Mike Birbiglia's Working It Out - 175. Malik Elassal: One of The Adults

Episode Date: June 30, 2025

Malik Elassal is a stand-up comic, writer, actor, and one of the stars of Adults on FX. Meeting for the first time, Mike and Malik discuss Malik’s winding road to stand-up, including working as a long haul trucker. Malik talks about dealing with his conspiracy-minded cousins, his encounters with Islamophobia, and why you should never leave your comedy set list open on your phone when you’re at the airport.Please Consider Donating To: The Red Cross

You have a joke where you accidentally show an airport desk attendant your set list. The real story is I was sitting next to this girl at the airport and we were just chatting and our flight was delayed and then my phone was sitting there charging and I went up to go and get some information about the flight and I got a text and my set list just lit up

and it said like bulletproof hijab, yeah like all this crazy shit. And then she came back and she wasn't as like nice to me for like a second. She was like being like weird. Because she was just like, okay, what is this plan? What is this to-do list? By the way, great plan.

Great plan, bulletproof hijab. Oh my God, are you kidding me? Sharks. Sharks. That's the other bit. Yeah, yeah. Sharks. Listen, sharks. First we start with sharks.

Yeah, yeah. Then we have the bulletproof a jobs. That is the voice of the great Malik Alassel. Malik is a comedian and actor. He's one of the stars of the new FX show Adults, which I love, produced by my good friend Nick Kroll. We talked about that show a few weeks ago on this podcast. He is a great actor. He's great on that show and he's a great stand-up. He has a Don't Tell Comedy special on YouTube that I highly recommend. And by the way, thanks for all the great feedback on my special, The Good Life,

which is on Netflix now, if you haven't seen it. This summer, I have five live shows coming up. I am performing, I think about a 20 minute set on a bunch of John Mulaney's shows along with Nick Kroll and Fred Armisen. We will be in New Haven, Connecticut, as well as Bethel, New York, Portland, Maine as well as Halifax. That's all in August and then September 13th at the Stanley Park in Vancouver. Tickets at Burbiggs.com. Check out The Good Life on Netflix now if you haven't already. This is a great chat today with Malik. We don't know each other. We're just meeting. We have a good time. We do a bunch of bits. He has great stories. He talks about the time someone spotted his stand-up comedy set list on a phone at an

airport which led to confusion. He used to work as a long-haul truck driver. Not many comics have done that. We talk about Islamophobia, conspiracy-minded cousins, as well as working with Nick Kroll. Enjoy my conversation with the great Malik Alassal. So you're in a show that I really like, it's called Adults. Yes. And you're great. Thank you, Mike.

You must be like thrilled. Yeah, this is amazing. It's good. Who doesn't wanna be in a show? That's not a ringing endorsement. Yeah, I guess people, it's good. It's yeah, who doesn't wanna be in a show? That's not a ringing endorsement. Yeah, I guess people, yeah, that's not, yeah, I guess not everybody wants to be an actor. Yeah, there's a lot of people

that don't wanna be in a show. There's so many. I do, I wanna be in a show, so. That's what your answer should have been. You should have been like, yes, I want to be on the show. Yes, I want to be in a show, so it's perfect for me. What's funny is I noticed this is there's a clip of Nick Kroll who produces the show telling your cast one by one over Zoom that you got cast

and you are the least excited in the video. I'm not, it's not that I'm not excited, it's that I knew that I had it already. How come? Somebody had leaked, like my manager had called me. Oh, it got leaked. My manager called me. It was on WikiLeaks? It was, Julian like my manager had called me. Oh, it got leaked. My manager called me. It was, Julian Assange gave me a call.

Oh, was it Assange? Assange from back then, he had the info back then that I had the part, so he gave me a call. Assange does interfere with some casting work. He gets, he's got his hands on a lot of pots. He cracked into Julia Taylor's files. Yeah. That was a big thing, Ellen Lewis.

Uh-huh. I'm naming casting directors, this is way too inside. I didn't know, I just was smiling. Submitting all the breakdowns. So you knew, the point is you knew. I knew about it and I was at Rami's house and it was Ramadan and we were waiting to go and break our fast and then I got the call

and they were like, you gotta come upstairs and improvise with Kroll. You're like, what's this bullshit? I already know I have it. Whatever, yeah, let's just, yeah, okay, fine, let's do it. Right, you had to fake it. I had to fake being shocked by it, which was probably not great for their confidence in me acting in the show,

because I was just like, oh, what? Really? That was well done. I have it, oh my God, yeah. Meanwhile, I'm watching the clip going like, he is not that excited about being on the show. I think the show's great. I said this to Nick on this podcast a few weeks ago.

The first episode, I don't think represents, it's not a bad episode, I don't think it represents how good the show gets. And I think the reason the show gets so good is partly the writing, the writing's great, and then the chemistry in the cast, I totally believe you're friends. Are you guys friends in real life?

