Friday, April 27, 2012

Birbiglia's rap

One of my favorite stand-up comics is Mike Birbiglia. He's been around quite a while on the fringe of fame, in and out of my purview, but I've never had a problem remembering his (unusual) name. When he debuted on Letterman over a decade ago, he delivered a classic bit that's stayed in my memory.

Birbiglia was riffing on rap stars that insert their name at the end of one of their rhymes-- "Cat in the Hat/And that was that/Busta Rhymes." As a comedian, Mike would like to get away with doing the same thing-- "I like to drink coffee, but if I ever get to the point in my life where the best part of waking up is Folgers in my cup, I'm not sure I want to wake up/Mike Birbiglia."

He dropped another "Mike Birbiglia" as punctuation at the end of his six-minute performance, and all these years later, I haven't forgotten his name. That's a comedy bit that doubles as clever career promotion.

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Donald Trump must be legitimately charismatic in person because that persona is so incredibly reviling. If Trump didn't exist, though, there would just be another one in his place. The national media has to have a rich businessman that personifies New York City.

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I'm not proud of how much I'm enjoying Albert Pujols' early season failure or the on-field woes of his new team. It's hard to type this while holding my side.

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As Bill Maher pointed out on his show tonight, John Edwards is on trial for campaign fraud for spending campaign dollars to cover up a sexual affair, yet Mitt Romney just received a $10 million anonymous campaign donation. Which action deserves to be the bigger scandal?

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This just can't be right, but last night's live episode of "30 Rock" (the second one they've done in two seasons) feels like it might just be the most entertaining piece of television I've ever seen-- exuberant, hilarious, clever, affectionate, tense, filled with surprises at every turn, a rapid-paced TV celebration. Something else it was was an unintentionally damning indictment of Saturday Night Live.

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Mike Birbiglia.

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