Mike Birbiglia's Working It Out - 149. Bridget Everett: The Star of HBO’s Somebody Somewhere on Risking It All

Episode Date: October 28, 2024

Bridget Everett, star of the hit HBO series “Somebody Somewhere,” joins Mike on the podcast this week to discuss creative risks and processing grief and loss through their work. Plus, that time Bridget and Patti LuPone performed together at Carnegie Hall. Also, Bridget describes the most outrageous audience reactions she has received in response to performing her songs like “Titties” and “What I Gotta Do to Get That Dick.”Please consider donating to True Colors Flint Hills.

With your live shows, what's the most extreme reaction you've ever gotten? This woman in Chicago one time, she was like, I sung my second song and she was like, you're sick, you're sick. Oh, no kidding. And then her friend stayed. You're sick.

Yeah, you're sick. No way. No, I'm serious. Do you remember what it was after, what song or what thing? I think it was after Tiddies and I was getting ready to go on to what I gotta do to get that. As before that. But her friends stayed and I went over to their table

and I drank her glass of champagne that she had left and I was like, I mean it rattled me but in some ways like her friend staying was a victory. That is the voice of the great Bridget Everett. This is an exciting one. This is a long overdue episode. I've been a fan of her series, Somebody Somewhere, for a long time. This is the final season.

It is a Peabody Award-winning series on HBO and Max. It's a beautiful show. It's heartfelt. It's extraordinarily well-written, well-acted, and my sister Gina, my brother Joe and I, we talk about it a lot. Big hit in the Birbiglia family, and we have a great, great chat today. She was at the Beacon Theatre this weekend. Bridget Ever was at the Beacon Theatre for a packed, sold out show. I actually just announced my own shows at the Beacon Theater.

We just added a third show in March. I'm doing my show, which is called The Good Life, in case there's any confusion about the contents of the show. It's basically been the show that I've been talking about on this show, this podcast, for two years in progress. I've toured it as Please Stop the Ride. The final title will be The Good Life.

So people have said to me, will it be the same show I saw in Boston a year ago or a year and a half ago? No, but yes, it's always in progress. Every performance is different. So is it different from a year ago? Yeah, it's probably 50 or 60% different. Is it different from six months ago when I was at the Beacon Theater?

Last, it's probably 30 or 40% different. It's gonna be, they're gonna be a great, great run of shows. All the tickets are at birbigs.com. There will be a final leg of this tour in January, which I'm really excited to announce. These are some cities that I love, love visiting. I'll be in Iowa City at the Engler Theater, which is a gorgeous, gorgeous theater in January. I'll be in Pickering, Ontario at the Pickering Casino Resort.

And then Baltimore in February. I'll be at the Baltimore Center Stage February 21. I'm in Northampton at the Academy of Music, which is gorgeous. And then Feb 23, I'm in Burlington, Vermont at the Flynn, due to overwhelming comments every time I announce a tour. For me to come back to Burlington, I love Burlington, I love Northampton, these are all great cities

that I really want to visit. The pre-sale for all of those dates begin today at 10 a.m. Eastern. The code is PANCAKE, all of that on burbigs.com. Sign up for the mailing list to be the first to know. The code is PANCAKE. The Beacon Theatre shows in March will be the finale of The Good Life and of Please Stop the Ride.

So join us for that. It's going to be really special. I got a lot of people texting me the morning that The Good Life went on sale and they go, but there's going to be a Broadway or Off-Broadway run too, right? And this is it. This is the New York Spectacular. I did a one-off at the Beacon Theater in June just for fun. It was just, I thought,

like what if I did the Beacon one night? It's an amazing venue. And I just felt like, oh my God, I would love to do a whole bunch of shows here for the finale. It just felt like the perfect venue for this particular show and this story I'm telling. And so it's gonna be really special. I love this episode with Bridget Ever today. If you ever have a chance to see her live,

she is just really something of a legend. You know, she's been performing these solo shows at Joe's Pub for years and years this week at the Beacon Theater, you know, all over New York City, all over the country, but what she does is a combination of singing and comedy and cabaret and just kind of like really over the top, like sex jokes and occasionally there are boobs and faces. It's unpredictable and just far out. I mean, I just think she's a real trailblazer.

She is a complete and total original and I have so much respect for her. She's from Kansas, which is where her series on HBO is set. She comes from the world of sort of underground experimental New York theater. We talk about all of that today. Enjoy my chat with the great Bridget Everett. New York theater, we talk about all that today. Enjoy my chat with the great Bridget Everett.

In the first episode of the series, which I couldn't recommend more highly, you have a revelation, your character has a revelation, where you go to a church gathering and you sing, and it kind of, seemingly kind of opens up a side of you. Did you have something as cut and dry as like an inflection point in your life where you're like, okay, this changed me?