Is that what happened? It feels like that. We became friends. Yeah, we got really close. We got flown out to Toronto where we filmed it like three weeks early. And then we just kind of hung out for three weeks. I had this like hotel room that was like

just bigger for some reason. They just gave me this like big room. So then everybody would just like come into my room every single night and we'd get like room service and just. I know why it was bigger. Why is that? They knew who the fucking star is. Well, I had called and laid down the law.

Yeah, yeah, you were like, you know who the fucking star is. I said, guys, do you understand that I've been on Joe Pickett on Paramount Plus for three episodes? I did a three episode turn on Joe Pickett. I don't know that show. Nobody knows that show. What?

Do you know that I played Calvin on Joe Pickett and I got shot in the head after three episodes? No, but. Give me a bigger room. You once said that a married comedian is more impressive than a comedian who sells at Madison Square Garden. Are you more likely to get married or sell out Madison Square Garden. Are you more likely to get married or sell out Madison Square Garden?

Oh God, I hope get married. Yeah? I hope get married. Is it a seem promising? I think so. You're dating someone? Not dating anybody right now. I mean, there's some steps in front of that,

but that is what I would like to do. You want to be married. I would like to be married, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I've never heard that take from a comedian. I feel like comedians want to be married. I've never heard that take from a comedian. I feel like comedians wanna be single somehow. No, you know, I'm Muslim, so it's a good thing to be married. Is that part of it? Yeah, it's good to be married.

Is that in the Quran? I don't know if it's specifically like how I said it. Is it in the Quran? I'm gonna fact check on this. Yeah, I like the Quran. After every episode, all the producers read the Quran on a Zoom. I gotta see if any of what he said is in there.

Wait, is this, no, the thing about marriage, I'm not seeing that. In the Quran it just says, yeah, I think it's good to be married. Nah, yeah, I'd like to get married. How old were you when you got married? 30. 30?

Yeah, okay, I'm 29, so yeah. You are one, first of all, you're one of the only Canadians we've had on. We had Malcolm Gladwell, we had Michael J. Fox. You're definitely one of the younger guests we've had. And so my question is, because we have a lot of creatives who listen to the show, is like, what's your advice for people coming up

in comedy in their 20s? What is like, what is a path to success like at this moment? Because to me, from where I am, I feel like it's elusive. Like I look at people starting right now and I go like, man, I don't know what I would do. It seems like there's so many comics. I would be like, don't try to be so career-oriented right away, because I feel like that's something that,

when I started, it was still, I feel like comedy changed a lot by the time that I started. It was 2014 when I started. And honestly, like right after that is when people started to like really like hone in on like posting a lot and then like cancel culture. And then there were all these like different things opening up, but like I started like right before that.

So like me and my friends were kind of just like doing standup and going on the road and we never like posted. We didn't really think about getting ahead. We kind of just like doing standup and going on the road and we never like posted, we didn't really think about getting ahead. We kind of just like fucked around for like five years. That's really interesting. And I think it's like really like valuable to be able to just like fully not think about your future and just do standup. I think that's true.

Yeah. Yeah, I think I always, I always recommend to people who are starting out like just building a community of like people who wanna do the same thing. Because so much of it's just like, first of all, if it's not fun, then what's the point? Yeah, it gets to a point where you're like just doing it and then you're on the road and you're kind of

just by yourself for the most part. I mean, it's nice to like, you see your friends out doing spots and stuff like that, but like it's really like that beginning, it's nice to see your friends out doing spots and stuff like that, but it's really that beginning part where you're with your friends and you're at the show that you start at and it's like, you kind of don't get that back. And then later on, you kind of have to start thinking

about that and being like, okay, all right, I gotta figure out what my life is. But that time is kind of crucial. And so like, if you can like hold onto that enough, I saw a guy do his first set ever and he clipped it up and he posted every single second of it. Yeah. Yeah. His first set ever.

So it's like, that's kind of like where people are at now. So it's like, as long as you can hold off on that and just develop. I saw you in an interview say that everything you learned when you're starting out was from Pete Holmes's podcast It was quite a bit of it I want you to look in the camera and tell Pete Holmes that you were being sarcastic when you said that You omitted it. You have to tell him that you were joking

Pete come on Pete yeah, of course, he's not serious. Pete, be for real. Be real, why would anyone learn anything from your podcast? It's kind of like, we've all heard it and it's so-so. It's a bunch of crap, Pete. It's a bunch of hog, it's supposed to be a whole shit. You listen to a lot of Pete Holmes?

I listen to so much Pete Holmes. I listen to you on Pete Holmes. I listen to, it was just how I learned about every comedian. And it was like, I used to just like work this job when I was out of high school, I would like drive these trucks. And then I would just- What kind of trucks? Like five ton moving trucks. Like big box trucks?

