Mike Birbiglia's Working It Out - 42. Quinta Brunson: Flinging Cats, Lovingly

Episode Date: May 31, 2021

This week Mike welcomes Quinta Brunson, the comedian, actor, and writer who blew up from her “He Got Money” memes and viral videos. She has since pivoted into mainstream success as one of the stars of HBO’s “Black Lady Sketch Show” along with roles in “Big Mouth” and as the author of her new book “She Memes Well.” The two discuss the loss of their mutual friend Kevin, the concept of “friend contracts,” and why we fling cats because we love cats. https://mutualaidphilly.com/en/

Hey, everybody. We are back with a new episode of Working It Out. I have some very exciting announcements. As you know, I have rescheduled my spring 2020, which is in the past, tour, to this fall 2021. Those shows are happening. It's all on burbiggs.com. I am currently adding shows indoors as well as outdoors for this summer.

So if you're in New York City, you could come see me at City Winery. I'm doing four shows there. You could come see me at the Vogel in New Jersey which is at the Count Basie you could see me at the Westport Country Playhouse in Connecticut

which is a gorgeous theater in Connecticut and just basically go over to burbiggs.com sign up for the mailing list the emails are really like that's sort of how I let everyone know about everything that's going on. It's the most direct way I'm in touch with you.

So sign up there. And today's guest, I couldn't be more excited about. Hilarious, a truly hilarious person, Quinta Brunson. She is a writer and a creator and an actor, one of the stars of Black Lady Sketch Show, which is a riot. She's on this season of Big Mouth, which is hilarious. She's very funny. She has a new book called She Memes Well,

because she became initially very famous for memes that went viral. She was sort of an internet star who's become a bona fide star in many, many types of media. And I have a great chat with her today. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Quinta Brunson. Quinta, hello. Hi, Mike. So I'm reading your book.

I'm loving it. She means well. Yes. You know what's funny is one of my favorite things about the book is that you lead with, in one of the first chapters, with saying, like, it's scary to write a book. Which is, I feel like, the subtext of all of us when we write autobiographical work is it is scary. It's scary. It's scary. I wasn't fully prepared to even jump into the venture.

Like the idea, you know, was brought to me. So it wasn't like I was even an author that was like, I want to write a book one day. You know, the idea was presented to me, which I think, you know, made it scarier. I just thought, I don't know if I have anything to say or if anyone, if my life is worth writing down at this point. And that made it really scary. Yeah. And I think it is. I mean, I just got it yesterday. So I'm having a great time with the book. And it's so funny. And it's so, I mean, I love that you call out the fear of it. Like that's part of the charm of it is that you're just, you just say how your experience of writing a book. Yeah. It's funny too, because, you know, my editor, she was like, that's something we have to be careful with because, you know, with the book, you're inviting

a reader, you know, into your life and you don't want them to maybe know how fearful or how much sometimes you just straight up hated doing it. Yeah. Because you want them to feel like a comforted reader and that you wanted to do this thing. So I had to calibrate, but I also wanted to be honest. Yeah. You know? Totally. I had a hard time writing the intro without being honest about what the experience really was like.

Well, I think that you do that. You pull that off with the final sentence of that section is, the sun is shining through my living room window because here in LA, the sun is always doing shit like shining through windows. My jaw hurts for no specific reason. I can't wait to play Mario Party. But first, this. Let's get into it. You're inviting them. Let's get into it. Let's get into it. Oh, my God, Mike. That's cool. I have never. Wow. I've never heard the words I wrote read out loud. That's so crazy. I loved it. I love that experience. It's very inviting.

And it's like, like when you're saying you're afraid, you were afraid to write the book, is there a specific story where you were like, oh my gosh, should I tell this story? Yeah. A lot of my past, like my religious past is what I was afraid to write about the most. I think my family is Jehovah's Witnesses, and it's a pretty controversial, small sect of Christianity. But, you know, I can't tell my stories. I can't write these essays without elaborating on that a little bit because it made me who I am. And so that was the most intimidating part. I was afraid to be that vulnerable with people. And I mean, you know this because you're a stand-up. When you're doing stand-up,

you're in control of how you give your information to people and you've shortened it to a punchline. But with the book, it's asking you to take that punchline and turn it into a paragraph and then turn that paragraph into a chapter. Yeah. I realized I don't talk about a lot. Well, it's a book. You got to talk about something. well it's a book you gotta talk about something uh or i would talk about things away you know an issue i had while writing the book was writing about my experiences away from

me almost as a person who had witnessed the experiences instead of the person going through them yeah but i think those are um that's kind of like our coping mechanisms to get through life. Not even the traumatic stuff. Some of the fun stuff, too. I was experiencing it as someone else just witnessing it. Yeah. To get through it, you got to think about yourself. Sometimes I think about my own writing as like, yeah, you're documenting sort of the life of you.