Well, kind of, and this might sound a little corny, but I used to go to this karaoke bar on the Upper West Side with my friends. Actually, it was like an Irish Scottish bar, but every Sunday night they had karaoke and, and I wasn't really singing much at that point. I was just waiting tables and getting on top of the bar and like ripping my shirt off and singing a piece of my heart. And I was like, this is, this is what I want to do, but you can't really do sustain, you know, on karaoke,

karaoke and bars. I had to do, but you can't really do sustain, you know, on karaoke. You know, karaoke in bars. I had to figure out something. So I was at Sing Sing Karaoke in the East Village one time and Jason Egan, who was the artistic director at Ars Nova, which is a theater for emerging artists, saw me and he's like, I think you should try to make a show out of that. And that kind of changed, well, that didn't kind of, that changed my life.

It was like, you know, I've always had a hard time. I know what feels good and I know what feels right, but I sort of always need somebody's help to kind of figure out how to channel it because I don't feel like that there have been a lot of like, it's not like, you know, I want to be like Scarlett Johansson, I want a career like that, or I want a career like Ricky Martin or whatever.

I don't know why those names come to mind, but the closest person that I thought that I wanted to emulate or to be like is Bette Midler, and she's sort of is a different era. So I don't know, I'm happy that people have seen things in me along the way and try to put me on course to where I could be successful. It's interesting.

I'm not at home charting out a list of dreams. Totally, you don't have a vision board. No, uh-uh. But it's funny you should say that because Mateo Lane and I were talking on this podcast the other day about, he had an art teacher who goes, no, you're good. You should do this, this is gonna be your thing.

And I had that, I had a screenwriting professor in college. It was like, no, you're good. And I do think there is something to that. You're saying this guy Jason had a thought on you that you didn't necessarily have about yourself. I think there's something significant to that. I mean, I never would have thought, like, oh, put me in a 99-seat theater

and let me sing songs, you know, like, called Canhole or whatever, like, stupid songs that, you know, I was sort of, I always had kind of like a blue sense of humor, but the idea is never to shock people. It's more to let people know, like, I have a song called Titties, right? And it's like, well, they're no big deal. They're just tits, right?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's celebrate them. It's like, right? And it's like, well, they're no big deal. They're just tits, right? Let's celebrate them. It's like, you know, it's not to try to be shocking. It really is just to try to be like, who cares? Let it go, tits, boobs, canholes, who cares? Yeah. And I don't know. I think sometimes when I see other people,

I'm like, are they just saying the thing to be shocking? But that's really not my intention ever. It may seem that way, but. It's so funny, I think about that all the time. It's one of the reasons you're one of my favorite performers. I always say, when I see something that moves me, more often than not, from a solo performer,

it's their being them. Yeah, I agree. And when I watch you, I'm like, I think that's you, I don't know. I agree with that. I respond to that totally and wholeheartedly and I think like Bette Midler is singing, Long ago and whatever the song is, the Carpenter song.

But I would always be crying by the end because she was her. And she called herself a big titty honky tonk mama or something like that. And she had these big tits, which I also probably responded to because my mom did and I do and all the people I love have big tits.

Well, that ain't my family. It was a maternal thing maybe. But, and then, Neil obviously that I was talking about before and Kiki, but just... And Murray Hill, obviously, who's still a good friend of mine, like, real... And is great on the show. Great on the show. It's just like real... individuals, like, walking in their own lane, doing it their own way.

And I've... I've just always been inspired by that. And those are the people that I really love. But I also love, like, Lucille Ball. Like, she was her own thing. Just sort of exactly what you're saying, just people doing their own, being truly who they are. And there's a lot of people that hustle and make a lot of money, but maybe they're doing

whatever is hot or relatable, and that just never appeals to me. That's interesting. There's this amazing footage of you performing with Patti LuPone. Oh, Miss Patti. And an orchestra. I mean, cause she's performed,

it looks like she's performed with you a bunch of times or at different places, but this one was with an orchestra? It's the one I'm thinking of, is the New York Philharmonic. And like, and I have to tell you, I did a show at La Mama, which is a small downtown experimental theater in New York, just for those who may not know, and it's Kola Skola who's now the toast of the town.

The toast of the town, O'Mary on Broadway, running through forever. Yeah, running through forever. God bless. And then Justin Vivian Bond, who I mentioned is Kiki, and my friend Scott Whitman directed it, and this guy's Dilbert Carton. We all were doing this show,

and Scott happens to have a lot of like fancy friends, and I knew he was friends with Patti LuPone. And I was like, he's like, well, you know, she's gonna come. I was like, well, good, but don't tell me. You know, I don't wanna know, but when Patti LuPone is in an audience, she lets you know, like she's enjoying the show. And she came backstage after and she sort of like anointed me, you know?

And I was like, Patti likes this, like Patti like me. You know, I was doing something with my crotch, I don't know. But days later I was at Chase Bank depositing my tips from my waiting tables job and Scott and Patti called and they're like, we're having a glass of Prosecco, and we're wondering if you want to sing with Patty at Carnegie Hall. And I was like, and that was like my dream, was to sing at Carnegie Hall, and I was like, and now I get to do it with Patty LaPombe,

but we've just always kind of had this chemistry, and so she's had me sing there, she came up to sing with me at Joe's Pub, and then she invited me to sing with the New York Philharmonic. Now these are rooms that, if you know anything about my work, like sing songs, you know, titties, or what I gotta do to get that dick in my mouth.

