Mike Birbiglia's Working It Out - 128. Alex Edelman Returns: He Did His Best

Episode Date: April 8, 2024

On the heels of the release of his new special “Just For Us” on Max, Alex Edelman returns to the podcast for the fourth and best time yet. Mike and Alex break apart the story of the time Alex’s bank lost all his money, how a protestor recently disrupted his show, and what it feels like to be releasing his special after the death of his beloved director, Adam Brace. Plus, Alex’s recent and very strange run-in with Bill Gates.Please consider donating to:  Sefaria

Do you feel safety issues when you're on stage? I did right after October 7th. Things were so charged. During a Q&A in San Francisco after the show, someone raised her hand and she was like, what if someone kills you? And she was like, I'm worried someone's going to kill you. Are you worried about that?

I was like, well, now I am. This guy sent me a DM or a comment or something. And he said, I'm going to come to San Francisco on October 28th and behead you in front of your Zionist buddies. And I was like, wow, the show's end on the 27th. That's so funny. I'm not going to stay for the heading. But that guy was like a skateboarder in Tunisia.

He's not going to get his freaking flyer miles together. Right. You know, to get to San Francisco. Right. He would do it with a more well-known comedian. That is the voice of the great Alex Edelman. This is Alex's fourth appearance on this podcast. It's a very exciting day for Alex

because his comedy special, Just For Us, just came out on Max. But first, I want to tell you about my tour, Please Stop The Ride. I'm having such a blast on it. We just, just, just added a new city in Connecticut, Westport, Connecticut, Westport Country Playhouse. It is on sale now. It's a beautiful little 450-seat theater there. On June 7th, the night before, I play the Beacon Theater in New York City for one night only. This week, I go to Tulsa, Oklahoma for the first time,

and then to pretty much everywhere in Texas. I go to Dallas and Houston, San Antonio, and Austin. Yeah, that's all of Texas. After I go to Texas, I'm bringing my show to the Chicago Theater. Three shows at the Chicago Theater, one of the greatest theaters in the world. It's incredible. I go to Los Angeles. I go to Troy, New York. We added a show. I go to Rochester. We added a fourth show in Toronto. I go to Florida. I'm doing a show in New York City at the Beacon. I'm going to Washington, D.C. I added a show in Atlanta and Charlotte and Richmond, Niagara Falls, the Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor. And then in the fall, I just, just, just, just announced Red Bank, New Jersey,

an encore in Seattle, an encore in Portland. By the way, if you came to the other shows in Seattle and Portland, same show, same show. It's the same tour, but I just went back because we sold those shows out so fast that a lot of people said they weren't able to get tickets in time. I'm going to San Francisco. I'm going to Oakland for the first time. I've never done a show in Oakland. That's where my sister Patty lives. I'm going to be at the Fox.

I'm going to be in Philadelphia at this gorgeous, gorgeous music hall. Then I'll be in Minneapolis, Madison, Milwaukee, Champaign, Illinois, Indianapolis, Ann Arbor, Detroit, Dayton, Pittsburgh, wait for it, Louisville, Nashville, Knoxville, Asheville, Charleston, South Carolina. I have listened to everyone's suggestions for where I should go. I've kept it in mind. I also may add a city here and there. I totally hear you. I'm working on it. Stay tuned. Today on the podcast, we have Alex Edelman. I think this is a record for the show. This is his fourth appearance on the podcast. He has a special called Just For Us that has been a hit Edinburgh show, a hit off-Broadway, and then-Broadway show. It has toured all over the country, all over the world. I am one of the executive producers of the show.

He and I are good friends. We really rib each other a bit. It is all in love. It's a super fun episode. And also, we hit on really sensitive topics. It's an interesting conversation. It's a funny conversation. It's a funny conversation. We work out new jokes.

Enjoy my conversation with the great Alex Edelman. We're working it. Just for us, you're about to release it into the universe. Do you have fear about releasing it into the universe? Oh, yeah. I always have fear. You know... Releasing specials.

It's a terrifying... First of all, the show has been beyond my wildest dreams in terms of reception from people and in terms of how beautiful the experience in terms of uh the how beautiful the experience has been live and it's been incoming uh and obviously i'm stressed about like whether or not i can ever do another thing again and all the creative stresses that creative people have um and i've had that stress before it's my third show but this one i've been doing for a long time and the community of people who have come to see it and the community of people who have helped

or given feedback or said nice things or left their handprints on the show in some way I'm very afraid to leave that behind as if all those people will suddenly disappear even the people that have come to see the show yeah you know the show is sort of like the aggregate of my joys and sufferings over the last you know five six years right well because that your director Adam passed away like in the middle of the process yeah that was um it was tough um to say the least uh but but yeah um but also the beautiful it's also a tough note about the show

he didn't know any other way to tell you oh my god. You killed him. Obviously, I'm joking. It's deeply, deeply, deeply sad. But that is also so like, I don't know, that's perfect. No one would have laughed at that harder than him, by the way. He would have, he had the best laugh. My director, is it okay that we're going in this direction conversationally?

