Mike Birbiglia's Working It Out – Details, episodes & analysis

Beloved Irish comedian Aisling Bea returns to Working It Out. Mike and Aisling discuss how to find your people, Catholic school health class, and dating app fails. Plus, new jokes about what Mike’s dad was doing while his family went to church and the most obvious and best thing about pregnancy sex.

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Mike welcomes fellow comedian and podcaster (Giggly Sqaud, Berner Phone) Hannah Berner to the pod. Known for her “Han on the Street” videos, Hannah discusses her journey from college tennis champ to stand-up sensation. Hannah also teaches Mike the meaning of the term “zaddy.” Plus, an athlete at heart, Hannah comes to the notebook section ready to work, bringing a bunch of new bits and stories to work out.

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Comedian Janine Harouni and Mike have a lot in common. They both survived severe car accidents, they have similar relationships with their parents, and they both value the quality of being vulnerable on stage. Mike and Janine discuss the process of turning a traumatic experience into a comedic story, and how Janine’s recovery from her car accident helped her better connect with her parents and inspired her to start doing comedy. Plus, jokes and stories about what it’s like being married to another comedian, Janine’s experience working at a mob-run restaurant, and why her dad wears serial killer gloves.

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Randall Park has brought his one of a kind comedic approach to Trainwreck, Fresh Off the Boat, Veep, and the Marvel Universe. Randall reveals how he and Ali Wong scored the Keanu Reeves cameo for their film "Always Be My Maybe." Mike shares a dark version of the children’s joke “Why was 6 afraid of 7?” and Randall explains why collecting turtle figurines is indeed a skill.

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Mike met Jim Gaffigan in 1997 when he cold-called Jim’s landline. They went out for, of course, pizza and Jim gave him advice that Mike has not only used but also shares with others. The two comics discuss the insanity of charging large pizza prices for mediums size gourmet pies, deciding not to curse on stage, and what happens when a non-political comedian has had enough. It’s Jim Gaffigan like you’ve never heard him before.

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For the 50th episode Mike welcomes Kate Micucci, another member of the “Don’t Think Twice” cast. Kate is one half of the folk comedy duo Garfunkel & Oates and her creative talents stretch from music to acting to visual art. Kate shares some of her latest cartoons-in-progress and the two friends go deep on postpartum depression and its lesser known cousin “post-artum depression.“ The episode goes from silly to serious to nostalgic the way the best friendships do.

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In 2015 Mike filmed “Don’t Think Twice” where Keegan-Michael Key played a guy who got cast on a fictional version of SNL. This year Keegan hosted the *actual* SNL in a delightful case of life imitating art imitating life. Today Keegan and Mike nerd out about live sketches vs. filmed Key and Peele sketches, the wisdom of Robert Deniro, and how Keegan seems to be able to do anything, including his most recent role in the new musical comedy series Schmigadoon!

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Judd Apatow recently saw Mike's entire new show in progress, and he's got a lot of feedback. As they break apart Judd's notes, they veer into topics like dark joy vs. light joy, why we exercise, and how many days per week it's appropriate to eat ice cream. Plus, Mike details a serious argument he had with his daughter Oona about dinosaurs. This episode is an all-timer. Judd and Mike are truly working it out. https://826national.org/

You can hear the excitement in Mike's voice as he welcomes legendary author Malcolm Gladwell, host of Revisionist History and author of 'Outliers' as well as his latest, 'The Bomber Mafia.' Malcolm brings Gladwellian theory to why the re-telling of jokes is never as funny. They riff on evil golf courses, evil search engines, & where that YMCA pool smell might actually come from. Even Malcolm’s mom Joyce makes a cameo. This may just be the tipping point for Working It Out.

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Mike is joined this week by Academy Award-winning actor Brie Larson whose films range from Captain Marvel to Room as well as Trainwreck, where her character Kim is married to Mike’s character Tom. Mike bounces jokes off of Brie about people on the internet being angry and vocal about Mike and Brie’s characters being a married couple. The result is hilarious, honest, and ultimately lands on Brie’s joke advice that just might work! In this universe!

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