And now I'm at the New York Philharmonic singing Bridge Over Trouble Water with Patti LuPone. And it just, I just, it just like boggles my mind where life can take you sometimes by just being yourself. I think that's right. Cause you worked in restaurants for like over 20 years. When you were working at restaurants, and I worked at restaurants for a long time too,

like when you were working at restaurants, did you think this could be where it's going? No. Okay. No. Where did you think it was going? You know, just more karaoke and I was glad I was good at waiting tables

because that's, I was like, this is how I'm gonna make my money for the rest of my life. I really never could picture, like I'll be doing shows here and there and all open for so-and-so on the road and even like when I think about being on HBO, like I sit at home and I watch the show most of the time by myself, even though I've seen it a thousand times, through editing and the post-production, but I sit at home and it's like, when that shh comes on, I almost black out because I cannot believe

that I'm a part of that. Yeah. Does that ever put you at a disadvantage in show business, the business? Because you can't properly advocate for yourself because you're like, I don't even belong here. Oh, believe me. I'm always back channeling to the people, I'll do it for free. My agents are like, guys, slow down.

I think that's the great secret of all of show business is all the greats would do it for free. Yeah, yeah. I was talking to Jack Antonoff on the show about this the other day. When I watch Billy Joel and Madison Square Garden, which they did as a special, 100 performances in Madison Square Garden,

I go, when I watch, I go, he'd do it for free. He'd do it for free, because why else does he do on 100 of them? Right. You know what I mean? Like, he doesn't need to do, he doesn't need to. He doesn't need to, and he would, when I'm watching that guy, I'm like, that guy would do that in a bar in Long Island.

For nobody. Exactly. Oh man, would I love to see that. Him in a bar, that would be incredible. If it's in their bones, It's in their bones. they're gonna do it, and then it could be at karaoke

or it could be an HBO series, but either one is satisfying, I think the same thing. You have, like my sister Gina is like such a big fan of your show, such that she will, like that song in the first season, at the end of the first episode, where you sing, she said to me, she'll watch that back.

Just that scene. She'll just watch that for inspiration. And it's like, how does it feel for people to have that deep of a personal connection to your work? Well, that's a good question. You know, I'm the Midwestern, so it's hard for me to take anything in. But you know, I am like the face on the poster,

so I get stopped a lot about the show and also just about various things. And every time I feel like I really try to listen to them, because my gut instinct is to be like, yeah, right. You know what I mean? Right. But I really, this whole show has been such a lesson in growth and one of the major things is to try to

see the thing in myself that other people see. Do you know what I mean? Like I'm not trying to be corny, and it's like a comedy podcast. I don't think that's, I don't think it's corny. But I think it's important for me to value the show as much as they do. Do you know, I do value it, but it's hard for me

to appreciate them appreciating it. I don't know. That's right. What you're hitting on, I'm gonna hover on. Okay. Because it's so important. Hit and hover. I'm gonna hit it, I'm gonna hover on it.

And the reason I'm gonna hover on it. That's actually not a bad song idea. Don't tell Jack at Antonoff, this one's for me. We're gonna hit it, we're gonna hover on it. No, because it's so important, it has to do with art and it has to do with anything. It has to do with anything in your life having to do with your identity, your personality,

who you are and what your relationship is to other people. It's like when people have a connection to you in a certain specific way or see you in a certain specific way and they vocalize it to you in a certain specific way or see you in a certain specific way and they vocalize it to you, it's like you sort of owe it to them and you sort of owe it to yourself to just acknowledge it. Yeah, I agree with that,

but I think it's painfully difficult. Like I was at a dinner party the other night and a birthday party and there's some showbiz people there and like my friend Amy, who's a TV writer, she was talking to me about my show and she's like, she's like, I want to make sure you're hearing this. Like the things I'm saying. Yes. The exact thing we're saying.

And I was like, no, I am. I'm like, I'm just need you to, you know, I'm going to walk away and then I'm going to, and I'll just, you know, wipe a tear from my eye because I'm just need you to, I'm gonna walk away and then I'm gonna, and I'll just wipe a tear from my eye because it's very, it's valuable, but it's just, it's hard if you're somebody who has struggled to believe in yourself, which is kind of odd if you've seen my stage show, because it looks like I have all the confidence

in the world, but it's that, I know everybody says like, I'm on stage and that's like sort of an exaggerated version of myself or something, but it's really who I wanna be. I wanna be that fearless, I wanna be that carefree. And I also wanna be somebody that just can meet the moment in that way and like accept the love.

Like when I'm in a room singing, and to me it's like a great first date and if it's going really well, you can feel the electricity and I wanna be able to accept the love. And I think that's a large part of like, the bigger and the wilder that I've become on stage, it's all about learning to give of myself and learning to receive.

Should I leave? I'll leave, okay. I think this is the end. I think this is the end. I think this is the end. No, that's- I just, you know, I hope I'm making any sense. We can edit this in post, right? Just cut it all out.

This is all beautiful. This is all beautiful. So here I go again. I can't even, oh my God. Well, what you're doing is you're saying something that's like wise and vulnerable, and then immediately you're like, but we can cut this out, right?