Big box trucks. I would drive them like between provinces in Canada. And so I'd have these like long hours and I just like listen to like so many podcasts. This is like in your early 20s kind of thing? This was like 19, when I was 19 and 20. Wow. Yeah. You ever see, what's the wildest thing you saw

driving a box truck? Honestly, it was just like, you just drive for like eight hours straight and you just kind of like go into like a hallucinatory. You're just like, theinatory kind of like, you're just like, the highway just becomes like one, just nothing. And you're like-

That's what we all want to hear as drivers. Well, yeah, no. That the guy in the scary box truck is like, it's all a hallucination man. I don't know what's going on out there. Pete Holmes in my ears just being like, it's all nothing man. We're on, Pete going, we're on a rock

floating through space and we're these meat puppets. I'm like, we are just meat puppets. That's a great, I mean, one of the things I love about the show is the looseness of the show. And do you feel like you got that from, you know, improv or an acting teacher or like a study theater. Yeah, theater and standup definitely helped,

but I did this class, like it's what I moved to New York to do, I was doing this like Meisner class at the William Esper Academy. That's cool. Yeah, and that like really helped me just kind of relax and yeah, just not worry so much when I was acting. Yeah, I don't know. My standards, if I'm not mistaken,

is the one where you basically, you say a phrase to your partner and then until they believe you, you kind of have to say it over and over again. Yeah, you kind of- I'm boiling it down a little bit. Yeah, you kind of, the way I describe it is like, you're kind of like, you pick a word or a phrase

and you keep saying it until you start communicating like past whatever the words are. Yeah. Almost like, like the word is almost like the sandbag that you're putting on like the Indiana Jones, like to trade for the gold statue. Okay. And then the gold statue is like the communication

of like your behavior. Right. But you just put this like sandbag of just a word down. Right. Yeah. And. Yeah. And then hopefully- And then do you like repeat it over and over again or am I misremembering that?

There's a version of it where you just repeat over and over again. Should we try it? Yeah, let's go. Mike Birbiglia is working it out. That's what the mug says. Okay, so then that's what we'll say. Is that gonna be the-

Yeah, yeah, so we'll say it, but it's like, but respond to my behavior and how we're saying it. You know about this, this is crazy. Okay. We'll say it, but respond to my behavior and how we're saying it. You know about this, this is crazy. Okay. Mike Birbiglia is working it out. Mike Birbiglia is working it out. Mike Birbiglia is working it out. Mike Birbiglia is working it out.

Mike Birbiglia is working it out. And then when does this end? Well, you gotta keep going until we find some. Until we find something special? We're gonna find something, yeah, yeah, yeah. See, like right there, see right there where you were like a little bit like, what is this? What the fuck is this? Yeah, put that into the Mike Perviglia's Working It Out.

Mike Perviglia's Working It Out. Mike Perviglia's Working It Out. Mike Perviglia's Working It Out. Mike Perviglia's Working It Out. Mike Perviglia's Working It Out. Mike Perviglia's Working It Out. Mike Perviglia's Working It Out. Mike Perviglia's Working It Out. Mike Perviglia's Working It Out. Mike Perviglia is working it out. Microbiglia is working it out. Microbiglia is working it out.

Microbiglia is working it out. Microbiglia is working it out. Uh huh. Uh huh. I think we did it. I think we, yeah, we did something. We definitely did something. We got there.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. We worked it out. So that's why the show's so good? Yeah, we do that for about, yeah, Kroll makes us do that with each other in my hotel that for about, yeah, Kroll makes us do that with each other in my hotel room for about, yeah, three weeks. We did that. What's your favorite thing and least favorite thing

about working on the show? Huh. Favorite thing about working on the show. I saw all the blood rush out of your face. Huh. Mike Pappiglia's working it out. Mike Pappiglia's working it out. Mike Pappiglia's working it out. Mike Pappiglia is working it out. Mike Brighley is working it out. Mike Brighley is working it out.

Mike Brighley is working it out. You have a joke where you accidentally show an airport desk attendant your set list. Yes. This is a great story. It says, basically you try to put your ticket on your phone so that you could just kind of zap through at the airport. But then it had your set list

and your stand-up comedy set list. And the set list said bulletproof hit jobs. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Is that a true story? You do it as a bit, but is it a real story? The real story is I was sitting next to this girl at the airport and we were just chatting and our flight was delayed

and then my phone was sitting there charging and I went up to go and get some information about the flight and I got a text and my set list just lit up and it said like, bulletproof hijab, yeah, like all this crazy shit. And then she came back and she wasn't as like nice to me for like a second. She was like being like weird and I was like,

okay, all right, we were like having like a nice chat and then she was like, are you like a comedian or something and I was like, yeah, and she's like, okay, okay, that makes sense. That makes sense. Oh my gosh. Cause she was just like, okay, what is this plan? What is this plan?

What is this to-do list? By the way, great plan. Great plan, Bulletproof Ajaab. Oh my God, are you kidding me? Sharks. Sharks. That's the other bit, sharks. First we start with sharks,

then we have the Bulletproof Ajaabs. You do jokes. I've talked about this with Ramen before too. You do jokes about your faith. But traditionally comedians have just made fun of religion. Truthfully. And I think it's a recent trend and I enjoy it. Where comedians are like, yeah, no, I have faith.