Of course. My director's laugh was, Adam's laugh was the most perfect sound, and I have a video of it, and sometimes I will play it, like when I'm, maybe it's too much information, but sometimes when I'm alone on the road or something before a show, I will play the video I have of Adam laughing at something.

And I don't even remember what we're eating dinner at. And then you masturbate. Sorry. Maybe I'm revealing too much. I knew you were going to say that. I knew you were going to say that. That's what I play after I masturbate. Oh, my God.

This has gone completely off the rails. In minute five. Oh my God. But yeah, that makes sense that you play his audio. I have that with some friends who have passed away. And sometimes it's the only thing, playing audio from someone is the only way for you to feel the warmth of their life. Oh, of course. I watched him laugh like that.

And at the Edinburgh Fringe 2013, there were three comedians who had agreed to split a bill every day at like 1 p.m. One comedian was such a degenerate drunk that he was never awake. So there was always two comedians. Can you say who it was? Or would it be like disrespectful?

um I'm joking about how degenerate a drunk he is but his name is Naz Osmanlu and he's really really funny he's

he's a brilliant comedian brilliant sketch comedian brilliant actor and I think like eighth in line to the abolished Ottoman throne oh alright like he is a really

really funny unique character. And if you Google, he was part of a sketch we called Wit Tank. And Wit Tank, which Adam directed, would put on a show in the afternoon, late afternoon, and a mixed bill show during the day.

And Nas was never recovered from drinking in time for the, like, noon or 1 p.m. show or whatever it was. And so I would fill in for him most days. No way. The thing was called, Kieran, Mark, and Nas do stand-up. And I was Nas like every single day. You didn't say you were Nas, right?

No, I'd come on stage and explain what happened. Then I'd do 10 minutes, 15 minutes, or 20 minutes, and I'd leave. That was the thing. It was so much fun. And one day, we're all sitting around drinking, Adam, me, with Hank. And Mark said, God, we had a really great show today.

You know, Alex was there and Ivo Graham was there. And I think we're going to have the same lineup tomorrow. Because by then, it's the end of the festival. They hadn't even counted on Nas coming. And so Nas went, really? They went, yeah. And Nas just went, huh. And totally seriously went, might come see that. That's so funny.

And it was just so perfectly in character for him to genuinely be like, oh, I should go see that show that he's supposed to be doing. Right. And Adam just hit the fucking floor. Yeah. He laughed. And like we ran into each other. We saw each other at Adam's like funeral.

Yeah. And I was like, do you remember? I was like, you guys won't remember this. And Kieran went, I might come see that. And I was like, yeah. And Mark was like an all time great Adam laugh. Like incredible. Can you impersonate his laugh?

What? Can you impersonate his laugh? I mean, no, but you want me to play the audio? Yeah, yeah, yeah. With a specific. Because I remember? Yeah, yeah, yeah. With a specific... Because I remember him laughing. Oh, yeah. And I feel like it's a crucial part of the story.

I wish it wasn't so easily accessible. Yeah. I have a folder of all of the... Oh, here. Let's see if I... Oh. Oh. you uh and adam of course worked with you and liz kingsman people who all bridge a whole bunch of people he worked with the most brilliant uh his most brilliant work was i think with uh this

thing he did called shit theater which was a double act with, and one of the people in the double act is his partner, Rebecca, his partner when he passed away. And he did, it was like avant-garde theater, but it was beautifully accessible and it was inventive and it was, and like, it's a shame, like the boundaries of standup.

People are always like, is your show standup? Is your show theater? And like, he understood that that was an imaginary conversation or that that was a useless conversation. He was always trying to push the boundaries of both. How has been doing, you've been doing the show Just For Us,

which is now, it's on Max. I did grow up dreaming of having a special that was on a service that was named after my grandfather. So it feels a lot. Yeah, it's exciting to have a streaming service that feels a little bit like a dishwasher. Yeah, but my grandfather is... I'm glad they named it after Max instead of Yechezkel.

Oh, that's catchy. Yeah, that's good. How has Ben performing the show? I don't know if you talk about this at all, but I remember you were telling me in Chicago, you had like a person who was protesting the show or heckling the show or. Someone stood up and was like,

why aren't you, why are you telling all of these jokes about Judaism instead of like, you know, talking about what Jews are doing to other people? And I was like, well, that's the next show. That's a very contentious thing. It was interesting because what I wanted and what the crowd wanted was so different

because the crowd was so dead set. It's happening in Chicago, yeah. It's happening in Chicago. Steppenwolf? Steppenwolf. Steppenwolf, by the way, they handled it immediately. There was a security guard in there right away, in like 10 seconds.

And this woman stood up. And I lost my patience, actually. I said, you know, the show's about me going to a meeting of anti-Semites and having them come here. Which got a huge reaction from the crowd. And then when it got the reaction from the crowd, I went, you know, I actually don't think that that's the tone of this interaction.