And I use my calendar, my photos, all of my old notebooks and just go, oh, my gosh, yeah, that's when I went to my niece's christening. That was the same year that I met my wife. You know, like you start to make these connections that you don't even really know about at the time. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. It's so funny because your name is Quinta, which in Spanish means five. And you make the joke in the book that your parents were like, this is our Quinta child and we are tired. And we are tired.

Like, my siblings have such well, beautiful, thought out names. Like, my siblings have such well-beautiful, thought-out names. Like, you know, Prince of Faith and Daughter of Ambition. And then it was just like five. Yeah, yeah. They didn't try. But I like it. I like being named just a number.

I don't feel like I have much pressure from my name. Our daughter is Una, which means one. Yes. As in we're only having one. Wait, I didn't know that's what that meant. Yeah, it's part of it. Una, lamb, and one, and yeah. Oh, wow. Yeah.

Good for her. She's going to feel a very free life because of that. How come? When your name doesn't mean anything but a number, you like have nothing to live up to right right right you don't have to be a queen or a king or yeah yeah something big right you just get to be it's really nice

you you made a remarkable impression on me because we met at our our mutual friend Kevin Barnett's memorial service in Los Angeles. That was a show where you and I were both performing something about our friend Kevin, who so sadly passed away.

He was like one of the funniest people I've ever met in my life, one of the sweetest people I've met. But your speech about him was so funny. But that was – and you and I didn't know each other before that but to me that was something where I thought I really like this person because we're all sad but you were able to make something comedic out of that you were you were killing with the audience the audience was loving it and it was cathartic for all of us to hear that. Yeah, that was such a—I remember meeting you.

I remember that night so vividly. So, so vividly. Like, so many details of that memorial and stuff, including meeting you. But just to see—it was the first time I'd seen a lot of friends in a long time, too. Yes. People who I just hadn't seen in a while because everyone is working. And, yeah, and I was nervous at the idea of going up there and performing, you know, for a memorial.

Yeah. But at the same time, I don't think i was really thinking about it i was like if this is what we're doing this is what we're doing and i also think that kevin really really loved this yeah and um you know and then what was interesting about kevin is he and i personally didn't have many stories but the stories that we had were so fun in some of my best times in LA. And like having a barbecue at Jermaine's house and like, you know, meeting him there. And then that, I think I told the Halloween night story. What was that story?

It was when we went, Jermaine Fowler had a Halloween party and I was dressed like Missy from Big Mouth. And Kevin was just dressed like, he dressed like some anime character, but it made him look like a black auntie. Like, it was just so ridiculous. He had this wig on. I don't know who the character was, but whoever it was, it just made him look like Holly Berry. It was so... And I think I told this story about how we went to a... I think Eric Andre dragged us to this

Hollywood Bowl party, or not Hollywood Bowl, so it's a place in Studio City. Sportsman's Lodge, Sportsman's Lodge. It was there and it was Okay, okay. It was there, and it was a big Halloween party, but it was also Maroon 5's Super Bowl warm-up event. Okay. So they were warming up for their Super Bowl. So it was a crazy party, like the kind of parties you see in movies that people are like, this is what Hollywood is like.

The Super Bowl warm-up, Jesus. It was insane. And everyone at this party was having hot Halloween. So these people were hotly dressed. Yes, dressing up, trying to look their best. Hot. Or just not dressed at all and just, like, fancy. And meanwhile, we walk in looking like idiots.

I'm dressed like a cartoon. Kevin's dressed like a cartoon. Eric Andre is dressed like Trippie Redd. I forget what... My friend Jack was dressed like a cartoon. Eric Andre is just like trippy red. I forget what my friend Jack was dressed like an old man. We just looked so stupid. We just walked in looking like a band of idiots amongst all these very hot people. And we just embraced it. And Kevin and I had probably one of the best talks I had ever had about the industry and about kind of feeling like, you know, feeling happy with what we do, but feeling like comedians and people who are comedic or like love comedy are at the bottom of the scale of Hollywood. Yeah. That we were okay with it and that it's important to find your people.

