Mike Birbiglia's warm-hearted one-man show Thank God For Jokes considers the collateral damage that comedy can cause, even on topics as seemingly banal as tardiness. Over the course of 90 relentlessly funny minutes, we learn that Birbiglia, an unusually sensitive and empathic stand-up comedian, is acutely aware of what it's like to be the butt of a joke, dating back to the Catholic school bullying to which he was subjected as a lad.
The evening begins with Birbiglia reflecting on the massacre at the Paris office of satirical paper Charlie Hebdo, and the questions some asked in its aftermath, namely, must comedians make jokes that others may find deeply offensive? Birbiglia's answer, revealed through a series of thematically-related personal stories, is clear: jokes, by their very nature, "have to be about something," and there is typically a person on the other end of that "thing" who may not find the joke very funny at all. Escorting his audience through the minefields of his joke-making process, Birbiglia shows how some of the funniest moments of his life were decidedly unfunny when they happened, like when his dream gig performing with The Muppets went obscenely sideways, or when he was reduced to eating a sandwich in an airplane bathroom.
Addressing the audience with a soft-spoken, congenial manner (except when he's reenacting David O. Russell screaming at Lily Tomlin), Birbiglia comes off as the self-effacing lovable dork at the party who hides in the kitchen making English muffin pizza and keeping you in stitches with his subtle, unhurried humor. He's the nice guy from the neighborhood who turns out to be far more subversive and idiosyncratic than he first appears. Here we're treated to more of Birbiglia's analytical side, and at times it's like watching an easily-sidetracked high school chemist explain the molecular compounds of an explosive compound.
While Thank God For Jokes lacks the cohesive, narrative depth that sustained Birbiglia's previous one-man shows, it is uproariously funny, marvelously absurd, and intellectually satisfying. The central premise—of comedy's consequences in an interconnected world—is a sturdy hook on which Birbiglia hangs his whimsical array of hilarious stories, and by the end my face was sore from laughing. It's unclear if Birbiglia believes in God, but he has enormous faith in the power of jokes, so thank Xenu for that. Just don't be tardy... by the end you'll know why.
Thank God For Jokes continues through March 13th at the Lynn Redgrave Theater at 49 Bleecker Street in the East Village. Get tickets here.