So I said to her, I was like, you're referring to the situation in Israel and Palestine. She said, yes. And I said, okay, well, I was like, the show is not about that. I was like, but the show is like lightly conversant with that as a theme. So it was like the theme of empathy and hard questions and hard choices and how we relate to people that we disagree with and even might think are monsters. I was like, I'd like for you to stay and watch the rest of the show.

And the crowd was like not in agreement with that. And the security guard went, she's leaving. And I was like, okay, I mean, I'm not going to overrule Calvin. Like he's the guy. So she left, but then the crowd clapped. And I wasn't crazy about, and so I kept doing the show. And about a minute later, I stopped the show again. I was like, just so you know, I was like, I think, I was like,

I don't know about, people ask me sometimes for like what the message of the show is. And I was like, I don't know what the message of the show is because you don't develop it with that in mind. I was like, but, I was like, I think one of the things that's engendered in the show is a suspicion of easy comforts. And I was like, and I'd like you guys to keep that in mind. Right, because just to put it in context, the logline of the show is that you show up at a meeting

of people who are racist, anti-Semitic, kind of white nationalists meeting in Queens. Yeah. And so a lot of themes you explore have to do with that. Yeah, and also someone pointed out to me recently, I went to go see, this doesn't have to be a whole strain of conversation because I could talk about it for hours and haven't thought about it enough, but I went to go see

Louis Farrakhan speak in Detroit. And it was at the Nation of Islam conference. And it was a very different crowd of anti-Semites. I was the only, I think maybe there were three or four other white people in a crowd of, you know, probably five or 7,000 people, like a huge amount of people. And it was different. Like, and it reminded me a thing that I say in the show, I can only walk into that room as a white person, right? I can only walk into a room of white nationalists if I have something that they would say is the most essential quality in common with them, right? Like I say that nothing says white privilege more than a Jew walking into a meeting of white nationalists being like, this will probably be fine.

Yeah, yeah. I love that line. It's my favorite line in the show probably because it's an important. So yeah, I just think that everything is less binary than we think it is. And I think that tension is like a really interesting thing to address tangentially and play around with.

Yeah. Sorry, Mike, was that a totally tangential answer? Is that like? No, no no it's interesting i it's just giving me sort of like i'm sort of ruminating on it and do you think that do you think that the next show will be in some way related to the reaction to the show and the themes that are uh we're all living you know, the stories we're living through right now. Taffy Ackner, who wrote Fleishman's in Trouble.

Oh, I know, I love it. One of the great, I guess, one of the great writers, period. Her magazine pieces are as funny as anyone's stand-up routines. But Taffy said to me, your next show will depend on how this experience ends. And so, I mean, she said that to me, your next show will depend on how this experience ends. And so, I mean, she said that to me, I think, a few days before or after Adam passed away or something like that. But it was, she was, I think, it was just going to be about Israel and Palestine. I was going to do the next show about Israel and Palestine.

And now it feels like such a poisonous concept, but it's so on my mind. So I'm not sure. I'm not sure what it will be. Do you feel safety issues when you're on stage? I did right after October 7th. Things were so charged. Yeah. During a Q&A in San Francisco after the show, someone raised her hand and she was like, what if someone kills you? And I was like, excuse me? And she's like, I if someone kills you? And I was like, excuse me? And she was like, I'm worried someone's going to kill you. Are you worried about that? I was like, well, now I am. This guy sent me a DM or a comment or something,

but it was on Instagram. And he said, I'm going to come to San Francisco on October 28th and behead you in front of your Zionist buddies. And I was like, wow, the show's end on the 27th. That's so funny. I'm not going to stay for the heading. And also, I don't know that I agree with everybody in the crowd on everything politically. But that guy's like a skateboarder in Tunisia.

He's not going to get his freaking flyer miles together. Right. You know, to get to San Francisco. Right. He would do it with a more well-known comedian. Bert Kreischer. He'd have a tougher time beheading Bert Kreischer than he would me.

I'm being honest with you. Bert's like a strong guy. And he's like surprisingly agile. And he's like, you know, light on, he's really light on his feet. Also beheading is so involved. Oh, it's so specific. It really requires a holding still.

But I saw that, and I thought, I'm turning off comments now. That's what did it. That's the one that did it. Oh, that's what did it? Sorry, not to bring... We've talked about the death of my director. We've lightly touched on really intense geopolitical stuff.

It seems good. Although the funny thing is, I trust your listenership in the sense that... Yeah, they're pretty good. Yeah, they're not going to... I think the more cautionary part of my listenership is not the listeners, it's the watchers on YouTube. Oh, yeah.

Because that can get kind of served to anybody. Yeah, yeah. They're like, these motherfuckers. You're like, all right,ers. You know, all right. How'd you end up here? You liked this beheading video. Here's another video. Exactly.