And we felt like that night we had found our people. We were with our people. And then we went out on the dance floor and danced like idiots, like not hot dancing. Like we were all dancing like these people wanted to kick us out of the club because we weren't. Like goofballs yeah like being really dumb it felt like we were all kids and that's what was like really really really really seven-grade dance or something yeah and then Kevin even though he was

dressed like a woman the security almost still didn't let him in because he was still a tall black man and they were I was like like, come on, he's dressed like a woman. Let him in. Stepping away from my conversation with Quinta Brunson to send a shout out to Magic Spoon. Oh man, I love Magic Spoon. I have, it's well documented. I love pizza. It's well documented. I love sugar. I love fries. I love macaroni and cheese. I also love cereal. I've always been a big sugar cereal person. I can't really eat sugar cereal as an adult,

cereal person. I can't really eat sugar cereal as an adult, which is why Magic Spoon is great for me. It's got zero grams of sugar. It's got 13 or 14 grams of protein and only four net grams of carbs in each serving, only 140 calories. It's keto-friendly, gluten-free, grain-free, soy-free, low-carbon, GMO-free. You can build your own box. They have flavors like cocoa, fruity, frosted, that's my favorite, peanut butter, blueberry, and cinnamon. Just go to magicspoon.com slash burbigs and get your own custom bundle. Make sure you use code burbigs at checkout. Go to magicspoon.com slash burbigs and use code burbigs to save $5 off. And now back to the show. Legitimately, you're a great dancer.

I mean, that should not be. And you dance in Black Lady Sketch Show and you dance in some of like the videos that you've made over the years that have gone viral. But like you dance in Black Lady Sketch Show and you dance in some of like the videos that you've made over the years that have gone viral. But like you dance in Black Lady Sketch Show is hilarious. And you and now is in its second season. People can watch it on HBO. Yes, go watch.

Yes, HBO, HBO Max. It's airing now as we're doing, you know, like. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, people should go watch. And it's hilarious. as we're doing, you know, like, yeah. So yeah, people should go watch.

And it's hilarious. And particularly funny for me was when you did that proposal musical number. So it's like a guy, Jermaine, it's actually Jermaine Fowler. It's Jermaine, yeah, it's Jermaine. It's Jermaine Fowler proposing and then he's attempting to make his proposal go viral. Yes.

And so it's like this huge musical number on like a back lot and you dance the end of the sketch. I don't want to give it away, but like the end of the sketch is just you literally dancing alone. Yes. And like you're legit a good dancer. I mean, you talk about it in the book, but it's like yes you like one of your first like loves was like ballet classes and gymnastics classes and like that was where you were you had this sense of like you know I'm gonna entertain people yes absolutely yeah my my mom was a dancer

she was a professional dancer and and she you know dance came into my life early and stuff and um yeah i was gonna be a professional dancer until like college and hate to sound so corny but like improv kind of stole my heart and i just like oh slowly veered away from dancing because at a certain point if you're gonna be a professional, like you have to you have to commit. You have to. Yeah. Commit to the lifestyle. You have to like commit to the practices and like being poor. And that just was not I didn't want to be that kind of poor.

I wanted to be improv kind of poor, which I thought was more fun. But yeah. Why do you think improv poor is more fun than dancing poor? To me, I got to be expressive and silly with comedy in a way that I wasn't. And dance. And my dance world and my dance, the people I dance with, it was all, you know, I mean, it was always so fun. And I got to be the kind of funny friend, funny one, clown, whatever you want to say. But when I got to people who were more involved in like, you know, comedy and improv, it was like, oh, I'm not the odd man out anymore. I'm like working, comedy and improv. It was like, oh, I'm not the odd man out anymore. I'm like working,

collaborating with people who have the same ways of expression that I do. And yeah, so I slowly just like veered away from it. I was still taking dance classes here and there, but you know. You know what you said when we met? Do you remember what you said that made me laugh? No. And it stuck with me. What? You go, you're Mike Birbiglia. You're an original gangster. You go, you're an OG. And I go, but that means like I'm old. And you're like, yeah,

but that's what you're, to my generation, that's what you are. I was like, oh, great. It's true. Good job, Hasquinta. Yeah, I mean, that's true. That's how I feel. I would have's how I feel I would have said that now if I would have met you so checks out I know that was a riot but it also fits with the show that I'm developing which is called The Old Man in the Pool

where I'm like I'm hitting you know middle age I'm 42 and like I'm coming to grips with this idea that like I'm over the hill you know that term the phrase is over the hill and get on the hill. And you look around and you go, oh, there's natural causes. They're not close, but they're coming. Oh, there's natural causes.