Yeah, right. And I'm probably beet red and I'm about to sweat and. But we're going to hover on it. Yeah, we're hovering. We're going to hit it. We're hitting and hovering. And then we're going to hover.

I think it's the only thing that one can do with you. No, I think that's all. Because I think you're so avoidant of compliments that like hit and hover is the only option. You're like my wife Jenny. My wife Jenny is a brilliant poet and we have like long conversations about like, how does one receive a compliment?

And you both feel that way. Well, I'm very good at receiving compliments. She does not want to have, She does not want to receive compliments. I've been meaning to say blue's your color. You look great. Oh, thank you very much. I mean, look at that. That's all you have to do.

Jesus. Oh God. You say something to me like that, I'm going to just be all right. And then you're one of the most spectacular live performers I've ever seen. Good. No, I'm just kidding. No, thank you. Good. Good is neither here nor there. Good. I don't know why I said good. I was just trying to come up with something clever. And somebody somewhere, you and Jeff Hiller play a game called Pounded or Pass.

Yes. I'm going to name a few people I'd like to say Pounded or Pass. Adam Driver. Well, I'm going to Pounded. He seems like a real fun, tall, I don't like that. Justin Bieber? I'm going to pass because he's having a baby and I'm just not sure. I'm just not sure we would like the same kind of, you know, I want to play footsie and I

feel, is he the kind of person that's going to play footsie? I don't know what I'm talking about. No, no, I'm not cutting it. Okay, keeping it the kind of person that's gonna play footsie? I don't know what I'm talking about. You cut the trick. You cut that out of there. No, no, no, I'm not cutting it. Okay, keep it in. Keeping it. Keeping it. It's got a lot of tattoos, I like that, but to me, I just got the one

and it's regrettable, it's around my toe. A lot of what? Did you say? It's got a lot of tattoos and I've got one around my toe that I went to the tattoo parlor and I said, can I have this? And they said, no, but how about this? I was like, okay.

So. Cate Blanchett. Well, yes, absolutely. I mean, why not? Yeah, and finally, Javier Bardem. Well, thank you for asking. Yeah, yeah, isn't he married to Penelope Cruz? Is that the wrong one?

Oh, actually, I don't know. Is he married to her? But I don't want wanna split them apart. We're just talking about a couple hours here, right? You're right. Oh, it's right? Okay, yeah. Oh, it is.

He is married to her. Yeah, and we can all have lunch. We can all have lunch. With your live shows, what's the most extreme reaction you've ever gotten? In other words, when I watch your show, I'm like, to me me you're pushing every boundary. But that must be too far for somebody.

Oh yeah. Oh yeah. You know, there's been a walkout here and there. Yeah, do you call it out? Yeah, because it's like, you know, I just sort of do a playful run after them as they're going after door. That's more for the audience. I'm not trying to catch them. I'm just like, where you going? Where you going?

But this woman in Chicago one time, she was like, I'd sung my second song and she was like, you're sick, you're sick. Oh, no kidding. And then her friend stayed. You're sick. Yeah, you're sick. No way.

No, I'm serious. Do you remember what it was after, what song or what thing? I think it was after Titties and I was getting ready to go into what I gotta do to get that. That's before that. But her friend stayed and I went over to their table and I drank her glass of champagne that she had left.

And I was like, I mean, it rattled me, but in some ways like her friend staying was a victory. You know, it's like, she left and I was like, I mean, it rattled me, but in some ways, like, her friend's name was a victory. You know, it's like, she left, and I was like, okay, bye-bye. I love that you drank her champagne. That reminds me of, like, there's a great comedian named Todd Glass, who I opened for many years ago. So funny. He's great. He's similarly, like, super improvisational,

kind of will go anywhere, do anything. And I opened for him when I was, like, probably 20 years old, and in the middle of the show, the DCM probably reaches over and starts eating the chicken fingers of the people in the front row. Like as he's talking. I love that, I would eat that shit up. I loved it, I was like this is the greatest thing

and it expanded my mind of like oh what this could be. Yeah, yeah. You go like oh yeah you can drink that person's champagne, you can chase the person who left out the door. Like, there's no rules. What do you, like if someone's coming up and then watching you and admiring what you're doing, but they have fear about kind of going full tilt

on what they're doing, what's your advice? Well, I think it's advice that I got from, I mentioned Adam Adrock, he used to be in my band. He was a founding member of the Tender Moments, played the bass. And he told- He was? Yeah, he was.

Yeah, he was in my band for five or six years. And we're still friends, obviously. But he said something to me early on. He's like, you know- Adrock from the Beastie Boys. Yeah, Adrock. You know, he was like, you know, it's like, do you?

And it's that I'm, and I think he said somebody else had said that first. You know, maybe, I know, it's like, do you, you know, and it's that I'm, I don't think he said somebody else had said that first, you know, maybe I don't remember who was, but, but that is, that's it. Like that's, that's, I think that's the only advice that matters, do you, be you, like do what makes you, you. And I think every time I've focused in more on like who I am and what makes me laugh and what makes me happy and what makes me feel, I don't always think about like, like I, I'm really envious of somebody like you who's like, who can craft like a joke and like,

you know how to make things funny. Like I think they happen to be funny when they come out of my mouth. Like, but I can't like sit down and be like, well, this is funny. But every time I've stopped worrying about trying to be too smart or too clever or the right way to tell something or do something, it's always the best way for me.