The algorithm is not helping us. Beheading? Beheading? Fair. It doesn't matter if you're for it or against it. Your general interest is batting. Ha! Ha! Ha! On a positive front, did you have a personal experience with an audience member after performing just for us that was meaningful to you? Every single day.

I'm not kidding. Genuinely every single day. Genuinely every single day. You're just articulating so much about this. I'm so sorry. There is a picture. Every single day. Every single day.

Every single day. I'm a Muppet right now. Every single day. Every single day. I'm a Muppet right now. Every single day. Every single day. Every single day. What are you trying to prove? You're on Broadway? Every single day. Every single day.

If you check any one of these, we've done four now. They're amazing. Every single time I come you check any one of these, we've done four now. They're amazing. These are fourth. Every single time I come on the podcast, Mike roasts me to my face in a way that makes me laugh so hard. I'm roasting you out of love. I know. It's my love language. Yeah.

It's a very, sometimes I'll have it. Speaking of the comments, sometimes I'll have it, speaking of the comments, sometimes I'll have it in the comments, like, Pete Holmes is being mean to you. I'm like, he's not being mean to me. He loves me. No, no, no. It is the number one difference in character between American comedians and everybody else.

Genuinely. It is understood that it is a love language. And by the way, there's a difference between mean roasting and roasting with love. Also, if I ever had a problem, Mike is one of the people that I would call and seek advice from. So if Mike is making fun of me for a problem, he knows that it's not the thing in my life that's not going to be like, God, Mike made fun of my goofy arms and the fact that sometimes I resemble one of those car dealership balloons. That's just like, you know, I'm okay with it.

I'm very okay with it. What's the meanest burn you've ever received that actually you did take hard? Oh my God, there are so many. Joel Domet, who's another comedian in England, said, I look like an ugly version of all of the Beatles, which really made me laugh. It's really funny. That's good.

Did it hurt or did it feel okay? It felt kind of okay. Well, it's funny, like, you know, a modern buzzword is being seen. I don't feel seen, et cetera. Yeah, yeah. Being roasted is being seen. Oh, that's so interesting.

And someone said there's nothing more romantic than being understood. Yeah. And so there is something really beautiful about someone perceiving an essence in you, even if that's an essence that you're afraid of, there is a relief at being seen or being... Yeah, I think so. When my daughter and my wife, Jenny, make fun of me or do impersonation of me walking or being like whatever,

I feel so loved yeah there's a something someone said about a producer in los angeles said i think cameron crowe said it about somebody he said that's a really decent person they will knife you in the front they will knife you in the front it's a a really good line, and it's really true. Like, there's something about someone saying to you a mean thing that releases you from the sort of like, oh, God, as soon as I leave the room. There are a couple people, I'll tell you afterwards, who are like, I'm like, I don't want to leave the room around you.

I'm like terrified of what you're going to say as soon as I'm out of here. Oh, I have a lot of those. Yeah, forget about it. It is like a really terrifying, it's really terrifying. What do you think they'll say when you go? Oh, that guy. I have never, I think people correctly identify

that I have never, I've had a lot of like insecurity. Like I grew up so insecure, so desperately wanting to like belong. And so you try different approaches when you're younger, right? You try to demonstrate knowledge. You try to demonstrate that you belong. Did you say knowledge or knowledge? Knowledge. Thanks, Mike. It sounded like knowledge. Yeah. Great.

I just didn't know if that was a pronunciation thing. No, but this is like, remember room and museum? Yeah. Museum. Museum and room. That's how you say it. The Boston accent is rum and museum. Museum.

It's the Museum of Fine Arts. Museum. Museum. Museum. I now say it. Museum, three syllables. I started trying after you roasted me the last time, I started trying to say museum. Even the way you say it right is wrong.

That's the thing. I said museum, and my friend Ben was like, why are you saying that word weird? I was like, no, that's correct. Can I tell you a fun name-droppy story about Ben? We were— Well, first of all, I'll walk you back before you tell the story. What did you feel insecure about? Not belonging.

I still feel a sense of not belonging. I still am terrified that, like— I lived in New York City, and I was one of the most liberal people I knew. And then I moved to Los Angeles, and they're like, you're Mitt Romney. And I was like, what? Like, I felt very out of step in my politics. Why Mitt Romney? I'm just like, you know, I'm just picking a person who's like a conservative light or seems like lightly conservative now.

But everyone was like, you know, at a big kerfuffle like over like the Olympics. Like I, because I love the Olympics because it's one of the only things we do together as a planet besides kill each other. I think it's like a really, and my brother's an Olympian and I went to the Olympics in 2018 and saw all these like North Koreans who were like, they had North Koreans who had been sent to Pyeongchang from Pyongyang and watching them see the West as it is, like genuinely watching North Koreans experience.

I was like, oh my God, this is like, this is a really special, interesting event. And also the Olympics is sometimes used to excuse things that are non-excusable, right? Like they'll clear out certain neighborhoods or all of a sudden all the homeless people in the neighborhood will disappear right before the Olympics.