That's hilarious. So you're developing that show now. Yeah. I super can't wait for that. Thanks. I'm serious't wait for that. Thanks, yeah. I'm serious. I'm excited. You know what's funny?

I was thinking about, so you exploded partly because of the internet and memes. You reference these viral videos and memes. I feel like I'm going to guess the bane of your existence in show business is people who are like my age and older and like studio executives being like, explain the internet to me. It doesn't happen as often as you think. Sometimes I wish that they would ask for an explanation. Oh, interesting. Instead, they'll do an assumption, you know, thinking that, you know, a lot of the internet or what I had done on the internet was like happenstance. And, you know, that I think is the big misunderstanding of the whole thing is when people look at like, like a, like a TikTok star or Instagram star or Twitter

or YouTube, like viral video star and just go like, oh, that was sort of a fluke. And it's like, no, no, it's actually like you were honing your art form, but sort of in public. Yeah, absolutely. That's exactly what it was. And, you know, for every person like me, sure, there are a bunch of flukes, but there are also people who, you know, the way I would like it to be looked at, not just for my sake, but for the sake of other creators who are you know, the way I would like it to be looked at, not just for my sake, but for the sake of other creators who are going to use the internet. I just want it to be

looked at as another stage for people. You know, there are people who, you know, standups who are doing open mics and, you know, whatever, and, and improvisers who are doing whatever random stage or whatever. A lot of these people are honing their craft and getting direct feedback from audiences online. And that's just what it is. It doesn't make them internet comedians per se. That's right. I just think that's not, it shouldn't be a thing anymore.

Because if you can showcase your skill, your craft, on this big worldwide stage, like, why wouldn't you? And especially for the younger kids starting out, why would they completely just ignore this huge thing here for them to learn how to get better, learn how to be good in front of audiences and everything. The other thing that you point out in the book is that the internet is this amazing democratizing entertainment space for marginalized groups that didn't exist before. It 100% is. I mean, I don't know if I would have been here talking to you right now

if it weren't for having, like, the outlets that I had. And because especially for, like, a younger black girl, even the boom of, like, you know, I think black women in comedy, you can attribute a lot of that to the Internet. Like, I mean, Issa came from YouTube, you know. I mean, she did. Her show was a web show. Lisa came from YouTube, you know, I mean, she did. Her show was a web show. Me, even, you know, Phoebe Robinson and Jessica, that was a podcast.

It's just like, it's ways for people to get. Two Dope Queens was a podcast that blew up and then it became an HBO series. Exactly. It's just ways for people to get stage time, so to speak, that, you know, maybe wouldn't have gotten it before and would have been stuck in the auditioning hole of really just auditioning and waiting for something to happen. Stepping away from my conversation with Quinta to send a shout outout to Bombas. Bombas Socks.

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And they really are. You can go to Bombas.com slash Burbigs today and get 20% off your first order. That's B-O-M-B-A-S dot com slash Burbigs for 20% off Bombas.com slash Burbigs. And now, back to the show. And now, back to the show. So this is a thing we do called the slow round, which is basically sort of based on memories and things you might remember from childhood. Do you have a memory from childhood that sort of runs on a loop in your head, but it's not even a story? It's just sort of like a thing that comes to you.

Yeah, absolutely. There was a time that I almost drowned in Florida and my brother saved me, but it's not as, it is dramatic because I did almost drown. But the way it happened was not, um, my brother brother saved me literally because it's like, oh, you're always doing something. Like, stop drowning. That was kind of my brother's energy. He was annoyed at you for drowning. He was annoyed at me for drowning that he had to save me. And we didn't tell my parents.

I don't think I understood what was happening because I was very young. I was six. So it's one of my earliest memories. But I went too far into the beach and I got knocked over by a huge wave. And I couldn't find my way up or down. I really couldn't. Oh my gosh, that's so scary. It is, but you're also like six. So you're not, I'm not sure if my comprehension of death was there yet to understand what was about to happen. I mean, like, was someone watching you in the

ocean? I think we had, my parents had five kids that we were on a vacation with two other families who also had five kids. Okay. So altogether 15 kids or whatever. And ultimately, yeah, my parents are watching me, but you can like like, when you have five kids and, you know. Yeah. Some of the kids have to watch the other kids. Yeah, exactly. And so, and then you had me who was pretty, you know, rambunctious apparently and got lost a lot and wandered away a lot. And so, I think I just went on my own way.

