Mike Birbiglia (@birbigs) is one of the best-known and busiest working comedians in the world, both behind and in front of the camera. His standup blends elements of theater, film, storytelling, and comedy. Mike has been deliberate in studying many crafts and tying them together, which is reflected in a diverse string of successes: sold-out tours as a solo theater act, New York Times bestselling books, off-Broadway shows, feature film, TV, and more. In recent years, his work has appeared on public radio's This American Life, where he began a meaningful collaboration with host and producer Ira Glass. Currently, he is the creator, writer, and star of the new film Don't Think Twice, which was just released. I loved it, which I do not say lightly. Check it out. So...how the hell does he do it all? I aimed to find out. In this conversation, we cover a ton, including: His writing process and schedule Favorite books, documentaries, and TV shows Morning routines Stories and lessons from Oliver Stone, Ron Howard, and others How he "workshops" and develops material Hilarious interactions with POTUS The best pizza joints in NYC Which three comedians he'd combine into one "super comic" How he runs jokes by other people And much, much more... Enjoy! Show notes and links for this episode can be found at www.fourhourworkweek.com/podcast. This podcast is brought to you by Four Sigmatic. I reached out to these Finnish entrepreneurs after a very talented acrobat introduced me to one of their products, which blew my mind (in the best way possible). It is mushroom coffee featuring chaga. It tastes like coffee, but there are only 40 milligrams of caffeine, so it has less than half of what you would find in a regular cup of coffee. I do not get any jitters, acid reflux, or any type of stomach burn. It put me on fire for an entire day, and I only had half of the packet. People are always asking me what I use for cognitive enhancement -- right now, this is the answer. You can try it right now by going to foursigmatic.com/tim and using the code "Tim" to get 20 percent off your first order. If you are in the experimental mindset, I do not think you'll be disappointed. This podcast is also brought to you by Wealthfront. Wealthfront is a massively disruptive (in a good way) set-it-and-forget-it investing service led by technologists from places like Apple. It has exploded in popularity in the last two years and now has more than $2.5B under management. Why? Because you can get services previously limited to the ultra-wealthy and only pay pennies on the dollar for them, and it's all through smarter software instead of retail locations and bloated sales teams. Check out wealthfront.com/tim, take their risk assessment quiz, which only takes 2-5 minutes, and they'll show you -- for free -- exactly the portfolio they'd put you in. If you want to just take their advice and do it yourself, you can. Well worth a few minutes to explore: wealthfront.com/tim.***If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. I also love reading the reviews!For show notes and past guests, please visit tim.blog/podcast.Sign up for Tim’s email newsletter (“5-Bullet Friday”) at tim.blog/friday.For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts.Interested in sponsoring the podcast? Visit tim.blog/sponsor and fill out the form.Discover Tim’s books: tim.blog/books.Follow Tim:Twitter: twitter.com/tferriss Instagram: instagram.com/timferrissFacebook: facebook.com/timferriss YouTube: youtube.com/timferrissPast guests on The Tim Ferriss Show include Jerry Seinfeld, Hugh Jackman, Dr. Jane Goodall, LeBron James, Kevin Hart, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Jamie Foxx, Matthew McConaughey, Esther Perel, Elizabeth Gilbert, Terry Crews, Sia, Yuval Noah Harari, Malcolm Gladwell, Madeleine Albright, Cheryl Strayed, Jim Collins, Mary Karr, Maria Popova, Sam Harris, Michael Phelps, Bob Iger, Edward Norton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Neil Strauss, Ken Burns, Maria Sharapova, Marc Andreessen, Neil Gaiman, Neil de Grasse Tyson, Jocko Willink, Daniel Ek, Kelly Slater, Dr. Peter Attia, Seth Godin, Howard Marks, Dr. Brené Brown, Eric Schmidt, Michael Lewis, Joe Gebbia, Michael Pollan, Dr. Jordan Peterson, Vince Vaughn, Brian Koppelman, Ramit Sethi, Dax Shepard, Tony Robbins, Jim Dethmer, Dan Harris, Ray Dalio, Naval Ravikant, Vitalik Buterin, Elizabeth Lesser, Amanda Palmer, Katie Haun, Sir Richard Branson, Chuck Palahniuk, Arianna Huffington, Reid Hoffman, Bill Burr, Whitney Cummings, Rick Rubin, Dr. Vivek Murthy, Darren Aronofsky, and many more.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Tim Ferriss and Joe Polish discuss productivity and share their favorite life hacks in this episode, brought to you by Tim's popular email newsletter Five Bullet Friday.
Tim Ferriss deconstructs world class performers and in this episode he speaks with podcast host and producer Ira Glass.
Paul Scheer shares his advice on how to get feedback on creative work, encouraging people to invite others and give them food, with pizza being a particular favorite. He also discusses the value of pizza as a workshop arrangement with fellow comedians and writers.
The comedian shares how she signs her friend's notebooks with blessings through a trance-like state, with shoutouts to notable guests in her Broadway show.
The co-writer and director of the movie 'The Big Sick,' Michael Showalter, talks about principles for creating movies, staying focused on the main theme and avoiding cultured references in order to maintain an interesting narrative.
A writer discusses his collaborative process and how he takes inspiration from the work of successful Hollywood directors like Phil Lord. He seeks out collaborators who he aspires to be like and values their input on his work.
Comedian Mike Birbiglia examines the use of curse words in his recent show, "Thank God for Jokes", and explains why he doesn't curse gratuitously in his performances.
The ability to recognize interest in a pitch comes with experience and can be determined through verbal and nonverbal cues. Creators like Quentin Tarantino endlessly pitch their work, while others like to bounce ideas around with friends and colleagues.
The guest speaker shares with the host his experience of getting rejected by publishers as a young writer and advises against wasting time on marketing efforts in the early stages of creative pursuits.
A couple discusses their strategy of asking trick questions to get a glimpse into people's true selves.
Tara Westover, author of 'Educated: A Memoir', uses vivid impressions and pitch-perfect impressions of people in her life in the Secret to describe how her sister's approach differs from hers when she's feeling down and out.
Sleep trackers not only tell you how long you slept, but also the quality of sleep, including how much time you spent awake. While sleep is important for productivity and learning, social media can act as a distraction and hinder progress.
The podcast audience experiences a sense of intimacy with the content and the host through the format, and the Chicago theater is considered as the best concert venue in America.
Comedian Mike Birbiglia shares his thoughts about overthinking social interactions and how often there can be reasons why people act the way they do that are not immediately apparent.
The filmmaker behind "Sleepwalk with Me" discusses how his off-Broadway show lost money despite its success and how he chose to self-distribute his film "Don't Think Twice" in collaboration with a small distribution company, instead of going through the traditional system.
A creative approach was taken to market a movie by skipping traditional marketing and instead having someone be a walking billboard for the movie and going town to town to spread goodwill through free improv workshops, giving free tickets to local improv theaters and doing q&a.