So it's like a very contentious thing. And there's a, there's a very, there's a burgeoning movement in Los Angeles to try to like divest them of the Olympics in 2028. And like, it's very, and so I mentioned that I liked the Olympics and everybody looked at me like it was a whole, a whole thing. And I like i genuinely sometimes feel too xyz for a space and so you take on controversial topics like the olympics i mean that's what i thought right like i was like well like the person who brought me was like everyone's gonna know you like the olympics now and i was like three billion people watch the olympics i might not be the only fan there are other people who watch the olympics but like when you occupy like different little subcultures, different little spaces and spaces you badly want to belong to, sometimes the most insecure version of you comes out.

And like that version tries to demonstrate knowledge or tries to demonstrate. You've never experienced this? The Olympics thing? No. You know what I mean. You know what I mean, Mike. I definitely know what I mean. You know what I mean, Mike. Yeah, I definitely know what you mean. I mean, I feel like I'm always the person who is in a conversation with,

if me and Jenny are in conversation with like a couple that we're new to know or whatever, where like Jen will have this look on her face like, what the fuck's Mike gonna say now? Because I am, I like, I generally like discourse. I have this joke that I was, that I'm working on about how like, what I'm really looking for in a partner is a, is someone who's comfortable saying, sorry about him for the rest of our lives. Just to be like, sorry. You know, he means he, he's doing his best. Well, it's funny. Like you,

I was talking to Krista Stefano about this the other day on this podcast. It's like Chris DiStefano went from being sort of not that funny as a comic to being really, really funny. Like, found it. I feel like you had that. Because I remember when you were a kid, you know, you came to the cellar and you were like at NYU. You weren't a good comic.

No, of course not. But then you found it. Did you have a found it moment? 2014. I had a moment where end of 2013, beginning of 2014, I started to put it all together. And by the way, not to be too self-helpy, it was when I figured out for myself that I could just do it.

I figured out for myself that I didn't need to be quite so try-hard as when it all just started to coalesce. And I had my own show. I had my own solo show. I had my own thing. And so I think having your own thing, you build these things in little bits and iterations. You find little stuff and you pile it on top of each other.

You've got something mean to say. You've got a little half smile. What's the mean thing? It's not mean. You've got a little zet. You have a little electric buzzer in your hand and you're reaching out for a shake. What is it?

I'm thinking of like, I didn't have this planned, but I was thinking about when you won an award at Edinburgh years ago, probably 2014. 2014. And then you ran into your college professor, the famed novelist, A.D. Smith, and she was like, what are you up to? And you're like, I was in Edinburgh.

And she said, who had a good year this year? And my brother was with me, Austin, went, he did. And she went, who won the Perrier? And Austin went, he did. And she went, who won the Perrier? And Austin went, he did. And she went, seriously, who won the Perrier? Ha, ha, ha, ha. Oh, my God. So good.

But it was one of those things where I was like, yeah, you need to figure out where you need to figure out who you are. Although, by the way, Zadie got me again this year because Zadie came to see my show in London. And she went, I never knew you could write. And I was like, Zadie,

you were my professor for an entire semester. She is so, talk about someone who is, will burn you and the burn is love. I mean, she's a fierce,

she's a fierce talker. She, she once was grading. How about this for an insult? You remember? And by the way, I'm saying this hoping she hears this and comes on the podcast. I've asked her before.

She's a great podcast guest. It's oft times that she does it. But she only does podcasts she really likes for people she really likes. Okay. I'm joking, I'm joking. It was for Mabel and Gary. Shut it off! I can't do one zets.

One zets. But Zadie won one of my papers in 2011, circled a section, and just wrote woof next to it. Oh, my God. Standing ovation. Standing ovation. Standing ovation. Standing ovation. That is, that's as good of a burn as a professor could have.

I mean, I have a paper. I still have it somewhere in like a shoebox in my childhood home. She, I'm sure, she wrote, Alex, this paper was so good, I was positive you stole it from the internet. That's great. Which is like mean and also nice and also like I worked so hard on the papers at the end of the semester because in the beginning I had been burned by a generation defining

voice. Wait, so Ben, yeah, so wait, I have to ask you about Ben. Tell me the Ben story. We went to an event at the Met and it was like the and Bill Gates was somewhere at this event. Who? He's like Elon Musk but

he uses power for good and he's like the richest guy richest guy in the world second richest guy now but poor Ahab we really should start a GoFundMe but I I said to Benj I said Benj

I think that's Bill Gates. And he went, I think so too. And I went, I'm going to go ask him for change for the fountain. Oh, God. And Benj went, don't, don't. And I was like, no, I'm going to do it. It'll be like, really? Bill Gates will love it.

I'll love it. So I go up to Bill Gates. I went, excuse me, Mr. Gates. And he recoiled physically. And Ben was watching. It pains me so much. And I went, I'm sorry to bother you. Really?