And I'm pretty sure someone told me, wait, stop, no, don't go. And then something else happened and my dad had to run and get, you know, I don't know, who knows. But I remember just be tumbling in the water and then being like, oh no, this is bad. Uh oh. Like cannot find up or down, but not understanding that like in two minutes, like death could have, like if I didn't find my way over there. And then I just felt gripped up and I didn't, I couldn't even see who gripped me up because you know what, that's how bad it was until I got pulled out of the water.

Wow. And that was my brother, but I'm still coughing up water and stuff. My brother had picked me up and pretty much just like throws me on the sand. Wow. And he's like, don like throws me on the sand. Wow. He was like, don't go far in the water. And I was like, okay. He ran back with his friends because, you know, he's with his friends and they like the little girls from the other families. That was his focus. It wasn't me. So I just like got up and kind of retired from the ocean for the day. And it was very like, oh, that was dramatic.

His main priority was the girls he had a crush on. But he also wants to save his sister's life. Yes. And he did. And it was like, stop fucking drowning. Like, it's not cool. I need to have stuff to do. So I went over and like I sat with my mom and dad.

And they didn't know what had happened. And I wasn't going to tell them. And I also didn't want to make my brother look good because we had a very weird sibling. I came eight years later. He was so mad. I was there. Yeah, yeah. So I just sat and like built sandcastles with my mom and dad.

Never told them that I almost drowned. Oh my gosh. Yeah. You and I have that in common because I was youngest of four. You were Oh my gosh. Yeah. You and I have that in common because I was youngest of four, you were youngest of five. Yeah. And for sure,

I'm a comedian because I was youngest in the big family. I talked about this with Nick, Nick Kroll before. He's the youngest in his family.

And it's something, something happens. What is that? Why is this the case? Well, I, well, I mean, I don't know the full psychology that someone might have written a book about. I'm sure they probably have. But with me, it was that it didn't seem like anyone was barely paying attention to me at all.

Like it was like I wasn't even there. I feel like I would be, my mom would be picking me up from nursery school at the Y and it would be like two hours later and I'd be the only person standing outside waiting. It'd be like, mom, you know what I mean? I think my parents literally forgot that they had me at certain points in my childhood.

And so I had to be loud and sort of be, not just loud, but actually like funny and entertaining and sort of be uh not that's just loud but actually like funny and entertaining and sort of like get people's attention and yeah i talk about that in the book one thing that i you know coming so late you know eight years after my closest sibling and then all they're kind of spread out my oldest sibling is 21 years away from me and so they I was watching what they were watching and learning what was cool from them that's huge and huge and so if I'm watching their comedies and everything which was everything from you know Martin to Fresh Prince to Conan my sister was such a huge Conan fan. And then Friends and all.

So I'm like taking in like, okay, this is how you like, all right. I can do that. I can be funny or whatever. And I did. I started imitating the people on TV and my brothers and sisters loved it. It was like, look what my sister can do. And so absolutely it became like, okay, look what my sister can do. And so absolutely, it became like, okay, this is how I have value in this family besides being the annoying one who came late.

Who's the person in your life or your family who makes you laugh the hardest? My sister, Gia. She is so funny. She's so funny. And she doesn't even know it. And she won't ever show it. She will not ever. It's like a private joke thing. She would never get on a stage. She would never get on a television. She would never even begin to think about performing for people. But she is hands down one of the funniest. She's so dry. She just says things that people work their hardest to write jokes. You know what I mean about?

It just flows out of her. She's hilarious. She absolutely kills me every time we're on the phone. What was the time that you remember laughing the hardest with your sister? She's just so she's just so blunt. Like she'll talk about people. When I laugh the hardest is when she talks about people and everything that we're not supposed to say. Yeah, yeah, sure. She says it. She's just a hairdresser in Philly, and not just a hairdresser, but I'm saying she is not out here thinking about how to be the most PC or how to be... There's no censors. There's no studio notes. Do you know what I'm saying? Oh, yeah, yeah, sure.

And I don't know if I'm laughing at her delivery or just laughing at the fact that she doesn't have the same censors we do. And so I can't even repeat the things that she says that makes me laugh the hardest. Yes, yes. And I'll tell her, like, Gia, you can't say that. And she's like, she'll just look at me and be like, says who? Yes, yes. that than I guess just me. But she just doesn't care. And it's something that I find refreshing. It's something I know I can't do, you know, and I know we should be better, all of us. But I find it refreshing that my sister's kind of like,

who's going to check me? Yeah, yeah. She's also a Philadelphian, so it's like if someone really wants to get mad, they could fight me, you know? Like that is her point. Right, if they really want to disagree with me, then we could fight physically. We could fight, yeah. And very matter of fact, it's something I used to have in me that I've since suppressed because you can't really have that in this industry.

