That's so great, Jesse.
it was cool!