I tried to open with a compliment. I was like, really appreciate everything you've done. And then I went, do you have any change for the fountain? And he went, what? And I said, there's a fountain over there. People sometimes throw in change. Do you have any change for the fountain? And I said, there's a fountain over there. People sometimes throw in change. Do you have any change for the fountain? And Benj comes running over

and I see Benj running over and he stops like 10 feet away to watch his interaction happening. And Bill Gates went, I don't have any change for the fountain. And I went, you don't have any change for the fountain. Just to make Benj laugh. Benj is not like make Benj laugh. Benj is

not like, Benj comes over and he's like, sorry about this. And he's like, he was going to ask you for change to the fountain. And Bill Gates went, he already did. And he went, did you give him change to the fountain? And Bill Gates went, no. And Benj went, you don't have any change for the fountain. That's funny.

And I said to Benj, well, I guess you don't get to be Bill Gates by giving everybody change for the fountain. That's funny. And I said to Benj, well, I guess you don't get to meet Bill Gates by giving everybody change for the fountain. And Bill Gates went, nice to see you. And then he walked away. Nice to see you. Nice to see you. I want to be like, if we'd met before,

you'd remember, you know? Wow. So when you ask Bill Gates, do you have change for the fountain, are you embarrassed? You should be. No. Okay. He's fine. Is something wrong with you? Yeah. Haven't we established this many times in previous podcasts? Yeah. There's something going on here. Yeah. Like scoliosis, ADHD, lack of social graces and crippling anxiety paired with an inability to filter myself. I have a slow round question.

What are people's favorite and least favorite thing about you? Oh, man. I would say that people's favorite thing and least favorite thing about me is ultimately I am the person that I am. And so some people love me for my curiosity and love me for my weird thing you say to Bill Gates. If you listen to that Bill Gates story and you're like, that's really funny and really interesting

and I'd like to have more of that in my life every so often, then maybe I'm the person for you. You're like a disruptor without the company. I'm like Uber if there was no taxis. Yeah, yeah. But it's a really interesting... My friend got me a sweatshirt that says, I'm not for everyone.

I don't wear it around. So are you identifying it as the thing that people like least about you is that you will kind of say the inappropriate thing? I'm not trying. Is it really inappropriate to say to Bill Gates, give me a change in the function? No, no, I'm asking, I'm asking, I'm asking.

I don't. You didn't answer. You said, I said, what's people's favorite and least favorite thing about you? I said myself. Yourself. But describe what that is. I'm genuine. Like, I'm curious

I'm I'm like a little pretentious I'm a little annoying I don't know but I'm also like I genuinely try to hear other people because I'm genuinely curious like how about that

I'm genuinely curious but that sometimes not everybody feels like being interrogated and not everybody feels like being thatated and not everybody feels like being, that's the good answer to the question. That's probably the true answer, is curiosity. You just complimented your answer

at the end of the question. Yeah, it's a good answer. I'm very smart and very curious and I like to travel and I like long walks on the beach. I'm going to be the first guy to do that. Have you read David Foster Wallace? Sick.

Okay. Your sentences just keep going. Yeah, like car crashes. What is a time where you didn't apologize, but you wish you did? Oh, man. Gosh, I'm really sorry about all the grief chat I like grief chat

after after Adam after people this again shit I have a tendency when I'm going through pain to hold people at arm's length,

but I don't always explain why. And so sometimes that creates situations where I'm like, please, please, please stay. Please don't get too close to me because people are dying left and right, so please stop doing that. But I wish it wasn't like my pain response was that sort of fear of being hit again.

This is so earnest, Mike. I like earnest. Okay, but it's really like... It's making me think, because I wouldn't have thought of it unless you said it, but I think if I analyze why I'm keeping people at arm's length when I'm going through something, grief or whatever it is, and I never have, it's that the question they're asking or the statement they're making

often would require a novel of an answer for you to even explain what it is you're experiencing. Of course. And so then as a result, you're terse. And then you're like, well, I shouldn't have been terse. I think that there's a lot of, I've become a better communicator. And if you're listening to the podcast at home and you're like, really?

You've become a better communicator? You're not like crushing it right now. But like, what were you, were you just using sounds and gestures five years ago? But like, yeah, I've become a better communicator.

But I have found it so hard to, I don't know, communication. Like you said, all my favorite friends are so articulate in the way they express how they're feeling. And like, I think it's a thing that I really want for myself, being able to do it. That's one of the reasons I love doing comedy because you're articulating. And the reason I work better in long-form comedy

than short-form comedy because I think a personality like this requires an hour of explanation. Yeah. So let's do jokes. Please. Am I allowed to pull out my laptop? Is that allowed? Oh, jokes. Please. Am I allowed to pull out my laptop? Is that allowed?

Oh, yeah, please. I've been writing a lot of jokes lately about drugs. It's just a thing that, you know, I take medication for sleepwalking, and it's just like, it's a thing I've just been meditating on. I was thinking about how we had a family friend growing up who had a bad trip.