But it's very much how a lot of Philadelphians carry themselves, and I appreciate it. Growing up, did you ever feel like there was a group that wouldn't let you in that you wanted to desperately be in? You know what? No. I pretty much really was a social butterfly and, a social butterfly and like, like a nexus being of friend groups. I could be friends with anyone and was a part of all the groups that I wanted to be part of. I was part of the groups no one wanted to be part of, like, because I just really liked people.

That's so fascinating. Like you're a natural extrovert. Yeah, for sure for sure interesting yeah i i developed this joke recently that was um my my wife is an introvert and i'm an extrovert an extrovert is someone who gets energy from being around other people and an introvert doesn't like you or she might like you but she's gonna need me to explain why we're leaving the party right right i i'm definitely extroverted and my fiance i don't know if i can call him introvert but he's he's he's he's not like me like i yeah that's the interplay of the relationship. Yeah, I love to be out and about and like meeting new people.

And no new friends is his, the way he lives his life. No new friends is his policy. And he sticks to it and it works for him. And sometimes it works for us. Like, you know what I mean? Like sometimes I meet new people. But I'm still, I kind of have the same philosophy. But at the same time, I'm like, I'm always open to meet a new great friend, I guess.

That's so fascinating. Because it's like, I also find like, how do you keep, how in the modern age do we even keep track of making new friends and keeping in touch with people over text, over email, over DMs, all this stuff. It's like, how do you even keep track of that? That is unique, and it's changing the word friend to me. It is changing the word friend. Yeah. I had a conversation with someone who I've been friends with since college,

one of my best friends, but we don't talk out every day anymore. We'll try to, but my schedule is busy and she's a teacher, so her schedule is busy. And so we might go full months without talking or we'll only talk on Instagram. And that's become like our main way of communication. And I'm not against that I'm like if that's how we you know can stay in touch then then so be it it's almost like we should have uh like a renewal of friend vows at some point and we like fill out a form and we say how close of friends and what kind of communication we want to have with that friend for the next five years.

And then they fill out the same form. And then we read each other's forms and we go, okay, we're going to talk once a year at Christmas. That's our deal. And then that's it. And those are the standards. And we adhere to the standards and we are friends still. We are friends still. Yes. We are friends.

I'm all about that. Yeah, that would be nice. I've been going through it with some friends. Some friends, not so much. They get it. But some friends are like, we never talk. Or when you're in New York, I didn't see. See, it's like, yeah, because I was working.

Like, New York is where it's just like little things where, you know, takes more work, communication, maybe a contract like the one you're speaking about signed in blood so that people know that you're still friends. Whoa, easy. You're making this so extreme. I mean, it gets really deep sometimes. I'm like. It's blood, snot, and hair. And hair.

I still love you. I promise. Stepping away from my conversation with Quinta Brunson to send a shout out to All Form Sofas. So if you listen to this show, which you do, you know, you're listening to it right now. You know that I love Helix mattresses.

I talk about them all the time it's my favorite mattress well helix has left the bedroom they started making sofas uh i love sofas if you saw the new one you know i'm pretty obsessed with couches and sofas and all that stuff uh what makes all form sofas really cool super comfortable also you can customize them you can pick your fabric. You can get scratch-resistant, stain-resistant, color the legs, the color of the sofa, the sofa size, the shape, all that stuff.

I'm actually working on building my whole office into sort of a recording space for this podcast right now, and we're decorating with Allform couches and chairs. To find your perfect sofa, check out allform.com slash burbigs. Allform is offering 20% off all orders for our listeners at allform.com slash burbigs. And now, back to the show. This is a joke that I just wrote recently, and I feel like you just got engaged, and so this is sort of in your universe right now. But I feel like there's only one person on Earth who understands me,

and on a regular basis, she's like, what are you doing like the person who understands me on earth regularly watches me do an activity starts laughing i ask why she's laughing she says no reason and that's the end of the interaction. I love that because my thing with my fiance, who I understand the most and understands me the most, the thing we say the most to each other is you are a literal crazy person. You are an actual crazy person. Like, why are you so crazy?

And why did I sign up for this? That's a riot. Yeah. You are so crazy. Why did I sign up for this? Why did I sign up? That's a marriage right there. Yeah.