So I think that that's important for me. And for, I think there was a pressure that I felt early on to be very clever and very smart and that my stuff wasn't, because it wasn't intellectually stimulating, it was kind of base level, but it's not about that. It's about the spirit of it. And the spirit's what's important,

and that's what I always try to recapture. Yeah, it's funny, like John Mulaney and I, I've always talked about how the moment you're conceiving something and you hear laughter, it's not gonna work. Yeah, that's a good point. Oh my God. Like a laugh track in your head,

that will not yield laughter. Wow, that's so funny because I feel like you guys would know by now. No, I think, no, because I think what it is is you have to come up with something that makes you laugh. Yeah, yeah. And if you're like imagining other people laughing, but not you, then you're in trouble.

Oh yeah, you're fact. It's just what, but I love your do you mantra that add rock advice, do you is everything, right? I always come back to that. And like when we were writing the scripts for the show, like, you know, there's a point where I always take a pass and do like a language pass. And like, I just say it the way that I think

the characters would talk, like we all have our version of that, but like I have my own version of it. And sometimes it's like, God, this is not like, the script is not very funny. But there's enough in there for the, I can hear it coming out of Frederick Coco's mouth, or I can hear it coming out of Jeff's mouth, or my mouth,

and it may look like very, like not much on paper, but I know that that's who those people are, I don't know. It's so interesting you should say that, And I know that that's who those people are, I don't know. It's so interesting you should say that because I'm always baffled by directors who are extraordinarily rigid with the verbiage of what the actors say. Because I'm always like,

I'm not saying you should improvise everything, I'm not saying that the script isn't beautiful and wonderful, but at the same time, it's like the moment it's coming out of the vessel of another person, of Bridget or Mike or whoever it is, it's a different thing. Oh, totally.

So you have to find what that cocktail is, where that script meets that actor. Yeah, and I'm sure we both work with the kind of people that are just like, no, it's a and, not an um, and like, whatever. But I just did a small part in a movie over the summer and it was like the biggest operation I'd ever been on. Like there were cars in front of every,

everybody had a driver, like that kind of vibe. And I was like, oh my God, why am I here? But I talked to the director who was very welcoming and humble and I was just like, I can't believe I'm going to say this to this director. How do you feel about, can I sort of shake up those words a little bit? You influential Hollywood mogul.

You might have just said, kind of put my own spin on it. He's like, absolutely. And I was like, thank you. That's so beautiful. Because it helps also give you confidence, I think, when you can sort of, like I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel. I just sometimes it's just helpful

to kind of just put it in your mouth a certain way. And we do that on our show. We sort of let people, unless there's a line we specifically want, but they kind of wrap it in their own mouth too. Yeah. When you did karaoke and you would do Alanis Morissette's song,

"'You Oughta Know'," was it directed towards a person? I think everybody at that point. What do you mean by that? Because I felt like I wasn't being, I wanted to be a singer and nobody cared. You know? Oh my gosh. So it was more just like, somebody fucking listened to me.

Yeah. That's all. You ought to know I'm a great singer. Yeah, that I'm a great singer and I'm a performer and anybody listening. I was watching this interview with James Gandolfini and I found it so inspirational because he was talking, the with James Gandolfini and I found it so inspirational because he was talking, the late James Gandolfini was talking about how one of his first acting classes,

they couldn't get him to kind of emote, like the teacher couldn't get him to emote and there came a thing where he like, he emoted a lot of anger and he couldn't, he like broke a chair, like broke a piece of furniture like inadvertently and the teacher was like, you know, inadvertently. And the teacher was like, that's good. That's what we're here for.

We're here to figure out how to emote and then figure out how to control that because that's what the audience wants. And it's like, do you feel like you had like anger or fear or some big emotion that you figured out how to convey on stage? A lot of it, oddly enough, is grief. Like, I feel like the things that you can do to lift yourself out of grief, accepting loss

and all those things, but I feel like somebody somewhere, almost everything comes out of grief. But not in a sad way that, you know, I had this dog, I had this dog Poppy, it was my first Pomeranian and I love, she was like, she, she showed me kind of how to love and live and be open, you know? I know I'm not the only person that feels that way about a dog. And then she died during filming and it was like, this is just an example. It was just like, but she taught me how to be present and to feel things and to feel the joy of her love

and to feel the sorrow of it being gone. And so I think also that about my stage life, because there's a big moment in about both my sister and dad who have passed away, but it's also sort of like about like, would my dad accept me and love me now? Like, you know, or like, I don't know. I just, it all kind of ties to that for me somehow.

