Sleepwalk With Me

I want to start this post by saying "Hi!" to the author, Mike Birbiglia, who will get a Google alert of this posting bearing his name.  Mr. Birbiglia, to save your time, I'm telling folks that they would likely enjoy your book.  Feel free to skip to your next Google alert.

Mike Birbiglia's Sleepwalk With Me and Other Painfully True Stories reads is a fast, fun read.  If you've seen his stand up special or guest spots on Letterman and such, or heard him on The Moth Podcast, This American Life, or the Bob and Tom show, you can easily impose his rhythm and pattern of speaking on the text and have a fuller experience.

On the other hand, if you've had this previous exposure to Birbiglia, you'll also have a diminished experience when you reach a passage you've heard him deliver elsewhere, but there was much material in this book that was new to me.  And honestly, I don't mind a retelling of the time he was sleepwalking in La Quinta Inn while having a dream about a missile heading directly for him.  If you haven't heard that story, you really need to grab this book.

I have no hesitations about recommending this book or Birbiglia as a comedian to anyone.  His experience is relate-able, by which I mean not so outlandish that my father would not accuse me of being "a strange one" were I to give him this book.  The stories do not prominently feature sex, alcohol, drug use, and offensive language is used sparingly, if at all (I don't recall any offensive language, actually). 

Why all this stands out to me is that I'm used to funny people relying on the adjective/adverb versions of four-letter words to hilariously accentuate their stories of drunken escapades.  It's refreshing to be cracked up by someone's relatively normal experiences lacking those common sorts of crutches.  I think he'd crack you up, too, if you give him the chance. 


Field of Links:
Request Mike Birbiglia's Sleepwalk with Me
Request one of his CDs, like My Secret Public Journal Live or Two Drink Mike
Check out his website or his YouTube videos or the This American Life shows he was on or...maybe just Google him
blpost