Like, crazy person does the craziest things. I'm like, why? How? Why are you like this? But I know why. I know his parents and his life. I know why. The other joke I wrote about marriage recently, and I don't even know if it'll end up being about marriage, but that was sort of a funny turn, which is marriage is a little bit like prison, but not like a bad prison, like a Scandinavian prison where it's

on an island and you can learn a skill and it seems like you can leave, but you can't. You can't. You could, but someone's going to come after you. Yeah, exactly. A comic friend of mine goes, and then every once in a while you're like, I wonder what the other prisons are like. I used to say for me that the idea of getting married

was like skiing for me. Like, yeah, I do it like I don't need I don't need to. If I happen to be at a ski resort and, you know, someone happens to be like, here's some free skis. Yeah, I'll do it. It's funny because you show a meme in your book that was like the first meme that you got famous for which is you go oh he's got money and it's like you're making like a goofy face yeah and so I want do people ask you like does he have money oh my god yeah that's the one thing that'll never go away and it's okay it's like it's a part of you know part of who I am but yeah um i used to say it was embarrassing because before even before

you know my fiance i would go on dates and stuff and just random girls would come up to the table like oh girl he got money and it'd be like no actually he doesn't this is embarrassing for everybody oh my gosh no yeah yep embarrassing all the way around poor guys this actually this is another marriage one. I could pair this with the other marriage one, but it's like, I wrote down, marriage is like a thriller with no plot points. Like, it's very dramatic.

There's a lot of tension. Nothing exciting ever occurs, and it could end at any moment. And you'd be like, that movie was so short. And your wife would be like i thought it was long that's good i like that one that's fun not only no plot points but no um scenes like inciting events because because it's all passive arguments you know like it's just right right right right but it's a lot of But it's a lot of talking.

It's a lot of lateral movement in the plot. Right. It never goes there because then that would be the end of the movie. But we got to keep this long, short movie going. The beginning and end of the movie are just a guy going, who put this spoon here? I was about to say, this is not, I was just about to say this is not where the cups go. I was just about to say that. this is not where the cups go. I was just about to say that. This is not where the cups go.

This is not where this, like, how many times? That is good. Thanks. I have a bit that I've been working on for a long time. I actually started doing it on stage before the pandemic hit. But it's about how my belly button ring hole closing really means the end of youth for me. Oh. So I've been trying to keep it open, which is disgusting.

Wait, can you explain that to me? So you had a belly button ring, but you let it go. I had a belly button ring. I took it out when was like I had I got it when I was really really young yeah um I don't know how young I definitely like snuck and got it I think in high school so maybe when I was like 16 and uh and then I probably took it out around like 23 and you know and stopped and it was just dumb you know it was just like dumb so I took it out around like 23 and, or, you know, and stopped and it was just dumb, you know, it was just like dumb.

So I took it out. But then every once in a while I would go and make sure it was like still open, like just to see, it's just like a, you know, and then I stopped doing that. It was funny around the time I got with my fiance. Now I stopped checking on it.

So recently I just got curious and was like, Oh my goodness. I wonder if my belly would, it like was not it was like right it was just about to close oh and I freaked the fuck out I was like no no my gosh wow and it felt like I had this weird um realization like oh my god like I am this was this was a symbolism of my hodom, my youth being free and sexually active. And now I'm with this man that I love and I've settled down. And now my belly button hole is closing. And if it closes completely, I'm going to be like a dried up old woman. So I started poking stuff in there,

trying to get it to reopen again. And like, and I tried to get it to reopen and then it got infected, of course. And I was like, that's what happens when you try to go, you know, backwards, when you try to go like reverse time. So it's, it's been thing. I've been working one of how that's a metaphor for my use. And when I finally completely embrace growing old, it will then close up and then turn into, and out of it is going to pop a bunch of coupons for Save-A-Lot and Costco. That's hilarious. Yeah. That's hilarious. Yeah.

That's hilarious endings. That actually makes me think like, like one way to put it is like, you know, my belly button closing, sorry, my belly button hole closing was my receding hairline. Yeah, yeah.

That's what it feels like. It was my going gray. And I had to make a decision. Am I going to let it happen or am I going to postpone it? Right, like of what type of person you're going to be, how you're going to fight this fight. Are you going to fight? Yeah. fight are you gonna cling on to youth uh so i'm letting it close said yeah yeah yeah i am i wrote this bit about my cat because i know you have a cat now too i do but i wrote uh no matter how much I feed my cat, Mazzy, she wants more food.

And when I'm opening the can of food to put it in her wet food and to put it into her dish, she whacks the can with her head, blocking me from opening the can of food because that's how excited she is. And if I'm being honest, that's the moment when I relate most to my cat. That's good. That's relatable. My cat does the same thing. He gets so excited I can't even get to the food.