Does that make any sense? I don't know. Yeah, of course it does. Yeah, no, I think like in a lot of ways, like so many things are about grief. Yeah. So many things are about like learning to express your passion for something

and then acknowledging that like it will go away. Yeah, and I think like, you know, Mary Catherine who plays Tricia in our show, she plays my sister on the show. When Poppy dies, she's like, well, that's the price of love. And I think about that a lot. I think about like, whenever you lose somebody, it's kind of your obligation to not fade away, to take the things that they gave you

and live your life more. And I really, I kind of struggle with that. So I think that that's a little of the stage, it's a little of the show and I don't know. Yeah. And we can also cut that out. You keep saying that, we're going to do like a super cut of you saying you can cut that out.

You say it literally after everything that you say that's great. Well. It's funny because the dynamic today is you'll say something so thoughtful that I actually have to take it in, and while I'm taking it in, you take it back. Oh, well, because I feel like, I'm like,

oh, I think Mike's blacking out right now. Let me just, let me let him off the hook. Oh, God. ["The Time of the Year"] This is called the slow round. Okay, good. Hit the track. What are people's favorite and least favorite thing about you? Oh, wow, that's a good question.

What are their favorite thing about me? Maybe they think I'm funny. Mm-hmm, sure. My, their least favorite thing about me is I don't like conflict, so it's probably sometimes hard to communicate with me. Oh. What about you?

How does it manifest? I'm sure you've answered this question. Oh yeah, yeah. Oh, I have so many. I mean, yeah, there's a lot of things. I mean, with somebody with not a lot of self-worth, I can tell you a lot of things that they don't like about me. Although I had a new one today,

which is the same thing that allows me to be present on stage and kind of block out the rest of my life and existence, I think can sometimes be challenging for people in my personal life. Okay, that tracks. You know what I mean? Yeah. Would you like to give an example?

Or? Well, yeah. Or we what I mean? Yeah, would you like to give an example? Or we can do the next question, whatever. No, but the example is basically like, I think sometimes I'll come into a day strong and positive and blah, blah, blah, and I think the people around me are sometimes like, yesterday you were under a table. Yeah.

You know what I mean? And I think part of around me are sometimes like, yesterday you were like under a table. Yeah. You know what I mean? And like, I think part of that is honestly that being a performer all these years. And you learn to just be like, okay, that's there, and I'm going to do this, and I'm going to try to pick up the pieces. Yeah, yeah. What's the best piece of advice someone's given you

that you used? Well, the do you is really good, but the other one, I was getting to a point where like, where honestly like everything and everybody was getting on my nerves. And like, that's obviously me, it's not them. But one time my friend said something,

she was like, we were in this like, this sort of large friend group kind of fight. And like, somebody was trying to one up the situation. Well, my pilot got canceled or whatever, and she's like, hey, you don't corner the market on pain. We're all, I was like, that is such a smart thing to say. You don't corner the market on pain. I was like, that is so good,

but it's also a great reminder that we all got our own shit, so I don't know. I'm blocking you before you take it back and say you can cut that. What are you going to do with the supercut that. Because I was literally taking it in, but I knew that you were going to come in with, you can cut that out. Because I think that's a deep feeling,

that you don't corner the market on pain. Yeah, I think about that at least once a week. Like, and that was six years ago that she said it, or more. You know, you can be going through some of the most, you know, my mom died a year ago, and it was like one of the hardest things I've ever been through. But I had a friend going through something

and equally as devastating, and like was acting in a different way. And I was like, you know what, just like we're all riding our own waves and just try to work it out together. Yeah, that's great. What's a song that makes you cry? All of them.

I mean, so many because I feel like I connect emotionally. The only way I can emotionally connect is often through music and through song. Oh God, I'm not gonna say one that I wrote, but a lot of times I write a song for somebody. You can say one you wrote. But like someone said, my life tonight always makes me cry. And we do cover that in our show a lot,

but it comes to like some of my sister, and then there's, oh God, I can't even say it. I can't even say it. You can't say the name because you'll cry? Well, there's this song, What Are You Doing in the Rest of Your Life, that my mom and I used to sing together. That's one of them.

What's the rest of your life song about? Well, it's just like, What are you doing the rest of your life? North and south and east and west of your life. It's just like, I have only one request of my life, to spend it all with you. It's just like about being with somebody and like,

and just, you know, and I always fuck up the intervals, like on the da, da, da, da, da, da, whatever the, but my mom would always get it right. And, and like, it's, I don't know. It's just, and it also reminds me like when we were little, we all, you know, we had a music room and we practiced piano. And if we hit the wrong note, my mom would be like, F sharp.

So it's like the sort of tender moment also has her correcting me, you know? And we just, and even like as she was kind of like- It has like a history of sorts. A history of sorts, you know? Like we, you know what, my family connects through music, and she was a music teacher and all that. So anyway, it's just really cool to, I don't know, it's not always like the literal lyrics to a song,

it's the feeling or the moment in time or something like that. Like a lot of times I've heard a song 150,000 times, and I still don't know all the words because I'm just experiencing the feeling of it. Yeah. Okay. What's the most absurd thing you've ever done while drunk? Okay, what's the most absurd thing you've ever done while drunk? I remember walking home from karaoke one time,

and I was walking out and I turned to my friend Kudis and I was like, call me tomorrow and tell me what I did. That's great. This is just material I'm working on. And if you have any material that is in process, throw it in the mix. This is too embarrassing, everything. I looked on my phone, it's nothing I can say out loud. Are you serious?