This was when I was a kid. And he thought he was Jesus Christ. Was he? Right, exactly. But that's my joke. I lived in such a Catholic town that for a week, everyone was like, does anybody know? You know what I mean?

Has anybody heard anything? That's so funny. You know what I mean? Like, and this is the, I wrote, either Jesus Christ decided to return to Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, or some kid had a bad experience with LSD. A notable thing about this story

is that he was like from this really religious family, church five days a week, you know, pilgrimages to Yugoslavia. So in a way, this was the ultimate case of mom, look at me. Except it was mom, look at me, I'm Jesus Christ. Although I, this was the ultimate case of mom, look at me, except it was mom, look at me. I'm Jesus Christ. Although I think that the ultimate case of mom, look at me is when you're an atheist and you think you're Jesus Christ, because then you're asking for two big leaps. Yeah, I like that. You're asking for two huge jumps, because a medium step would be like, if you're from an atheist family and you're like, I've taken all this LSD, and I think I'm Christopher Hitchens.

You'd be like, what? I'm Jesus Christ. You're like, well, two problems there. First of all, he's just a carpenter who lived 3,000 years ago. No, no, he's the son of God. Okay, well, it brings us to the second thing. Yeah. I've got it just on drugs.

I have a thing about how I lost my voice and when I was on, when I was in the middle of a run and they put me on steroids, and I'd never taken steroids before. Yeah. But I took steroids at like 4.02

p.m. on Thursday and at 4.05 I was like, Barry Bond should not be in the hall of fame. Good joke. I was like, Barry Bond should not be in the Hall of Fame. Good joke. Yay. I was like, someone came up to me. I was answering questions before I was asked. Someone came up to me. They're like, Alex,

I'm like, Tuesday. They're like, what? And I was like, did that do it? They're like, yup. And I'm like, good. Like, it's just, I took a shower and I could see every droplet. I was like dodging. I was like dodging droplets in the shower. That's a great joke. You think so? I love the turn.

I love the Barry Bonds turn. Barry Bonds should not be in the Hall of Fame. Yeah, now you can list off people. But by the way, I went out on these steroids on stage and I had the best show of my life. And then I came out on stage and I was like, I'm excited for tomorrow. And I went on stage, still on steroids the next night

and had the worst night of my life. And I was like, this is really interesting. Right. You really understand. John Belushi. Yeah. Yeah, I was gonna pick a different, I was gonna say Jim Morrison.

But yeah, you really understand that you're really playing with this sort of, in the same vein, by the way, can I pitch one more short thing? Hit it, hit it. Dolly Parton wrote Jolene and I Will Always Love You in the same vein by the way can I pitch one more short thing Dolly Parton wrote Jolene and I Will Always Love You in the same writing session and for the rest of her

life do you think she was like alright so that day I woke up and I had eggs and I had asparagus and I took an 11 minute shower like for the rest of her life trying to like get that sort of like that's a great point I don't like the I mean the joke doesn't isn't there but like the premise is great.

The premise. And the observation is great, I think, in my opinion. That's the thing, I can't find the joke. The observation is so funny. Because like if a hockey player scores a goal the next night, they're like, what undershirt was I wearing? Right. Or how about any time she talks about that one day,

things go incredible. They're like, what'd you do, Dolly? She's like, oh no, I worked nine to five. Oh my God. That's funny. That's not bad. But,

I don't know, it's hard to. It's not that hard. You work nine to five, wait a minute. God, there's nothing better than fucking writing a joke.

Yeah, jokes are fun. Here's something that's like really half there, but I think Americans are bad roommates. They're like, I have a gun. You're like, what? You want to see my gun? You're going to lock it up?

No, this is America. It's about freedom. Ever heard of it? Right, but we also sort of share the same space. Socialists, well, there are socialist elements. Like firefighters or socialism. Well, also like, no, I mean,

the roommate thing is like, we share toilet paper, we split the utilities. Shut up! Actually, I think you might want to shut up because, not that it matters,

but I do pay more rent. That's great. That's fun, right? That's really good. I don't know what the hell it has to do with any of the material I'm doing, but I think there's something to it.

That is the thing, though, when you write a joke and you're like, this is great for John Fuglesein. This is great for, I'm just picking a random comedian who's like, who does political stuff. I'm going to all these new different Jewish spaces

and sometimes because I was raised in such a religious environment and so now I go to places that are different affiliations. So you go to places and they're like, we're not a traditional synagogue. We're God optional. We're faith optional.

We're very progressive. You're like, okay. How progressive are you? They're like, we're anti-Semitic. That's very funny nothing here is kosher and oh who's tonight's fundraiser for? it's for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard

oh my god that's very funny I have a thing that I've been trying to tackle but it's a weird position because you tangentially also address remember you had this bit I don't know if it's still in circulation, but about how banks, like a bank went bankrupt.