I'm serious about it. Do you ever, do you go both ways on it? Like, do you mix it up? Do you ever go hard on your religion? Like holding it to the fire of like, this makes sense, this doesn't make sense. I think maybe earlier in doing standup, I kind of was doing that a little bit

in literally just me like growing up and trying to figure it out. I've been doing standup since I was 18, so I've been like trying to figure out being- Right, what's your take on it? Just takes on anything like through the lens of standup. So like, yeah, I'm not really like kind? Just takes on anything through the lens of standup. So yeah, I'm not really going through the rights

and the wrongs of how I feel about the specifics. I'm just like, this is just a thing I feel, and this is my lens, and then that's how I'm viewing the world. Right. Yeah. Right, your POV is you actually are faithful. Yeah, I'm like practicing Muslim, so that's like, and I don't feel the need

to explain myself about it. I feel like there's a lot of comedy earlier on in me doing it, and I think a lot, anybody who's a religious comedian has to be like, and here's what we're doing, and here's why it's not weird, and I'm sure it's weird, and I'm sure it seems strange to you guys, but this is just how I feel, so I'm just gonna weird and I'm sure it's like seems strange to you guys, but this is just how I feel.

So like, I'm just gonna talk about it as if it's like a normal thing for you guys because it's a normal thing for me. Right. You know what I mean? Oh yeah, yeah, no, that makes sense. Yeah, I'm just like, yeah. Is there ever heckling on it, on religion? Not a lot, not a lot.

Early when I was starting out, I used to do standup in these like small towns a lot. And I got interviewed by like this journalist in this town called Fort McMurray, which is like an oil town. And then during the show, the journalist was in the crowd and she got like hammered and she like called me a terrorist.

Oh my God. Yeah. Are you serious? Yeah, the journalist. She heckled you and said you're a terrorist? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I was like, are you the lady that works for the newspaper?

Oh my God. And she's like, yeah. No. She's like, I'm helping. She must've seen Bulletproof had a job. This is before the days of Bulletproof had a job. She must've seen Sharks. She cracked your Sharks plan.

Yeah, so this was like early. That's crazy. Yeah, there's a little bit of that, yeah. Have you ever done that as a bit? No. I feel like that could be a bit. The journalists calling me a terrorist? Yeah, it's a pretty interesting story. I mean, you obviously need punch lines for it,

but it's like, that's a good setup. It is a good setup for like the level of journalism in certain small towns in America, in Canada and America. Sure, in Canada, yeah. Yeah, it was a... What did you say back? What a strange thing to happen. I think I did ask, I'm like, aren't you the journalist?

Aren't you the journalist? Aren't you the journalist? Yeah, I mean, I didn't really... Islamophobia is always, I've never been in like a really like dangerous situation with Islamophobia. So it's always, every time it happens to me, I'm like, this is ridiculous. That's how I feel about it.

I think a lot of my jokes about it are absurd because I'm like, this is an absurd concept. Islamophobia feels so absurd to me. So I'm like, whatever my solution on it is gonna be absurd or as absurd as the thing. Wait, what is the bulletproof hijab bit? The bulletproof hijab bit is... the Bulletproof Her Job bit? The Bulletproof Her Job bit is,

so my mom was followed in her car one time and this guy started screaming at her and flipping her off and was yelling at her for being a Muslim woman. She told me about it and I was so worried that I was like trying to like figure out how to like protect her. Oh, I can see where this is going. Yeah, and I was like trying to figure out

how I could have like a hate crime proof hijab. And my first thought was I just have like a Confederate flag hijab. Cause that's like, you know, that's best of both. What's he gonna say? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. This is called a slow round. What are people's favorite and least favorite thing about you? Oh, I think I'm pretty emotional and like sentimental. And I think that's like, you know, I think it's like a nice thing that people like kind of

might like about me, I like try to make moments out of things, but also I think that might be a little annoying sometimes of being like, hey guys, like here we were here in the spot. Yeah, yeah. 10 years ago. Sure. Like look how far we've come. And it's like, sometimes you just gotta like

just actually be in the moment. That's like not actually being in the moment. Right. It's like trying to like narrate the moment. Narrate the moment. Yeah. That's in my last special, The Good Life. I talk about how I'm the narrator of our marriage

who nobody asked for. I have the same, it drives my wife nuts. Yeah, like you think, like it's always for you. Yeah, I know. It's always like, oh man. I've sadly come to that realization. Yeah. What is, what's something you believe 10 years ago

that you don't believe now? Oh man. Something I believed 10 years ago that I don't believe now? Oh man. Something I believed 10 years ago that I don't believe now. That I believed 10 years ago and I don't believe now. Yeah, or the other way around. I think that you have to figure everything out, that everything needs an answer. Yeah, you used to think that.

I used to think I'm like, I gotta define everything. We gotta crack it. Yeah, I gotta get to the bottom of this. I don't gotta get to the bottom of anything. Interesting. Has it come up recently? I think it just kind of like, as time goes on, I'm like, there's like kind of like, everybody's just kind of doing things into the wind.