Even just half-baked stuff like things like stories or things that you don't even know what it could be? Because a lot of this stuff is just like things I don't know what it is. Well, let me hear you. Like mine is like, I wrote down this thing this week because Columbus Day is coming up. And I was like, it's also Indigenous People's Day. Do you notice that? No. I'm like, yeah, it's Indigenous People's Day and, because Columbus Day is coming up. And I was like, it's also Indigenous Peoples Day?

Do you notice that? And I'm like, yeah, it's Indigenous Peoples Day and it's Columbus Day, if you look on calendars, same day. And I'm like, I think Indigenous Peoples Day should exist, but maybe not the same day. I like it. Write it down.

It stays. Write it down, it stays. Because it's like, any other day. I can hear you, I can see you. I can see you doing it. Any other day. For example, the day before Columbus Day, or any other day in history.

See, look how happy this is making you. This is it. Hit it, hover, go. Hit it, hover. Hit it, hover, and go. Yeah. But Columbus Day, it does tie into this other stuff I'm talking about right now, which has to do with Rome,

because I went to Vatican City. we met a bunch of us, comedians have met the Pope. Oh yeah, so yeah. It was a whole deal, it was a whole thing. I've talked about it on the podcast before, but it's like, it was a whole thing. And then like, but I did have this feeling of like, you go around Rome, and it's like,

the ultimate cultural appropriation of like, Jesus. It's like, no, no, do you kill, you guys killed Jesus. Yeah. You can't do this. You can't do it. And yet. It's like, yeah, and yet. Yeah, I like it.

It's like the Wilkes Booth family being like, and now we're making Lincoln logs. It's just crazy. But then I was like, oh. It's right in itself, so you got to. But then I was like, the other day I was like, oh, Columbus Day is like that. It's like Indigenous Peoples Day being the same day

as Columbus Day. It's like in such contradiction. And then I was like, I was just free associating on it yesterday, but it's like, also it's like, we talk about how divided we are as a country. And it's like, well maybe I don't put the two holidays that compete with each other on the same day. Maybe give them some space, one could be in February,

March. That's right. Give everybody their moment. Give everybody their moment. Give everybody their moment. You can have that. So that's a no. Yeah, that's nice. Give everybody their moment is a nice line.

That's a good tag. And then the other thing I have is just about St. Anthony, which is when I was a kid, my dad would be like, where are my goddamn keys? And my dad had this big temper, and he'd get set off by small things. where are my goddamn keys? And my dad is like, big temper. And he'd get set off by small things. Where are my goddamn keys? And my mom would pray.

That would just be, she'd be like, I'm gonna say a prayer to Saint Anthony. I was like, I don't think either of these tactics are working. Yeah. And then Saint Anthony, I just feel like, is the saint who got the bummest deal. He's like, you're a saint. He's like, oh, that's great. And then they're like, you gotta find everyoneest deal. He's like, you're a saint. He's like, oh, that's great.

And then they're like, you gotta find everyone's keys. He's like, whose? Everybody's. Everybody's keys? Yeah, that's your job. I don't wanna be a saint anymore. It's a lot of work. Yeah, yeah, it's a lot of work.

Now, for me, that falls under the category of religious humor, and it does go right by me. Oh, that's interesting. Because you didn't have a Christian upbringing at all. No, not really. No, my mom would be like, she called us all the wrong names because we're Bridget Brock, Brian Brooke, Brad Britten

and she couldn't get her name straight and she'd cuss a lot. But she's, you know. What's Bridget? Bridget Brock, Brian Brooke, Brad Britten, those are me and my five siblings. Oh my God, because you're youngest of five or six? Six, yeah.

Youngest of six, I'm youngest of four. Okay. Is that part of how you ended up being like you are? Yeah. You're like trying to get attention, blah, blah, blah? Yeah, all of it. Yeah, me too, same thing. Did it work, did you get the attention?

Well, I got the microphone and the HBO shot. Ha ha ha ha. Do you have anything you're working on right now where you feel like you want to go in that direction and you're not sure? Yeah, I'm working on a new song potentially for my show at The Beacon, but it's interesting because I have a show that I know works

and I get nervous to disrupt it because I don't want to let people down. But it's a new song, and then... So I actually was just talking to Matt Ray, who I've written a lot of songs with. He plays the piano in my band. He plays for a lot of people. He's an incredible musician.

I was just talking to him about it. He's like, just send it to me. And I was like, yeah. Yeah, yeah. It's hard for me to share it. Right, you get nervous about sharing it. Yeah. Can you say what the song is about?