Oh, yeah, yeah. And you're like, aren't you supposed to have our money? Like, we don't have your money. Yeah, yeah. It's my sky is falling versus everything is okay in a relationship bit. Yeah. That was my bank.

Oh, Silicon Valley Bank. Silicon Valley Bank was my bank. And so I'm trying. Which, by the way, to give context to this, Silicon Valley Bank, like, I want to say. A year ago, March. Yeah, a year ago was just like, we don't have the money. I was watching the news. And this is like part of the bit.

I was like, I was watching the news. And they're like, Silicon Valley Bank has gone bankrupt. And I had a thought. I was like, wow, that's the same name as my bank. Great joke. But I had a thought. I was like, wow, that's the same name as my bank. Great joke. But that's so interesting. Standing ovation. Really?

I love that joke. That's the same name as my bank. That's the same name as my bank. Because in my mind, the news always happens. Every single time I've watched the news, it has happened to other people. Yes. Because I've never been like, oh my gosh,

I won an NBA championship. Like, it's never happened to me. It always happens to the Toronto Raptors, right? It's never happened to me. So they were like, everyone at Silicon Valley Bank can't get their money out. I was like, that's crazy because obviously I'll be able to. And I

called the bank and I sort of got a call, the number for the little bank in Boston that was bought by Silicon Valley Bank that was my bank and the guy picked up the phone and went, what? And I went, okay, today might be, maybe I'm included in all of the customers of Silicon Valley Bank. And I went,

hi, this is Alex. Anyone, are you a user? And I was like, I mean, I'm a customer. It was a truly panic-inducing situation. But also, everyone of my friends, I was going online and watching people celebrating this thing happening to all these people in Silicon Valley.

And I was like, no, no, no. I, who have never been in Silicon Valley, am the affected party here. Like a Boston comedian. Everyone's like, yeah, let him fail. And I was like, no, no, no. There's other parties. We've got to help Google.

We've got to help. Because it wasn't just those billionaires. It was also, you know, thousandaires like me. Right, right. But it was a really crazy. Have you done that on stage? No, I've not said a single oh that'll kill and also like i would just free associate on how you felt not like in a superficial

sense but like how what does it feel like to be like oh maybe everything i've ever worked for in my entire life is gone do you know what i feel like i didn't work for that day people call me with work questions i'm like i'm sorry I'm questioning the concept of money right now, so I can't do anything. That's good. I was like, genuinely, people were like, we're on deadline for this and you're traveling here for stand-up.

And I was like, I don't know if I want to do that anymore. I might want to eat berries in the woods because it all doesn't matter. Final thing we do is working it out for a cause. What's an organization you like to contribute to? There's an organization called Sefaria, S-E-F-A-R-I-A. And when I was growing up, if you wanted access to Jewish text, you had to know Hebrew and Aramaic

and have these really hard to find rare books. And it costs tens of thousands of dollars to get these books. These guys took all of those books, negotiated the copyrights, and put them online for free. Wow. I'm looking at this.

The largest free library of Jewish texts available to read in Hebrew and English, including Torah, Tanakh, Talmud, Mishnah. I'm pronouncing these correctly, right? And everybody uses it. Everybody from Hasidic Jews to Orthodox Jews to Kanye West fans doing opposition research. Everybody is on this website. We're going to encourage listeners to contribute as well.

Alex Handelman, part four bring it on, HBO special thank you I can't wait for people to see this special working it out cause it's not done we're working it out cause there's no

that's going to do it for another episode of Working It Out Alex Edelman is one of a kind. You can see his show just for us on Max right now. That's right. It's Max. It was HBO for a while. Then what happened? Who knows?

Who cares? You can watch it on Max. You can follow Alex Edelman on Instagram or on TikTok at Alex Edelman. You can watch the full video of this interview on our YouTube channel at Mike Birbiglia. Check that out. Subscribe because we're posting more and more videos. Go to birbigs.com

to sign up for the mailing list to be alerted to any upcoming shows and there's a lot coming. Our producers of Working It Out or Myself along with Peter Salamone, Joseph Birbiglia,

and Mabel Lewis, associate producer Gary Simons, sound mix by Ben Cruz, supervising engineer Kate Balinski. Special thanks to Jack Antonoff and Bleachers for their music. Special thanks to my wife, the poet J-Hope Stein. Special thanks, as always, to my daughter Una, who built the original radio fort made of pillows.

Thanks most of all to you who are listening. If you're enjoying it, please rate and review on Apple Podcasts. Just write what your favorite episode is, and then people will know when they see that there's 130 episodes which one might be a fun place to start on. Tell your friends. Tell your enemies. Let's say you're visiting Boston. You're on your way to the museum.

The museum. The museum. Someone bumps into you. You know Boston. It could get a little rough. Instead of fighting, just try recommending this podcast. And if they don't quite understand you, try recommending this podcast! It's called Working It Out! It's hosted by Mike Babagula.

Thanks everybody. We'll see you next time.