My Girlfriend's Boyfriend

Mike Birbiglia is a vocal commitment-phobe who builds a cohesive narrative out of romantic failures. He isn’t tossing out disconnected premises; he is constructing a single, deliberate arc that ends with him reconsidering his entire stance on marriage. The stage is set with a bed and nightstand, but he mostly relies on a solitary stool to anchor stories about awkward teenage kissing, vomiting on a carnival ride called the Scrambler, and a pitch for why stressed-out babies should be allowed to smoke on airplanes. Filmed at the Intiman Theatre in Seattle in 2013, the set captured Birbiglia establishing his signature hybrid of stand-up and theater. He had already honed the hour off-Broadway, where it won a Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Solo Show and became a New York Times critics’ pick. Following the breakout success of his previous one-man show Sleepwalk With Me, he proved his deeply personal approach to comedy was a sustainable career path, not a fluke. The performance is conversational and meticulously paced, culminating in a car accident that finally forces him to grow up.