Oh yeah, the song is, well, one reason I'm bringing it up because it's like, it's a ballad, but my mom one time came, well, she came to see me at Joe's Pub, like the only time she saw me in New York. And after the show, she said, she said, that was freedom in motion. And so I've been trying to write that song

for a very long time. And so I have the idea of it and I have whatever. And I want it to be, if I'm going to do it, I want it to be expansive and beautiful and I want it to mean something. So those are really hard songs to write. Cause like, yeah, they're not hard. Like, it's like emotionally, but it's also. Like, you know, it's like emotionally,

but it's also just like, you want to like get the feeling of it. And I feel like I've had the feeling. And if, if I share that with somebody and they don't think that it's, if I do it for the first time in front of 3000 people and they're like, Yeah. So I don't know. It's a beautiful title. Yeah. It's a great. And it's a great, and it's the best thing

anybody's ever said to me, and a compliment I could take. That's interesting. That's such an amazing compliment to receive from your mom. And it's a great thing to write a song about because it's so deep in you. It's like all of your best work. It's so clearly from the gut. It's like all of your best work. It's like so clearly from the gut. It's just putting it out there.

Like I had a thing where I recently wrote this joke about how my parents, when I was starting out, they sort of didn't want me to be a comedian. And it's 25 years later and I've had some success and now they really don't want me to be a comedian. Because I'm saying a lot of the same stuff, but I have a much larger platform. Oh, do they see a lot of,

I'm sure they come and see all your stuff. No, they don't. Oh, really? No, not that often. Every now and then, they came maybe six years ago. Yeah. And then, yeah, they don't. And I don't say that to illicit sympathy.

I feel like they like humor and they maybe don't love my humor. And also, well, it's also close to the bone. I talk about myself, I talk about them, all this stuff. So it's like, I don't know. It's like, I make this joke where I go, I've been making this joke in my live tour recently where I go, you know, my dad, you know, my dad's a doctor.

He knows a lot of stuff and he worked his whole life to send me to college. So I would learn stuff and then I didn't. And then I got a job making fun of him in front of strangers. So that whole plan kind of backfired. Or did it work out the way it was supposed to? Yeah, I don't know.

He was, I will say this, this is, I don't think this will make it into the show, but I think it's a funny kind of random thing is, my dad had a hard year health-wise, and so I was visiting him a lot, and I would try to just talk a lot, because it's kind of like the radio. Yeah.

It's kind of like keep him entertained and keep something ball in the air. And I was telling him about what's going on. I go, oh, you know, I got nominated for an Emmy. You know, that's exciting. He goes, ah, it's lost its luster. Oh! And then.

Was it being funny? No, no, no. And then. I gotta take my glasses off for that. Oh my God. But hold on, Bridget. He goes, and then I go, I got invited to meet the pope. He goes, well, that's good. The way we wrap up is we do a working out for our cause.

And we give to, if there's a nonprofit that you like, we'll contribute, then we link to them in the show notes and encourage listeners to contribute. Okay, yeah, there's this, in my hometown, Manhattan, Kansas, there's this, it's called True Colors Flint Hills. They advocate for LGBTQIA plus youth, they have a house, they, you know, I just think that, and they're struggling

to keep their doors open. So it's, and I've worked with them before. And I just, I just love that, you know, there's a place for all those kids to go and get, you know, community and all that. That's fantastic. Yeah. I think that's awesome.

Bridget Everett, thank you so much for coming. Did we do it? Yeah, we did it. I think this is it. I think you have to end the interview, of course, by saying you can edit that all out. Yeah, please. Just take it all out and post, would you? Working it out, because it's not done.

We're working it out, because there's no- That's going to do it for another episode of Working It Out. You can follow Bridget Everett on Instagram, at Bridget Everett. You can watch her incredible show, Somebody Somewhere, on HBO and Max. The full video of this episode for all the body language is on our YouTube channel, at Mike Birbiglia. Subscribe over there. We're going to be posting more and more videos.

People really loved the Hannah Cadsby episode and the Lynn Miranda episode recently, the Jack Antonoff episode. We've had some great ones over there on YouTube. Check out Berbigs.com to sign up for the mailing list. Our producers of Working It Out are myself along with Peter Salomon, Joseph Berbiglia, and Mabel Lewis. Associate producer Gary Simons. Sound mix by Shub Saren,

supervising engineer Kate Belinsky, special thanks to Jack Antonoff and Bleachers for their music, special thanks to my wife, the poet J-Hope Stein, as always my daughter Una who built the original radio fort made of pillows. Thanks most of all to you who are listening. If you enjoy the show, please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts. If you're new to the podcast and you've enjoyed this one, we have almost 150 episodes that we've done. They're evergreen. Since 2020, they're all free. No paywall like some other podcasts.

We've had Jim Gaffick and Maria Bamford, Tignitaro, so many amazing people. Go and comment on Apple Podcasts and say which one is your favorite so people know where to start. Thanks most of all to you who are listening. Tell your friends, tell your enemies. Let's say you're performing for a live audience and everyone's enjoying it except one person shouts, you're sick.

That's not nice, right? But maybe you can diffuse the situation by shouting back, hey, wait a minute, maybe you don't quite understand the creative process. Let me recommend a podcast that might help you. It's called Mike Birbiglia's Working It Out. Comedian Mike Birbiglia works out creative material with other comedians and creatives. I'm not sick.

You're sick. Thanks, everybody. We're working it out. See you next time.