Like there's no, like nothing ever feels like it has like a complete defined end. Like you're just kind of doing one thing and then another thing starts, and then it's all just happening at the same time. There's no like ends to things. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know.

That might be too like woo woo wee of an answer, but I think I just like wanted a lot of answers back then about like what my life was gonna be. Right. And like about faith and about like, yeah, just like life. And then now I'm like, oh, I don't need to know the answers like it's like nice to not know and that can be like its own thing.

Yeah, and it's special. Have you ever been punched in the face? I remember I told my best friend, John Tasker, one time at New Year's that I wanted him to punch me in the face as hard as he could. Whoa. Yeah. And did he? He did. John.

I know. Come on. I know. He didn't mean it, literally. I did. He punched me in the face. Yeah, he socked me. Like, pshh. Like right here, across the jaw.

Like on the cheek, across the jaw. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Did it hurt you to break your jaw? You just hear my jaw just crack right there? Yeah. Yeah. I think I might have been from that. Holy cow. Yeah.

And why? Why did you ask him to punch you in the face? I don't know. I think it was like a bravado thing, an ego thing or something like that. I just wanted to know. Hold on, when he punched you in the face, did everybody stop what they were doing

and go, this is crazy? Well, it had become like a moment where like he's gonna punch me in the face. So like everybody gather around. So there was kind of like- What a great party. How come I don't get invited to parties like that? Yeah.

Can you think of a time you were so scared you ran away? Yeah. When I was in grade 12, I had a physics teacher who I was in grade 12, there was a, I had a physics teacher who I was taking physics strictly because all my friends were taking physics. I did not know anything about physics and my friends were a lot smarter than me. So they were in this physics class

and I took it just to hang out with them. So, but then I would ditch a lot just cause I didn't really want to. But the teacher was so nice. He kept giving me chances to like make upgrades and like he didn't want me to fail. So he kept like trying to like help me out. And so he kept telling me like,

hey, you can come like after class and do this test that you missed. And I kept being like, I'll be there. And then, and the class would show up, I would just not show up. And then that kept happening, kept happening. And then one day we go to prayer. Prayer is like a class, basically.

Like you go to, like there's a mosque in the school and he's showing up and like he's on my tail. So I start praying so that he can't really talk to me. Right, it's like a force field. Yeah, I got into it. So I start praying and I'm like, we can get him and then he sees me do that. So he starts praying and he goes, okay.

He does that. And then he sees me do that. So he starts praying and goes, okay. He does that. And then while he starts praying, I start praying really fast to get through it. And then I finished praying and then I get up and go. And then he kind of like is like, he's locked into the prayer, but he still wants to tell me. He's like, don't like, it like comes out of him. Like, don't.

And then I just like run away. And then later that day I was like leaving to go home and I see him down the hall, literally holding the test in his hand and he's running down the hall towards me and he's going, Monique, the test. And I'm just literally like running away from him. So I like literally like ran from my problems.

I love that. Yeah. And he didn't fail me. He said, he didn't fail me. He gave me a passing grade and he called me during the summer. He got my phone number and he was like, that wasn't cool. You could have just been like, not, I'm not coming.

Yeah. He made me chase you. When you pray, do you ever think of jokes? Yes. Yeah, yeah. Cause that's what pray, do you ever think of jokes? Yes. Yeah, yeah. That's what I would do. Sometimes when I go to Friday prayer here, like there's one in Brooklyn that I go to

and it's insane in there and it's so dusty and the guy's yelling so loud on the mic. And it's just like, things always come up that are funny. Yeah. I have something in my stand up right now. Are you jotting it down? You have a notebook? I think about, I lock it in and I'll put it in my phone.

Yeah. And then afterwards I'll walk around. I have a bit in my hour right now about going to the mosque. Yeah. During Ramadan. Prayer's great for jokes. Prayer's great for jokes. Alright, this is some bits I'm working on. And if you have any bits you can tell me.

Okay, when I was a waiter, sometimes I'd get caught in family conflicts. Like a couple would be eating eggs and the husband would be like, I think a Bloody Mary at nine in the morning is an absurd idea. What do you think, Mike? I'd be like, I'm in college and I'm tired. Yeah. That's all I wrote down.

Do you ever wait tables? No, I never did. Working at Walmart was kind of a version of that, I feel like, where you're just like at the mercy of, that's the thing about that where it's just like, you do any one of those jobs and you're just at the mercy of the public. Right. They can just abuse you or treat you nice.

No, the Bloody Mary thing is quintessential, I feel like every day was another example of that. Where just somebody like bringing you this like giant. Huge amount of baggage from their relationship. Yeah, yeah, and you can't, you're actually not allowed to give real advice. You can't be like there and be like, well, I actually feel like it's not about the Bloody Mary,

is it? Yeah, exactly. Oh, I feel like there's something else going on here. Yeah, yeah. Sometimes you're just like, I can't, I'm working. Yeah. I'm getting you, your Bloody Mary and your eggs. Like just fucking, let's just do this regular.

