Arts: Mike Birbiglia and Ira Glass on Stand-Up Comedy and the Movies

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Brow Beat Mike Birbiglia and Ira Glass on Stand-Up Comedy and the Movies By David Haglund Posted Thursday, Aug 23, 2012, at 01:31 PM ET Sleepwalk with Me, starring and directed by the comic Mike Birbiglia, opens in New York tomorrow and in cities across the country over the next few weeks. The movie began as a one-man show, and also became a book. Some of the material from the show was also featured on This American Life, the popular radio show created by Ira Glass, who co-wrote the screenplay. I sat down with Birbiglia and Glass in New York earlier this week. Slate: Having read the book, I was struck by how much more your growth as a stand-up is depicted in the movie. When did you decide to bring that part of the story out more? Mike Birbiglia: Believe it or not, that came in the edit. The sleepwalking and the relationship were much more prominent in the writing. And then when we shot the film and screened it to people, they really liked the stand-up—people were laughing at the stand-up, and they were identifying with it, and we were, like, "You know, we should shoot more of this." We'd never made a feature film before, and in a lot of ways we found it in the edit. Ira Glass: In very early screenings, when we'd just show it for friends and family, there were a lot of questions about us, like, "What did you do to make this film?" "Why did you do this to us?" In the screenplay that we went in with, there's an early scene ... To continue reading, click here. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate Obama and Romney Agree on Medicare Should a Mother Tell Her Child He Was Conceived in a Rape? Criminals May Be Using Covert Mobile Phone Surveillance Tech for Extortion	Advertisement
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