Yeah, don't use me. That's maybe the joke. Let's just do this regular. Can we do't use me. That's maybe the joke. Let's just do this regular. Can we do regular? Yeah, and how's everything tasting? Yeah. And how's everything, can we go back to how's everything tasting?

Don't use me as an extension of your fist to have a fight with your spouse. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, you just have to be like an avatar for just neutral feelings. For nothingness. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's maybe a bit. An avatar for nothingness? Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's maybe a bit. An avatar for nothingness.

Yeah, yeah. The best thing you can be as a waiter is an avatar for nothingness. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Do you have bits you're working on right now that are unfinished or in process? Let me pull up some bits. I do have some bits.

Yeah, okay. So it's about believing in God, about how my belief in God has changed over the years. And so when I was younger, I had this feeling of, I believed in God, but God was just this man in the sky that was mad at me for jacking off. That was the only version of God I had in my head. Man in the sky, mad at me for jacking off, that's it.

And then when I got out of high school and I started like meeting all these different like kids who had like more granola upbringings, they'd be like, yeah, I don't really think it's like a man in the sky. I think it's more of like, you know, it's like the trees and all this stuff, you know, it's like the trees being connected. So, and then I was like, well, the,

so are the trees mad at me for jacking off? Like, who's mad? Who's mad? Somebody's gotta be mad. Yeah, they'd be like, I think it's all just love, and I'm like, so the love is mad? That's a great bit. Oh, that's fantastic.

Yeah. Have you done it? I did it, I think, like once or twice, but I think it's like- So the love is mad. So the love is mad. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, so the, oh, okay, so the everlasting love that connects us all

is mad at me when I check out. Right. And it should be. Yeah, well it's evil. Because I'm doing it a lot. Yeah, well, I'm doing it, it's everlasting. The amount that I'm doing it. Yeah.

So the love is mad. Yeah, what are like the different definitions of that that could be mad at me? Eternal love, unconditional love is mad at me. It's funny. Like I think you just have to go to increasingly positive. Like you couldn't possibly have that thing be mad. You have to figure out the escalation.

Yeah. What the, yeah like the- Pure light is mad at me? Yeah, the pure connectedness has turned its back on me. Yeah, yeah. One million babies pacified is mad at me. I don't know. I was trying to think of like what is more pure than pure?

Yeah, I'm trying to think like what is the next, cause there's that bit I'm like, is it just that and then I do that for like infinity tags or is there another way to realize it? Yeah, or like you could in the argument of you're in your head with the granola people, you could be like, no, a man is mad at me. That makes a lot more sense.

Yeah, it makes a lot more sense than a man would be mad at me actually. One guy being mad at me makes a lot more sense than all the trees. Yes. Yeah, that's a of the trees. Yes. Yeah. That's a lot of trees. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it's interesting how I've similarly,

I've had bits from based on my childhood of like, you know, when you're a kid, it's just like, you're going to hell. Yeah. Like when I was a kid, like Catholicism in Massachusetts, it's just like, you're going to hell and this and that. It's just like, oh my God, it's so ominous. And then like, and then at a certain point,

you know, you meet people like your people you're describing and they're like, no, it's, there's no one. It's nothing. It's the trees. And you're like, wait, what? I thought, but I thought there was a guy who's telling me hell. But then the thing is even if,

even if then you start to believe, or you're like, okay, there's nothing, that feeling is still there. And then that just becomes like your resting state of like, I'm going to hell. It's like, how am I going to hell and I don't even believe in God, this sucks. Right, there also might be a joke of like being like,

wait, is God the trees or is God, you know what I mean? So he's hiding in the trees? Where is he in relation to the trees or is God, you know what I mean? So he's hiding in the trees? Where is he in relation to the trees? Okay, yeah. Is he in the trees? Is he climbing the trees? Yeah, because I literally didn't get that idea

when people would talk about that. I'm like, no, he's a guy. No, he's a guy, you don't understand. He's a guy. Apparently we're not reading the same books. Yeah, yeah. I don't think you guys are reading the Quran. I'm like, I'm reading it.

Apparently we're not in the same book club. Yeah, and also that's another thing about it that I try to get at in my stand-up is that feeling of God isn't a guy. He's not just some guy that's upset. But it's a hard thing to nail down. Even talking about this, I think the couple times that I've done this bit, it's kind of, you're talking about God, it's like this weird thing. You kind of have to nail it down a little bit, but then you also don't want to nail down the whole thing because that's the whole idea of God.

You want there to be some kind of unknownness. But I almost feel like you should do that as crowd work. Yeah, like do you believe in God? Yeah, because how uncomfortable is that? Yeah, that is a good. Like at a fucking comedy show, the guy's like, do you believe in God? Yeah. Do you have to say a real answer? That's a good, yeah, and I comedy show, the guy's like, do you believe in God? Yeah.

Do you have to say a real answer? That's a good, yeah, and I'm like, don't try to be funny. I would love to see that. That's a good question. But like, yeah, doing that, like following up, like, yeah. Because that's one of my favorite types of crowd work, is when someone asks a question, like, no one's asking. Yeah. Casually.

Hey, you guys fucking, you believe in God? But I think what you'd want to do is, if to construct it, is just know that you have the bit about trees or the thing that you were saying at the end. Yes. Because then you go in and they're like, oh, this guy's fucking winging it with, is there God crowd work?

And then it's like, no, no, no, you actually have a false way. It's a good question. I have another, I like to ask people what conspiracy theories they like. That's nice. That's a good question. And also like it shows you who's in the crowd.

Does it lead into a bit though? Yeah, I have like a, well, there's this bit that I have where sometimes I do it. I like have like different bits about conspiracy theories, but I have this thing where it's like, I asked that question like in all these different places and in like, in America and like people are like chomping at the bits to like give me their conspiracy theories.

Like in like certain like Southern States, they're like, they're, you know, they're putting estrogen in the water. Oh wow. And then I come and do like shows in Brooklyn and they're like, they're not estrogen in the water. And then I come and do like shows in Brooklyn and they're like, they're not putting enough estrogen in the water. Right, competing conspiracy theories.

That's funny. See, I have a thing about conspiracies because all my cousins are like this. They have conspiracies? They're very conspiracy theory minded. They have been since I was a kid and they've been kind of giving them to me. And they just, since I was a little kid, they used to like take me and show me all these like weird websites and like tell me their conspiracies.

Oh wow. Yeah. So I have this bit that I'm working on where my cousin told me that Tupac was still alive. That's a good one. But I didn't know who Tupac was yet. So he had to explain to me who Tupac was and show me his music and be like, what do you think of this?

And I'm 10, so I'm like, this is amazing. And he goes, what if I told you this guy's dead? And I'm like, oh no. And he goes, hold on. Don't fret, he's still alive. And I'm like, oh no. Wow. And then that's what opens it all up. So that's like something I'm working, oh no. And then that's what opens it all up.

So that's like something I'm working on. But where does the bit go? The Tupac bit. The Tupac bit goes to like, it was me being a child and just really thinking that I knew where he was. And just trying to figure it out. And that being like the framework of the first,

it was the first thing that I learned about the world where it was like, oh, the world might not be what it seems. You know what I mean? It was the first, like, it was just the first conspiracy theory that I had known about. It was like your coming of age. Your coming of age into nonsense.

Yes. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I guess my question is like, in terms of that being a bit, the Tupac thing is like, how do you feel about it? I don't know. Yeah. I guess I don't know. But I like it. Yeah.

I mean, it's an interesting story. That is a good question. It's an interesting idea, this idea of being like, listen to this, and you're like, oh, that's great. He's dead. Oh no. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's alive. All of that happening in five seconds.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, me being like, thank God. And they're like, no, but it's the reason is bad. And I go, no. Just like back and forth between that. Yeah, that can be the game of the joke is like, yes. You can also add, he's in jail. Oh. And he's dead.

Oh. But he's alive. Oh. And they go, no, but it's connected to all these other things. Oh, no. That's funny. Yeah, I do gotta figure out how I feel about it. It's part of like a longer thread of things in my hour,

but I do need to nail down kind of how I feel about it. But it's possibly like that you would think about like, how do you feel about honestly about disinformation and about like the universe we live in right now, which is like swirling disinformation. And I, cause I find it- It's a vortex, cultural vortex. Yeah.

I think it's been since I was a kid, it's been like that. That's kind of when it started. Right, like 2010 or so. No, I mean like since like, I mean like there's like- Right, 2005. Yeah, since 9-11, the world has been in a complete cultural spiral. Right.

And there's, yeah, nobody knows what's going on and there's like, there's war and nobody knows like, there's no end in sight of like, of it being kind of like a normal world again. And that's kind of been like my whole life. So that's kind of like the feeling that I'm like have been brought up in. Well, that's pretty deep.

I mean, to go there seems really interesting. That's kind of like, I think that I would like the Tupac thing to be like a jumping off point. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Into that, into those feelings. Yeah. I love that. Mm-hmm.

I mean, that makes me just go, oh, maybe that's the show. You know what I mean? Maybe. Like in other words, like expounding out on that. Cause it's like, it's interesting to start maybe with a Tupac thing, expound out to like your whole life experience and then come back to the Tupac thing.

And then lights go down, lights come up and it changes. Yeah, I need to have a lot of light cues. You're gonna have to license the song changes. That's awesome to have my debut special have a Tupac song licensed. Yeah, yeah. We can do that. And then you'd have to license it through Suge Knight.

That's the hard part. And then you gotta talk to Suge and he's a nightmare to deal with. He's hard. He's hard. I was in the back of an Uber and the driver was scrolling on his phone. And so the car was swerving,

which is the automobile version of scrolling. Sometimes when a person who's a stranger is doing something so egregious, you don't even wanna bring up because it's too embarrassing for everyone. You know that feeling? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're like, I'll die.

Isn't it crazy that you're about to kill both of us? Yeah, and you're in a position where you can really see what he's looking at too. You're seeing what he's choosing over your safety. Yeah, he's doom scrolling the car. That's a great joke. He's doom scrolling the car. Oh, that's great.

Yeah, and it just like the joke. We got a tag at least. All right. It feels like it's the same feeling as the waiter thing. Interesting. Where it's the same thing of like, why are you putting me in this position where I have to be the one to tell you

you're being an asshole? Of course. You should just know that you're being insane. No, I think that's right. I think it's like, and that is, I think my POV in a lot of my old notebook jottings is like these situations where you're just like, why, how are we doing this like this?

This is terrible. Why are you making me have to be the sane one? I don't wanna be the voice of reason. I'm an idiot. Right. No, I love that. Okay, this is something I've been doing on stage lately, kind of about the show being out.

Cause like I took a thing right now where it's like, okay, this guy from adults, and then I come on stage and then some people have seen it. So, you know, the people are, you know, cheering. So I, the bid is like, yeah, I'm on, you know, I'm on this, this, this show, you know, now, so I had to kind of go into my, I had to go through my old tweets

and just make sure that I didn't say anything crazy. And then I went through all of them. And in 2011, I was tweeting a lot about how much I love the Big Bang Theory. That's really funny. And so I tweeted the Big Bang Theory equals awesome. That's great. And I was like, I wish I said a slur.

That's so funny. I wish I had just said it. At least I would have had some edge. Yeah. I was just being like, Bazinga. I was like, I was that lame. You're going to, yeah, you're going to be canceled for being earnest. I have to do like a no tap apology about. I started it. Yeah.

Having like not cool taste as a young man. I had a, yeah, it's like I started a Facebook group for Canadians for two and a half men. I had to delete it. The last thing we do is called Working It Out For A Cause. Is there an organization you'd like to contribute to? And I will contribute to them, link to them in the show notes, and encourage listeners to contribute as well. Oh man, I give to the Red Cross

because they cornered me on the street over there one time. Nice, that's how you do it. Yeah, they gave me, you know. I'm gonna read as well. Oh man, I give to the Red Cross because they cornered me on the street. Nice. For their one time. That's how you do it. Yeah, they gave me, you know. You gotta do that. Yeah, well, cause okay, can I tell you what happened?

Yeah. Is I was having a day where I had like, like maybe like a $8 like a matcha latte in my hand and I was going to hot yoga. And then I had like 20 minutes to spare. And then this nice lady was like, hey, do you wanna give to the Red Cross? nice lady was like, hey, do you want to give to the Red Cross? And I was like, yeah, I have to.

Right. You're going to hot yoga, you're drinking a latte. Of course, I'm the most blessed person of all time. I have to give to the Red Cross. Right. Yeah. Can you imagine if I'm like, I really don't, I can't, I don't have it. No, I know.

Yogamat and matcha latte. I love that. I had to give to the Red Cross. Well, we know. Yogamat and matcha latte. I love that. I had to give it to the Red Cross. Well, we're going to contribute to the Red Cross. We're going to link to the Red Cross in the show notes. And I want to thank you for coming out. Thanks, man. This is like so fun.

Yeah, man. So fun talking to you. Love the show. Love your standup. Thanks, man. Just can't wait to see what you do next. Working it out, cause it's not done. We're working it out, cause there's no way. That's going to do it for another episode of Working It Out. You can follow Malicka Lassle on Instagram, at Malicka Lassle.

Check out Adults on FX and on Hulu. The full video of this podcast is on our YouTube channel at Mike Berbiglia. Subscribe. We are posting more and more videos. Don't miss it. Check out birbiglia.com to sign up for the mailing list to be the first to know about my upcoming shows. I actually contributed to a thing in the New York Times recently. They did the top 100 movies of the last 25 years according to filmmakers, actors, comedians, and folks. And there's like my top 10 list.

So if you want to find out what my favorite top 10 movies are in the last 25 years, go in the New York Times. It's a really cool piece, graphically, like really interesting. And I was very honored to be a part of that. Our producers of Working It Out are myself along with Peter Salomon, Joseph Berbiglia, and Mabel Lewis, associate producer Gary Simon. Sound mix by Kate Belinsky, special thanks to Jack Antonoff and Bleachers for their music.

Special thanks as always to my wife, the poet J-Hope Stein, and our daughter Una who built the original radio for Made of Pillows. Thanks most of all to you who are listening. If you enjoy the show, go over to Apple Podcasts and rate us and review us. It helps out.

We've been doing the podcast for five darn years this month. I can't believe it. We couldn't do it without you. We've got 170 the podcast for five darn years this month. I can't believe it. We couldn't do it without you. We've got 170 episodes all free. No paywall. Tell your friends, tell your enemies, tell your cousin who's obsessed with conspiracy theories.

Be like, hey, cuz, while you're waiting for Tupac to come back, why don't you try this podcast? It's hosted by comedian, Mike Verbigliani. He talks to other comics and creatives about the creative process. In fact, there's a conspiracy that the podcast is pretty good. Thanks everybody. We're working it out. We'll see you next time.