It's madness. I have to pick him up and fling him away from the food. He just turns into such a little spaz. I have to pick him up and fling him away from the food. I do. I have to fully throw him across the room because I can't even get to the food. He gets so excited. And he just ate.

It's not like he never ate before. I feel like that's also ripe for comedy, which is how much, and mind you, I'm someone who loves cats, and I'm sure you love your cat. I love my cat. The amount of physical agility we believe our cats have is, it's really tempting fate. It is, it is. I know I do some stuff with him sometimes that could be. But I've seen him do crazy-ass shit. I was on the second floor of a building, and my apartment had two stories.

And he jumped off of that and scared himself at the bottom. Yeah, he didn't realize he didn't get it. He was young, and he just didn't realize he was jumping off of a balcony and landing on his feet. So it can take a lot. And sometimes I just have to—cats are fucking crazy. Sometimes you just have to pick them up and fling them places because they're spazzes. I don't know. They're not like dogs.

I don't know. And then also they have their claws and they're really vicious beasts who could just decide to take you out at any given moment. So sometimes he just has to get flung. I know he'll be fine. No, no, I know. Sometimes your cat has to get flung and it's a loving fling. It's a loving fling. I would never, ever, ever hurt him. But he just is a nutcase.

ever, ever hurt him, but he just is a nutcase. And also, the odd twist of Cats, of course, is that we know that if we died, they would eat our bodies. I know. So it's, you know... What's a fling gonna hurt?

He'll get his revenge. So, the way that we end the show is we do Working It Out for a Cause, where you choose a nonprofit that you think is doing a good job, and then I contribute to them, and then I put a link to them in the show notes. I love that. So I would like to—the cause is Mutual Aid Philly, which is a mutual aid, the name project in Philadelphia where you donate to this mutual aid fund. And they are able to distribute whatever it is that people may need in the city.

So people can come to them for money and say, I need money for medicine. And what they do is just give people money for that kind of no questions asked. That's fantastic. Yeah. And they have a spreadsheet on their website where you can see where their money goes and how so that you can always see what they're doing. They're extremely transparent.

Philadelphia could use so much help right now in so many different ways. So that's my hometown, but ultimately just helping out the people there who need things. People are still coming back from the effects of the pandemic. It's going through a lot, the city now, gun violence crisis, still COVID crisis, all of that. So help is needed. Well, and it's Philadelphia is also where I'm going to see your sister this fall. That's right. That's going to be fun. Wait, do you know where you're performing?

At the Miriam Theater. At the Miriam Theater. Oh, it's so nice to even hear those words. Like, that's amazing. I love that. That's exciting. I love that. That's exciting. When again? I want to say it's in October or November, but it's on burbigs.com.

And yeah, put me in touch with your sister, and I want to hear all the things that you could never say on stage, but that she can tell me. Oh, God. Oh, yikes. Are you sure? Are you sure? Are you sure? I couldn't recommend more your book, She Memes Well, as well as Black Lady Sketch Show and Big Mouth. I mean, you're doing so much stuff right now, and I love it all, and I love the chance to just talk to you for a while. It's a blast. Thank you, Mike. Me too. I love this. It was nice to talk to you more than just at our friend's memorial.

This is nice. But I'm happy we met there. This is the beginning of a friend contract where we're going to send you a contract. We're going to say like, let's start off maybe a couple times a year. We'll touch base. Right. Exactly. A couple times a year. Just

unrelated to any disasters or anything bad. Just checking in, you know? I like that. Working it out, because it's not done. Working it out, because there's no hope. That's going to do it for another episode of Working It Out. Quinta Brunson, I think, she's just phenomenal.

I think she's so funny. You can follow her on Instagram, at Quinta Brunson, I think, she's just phenomenal. I think she's so funny. You can follow her on Instagram at Quinta B. And pick up her book, She Memes Well. Get that at your local bookstore. While you're at it, you can pick up the new one for Father's Day. Because that's around the corner. Thanks for listening to Working It Out. If you enjoyed the show, give it some stars and some ratings and all that kind of stuff.

So spread the word. Our producers are myself, along with Peter Salamone and Joseph Birbiglia. Consulting producer, Seth Barish. Sound mix by Kate Balinski. Associate producer, Mabel Lewis. Special thanks to my consigliere, Mike Berkowitz, as well as Marissa Hurwitz and Josh Upfall. Special thanks, as always, to Jack Antonoff and Bleachers for their music.

Check out their new music, which is so good. As always, a very special thanks to my wife, the poet J-Hope Stein. And as always, a special thanks to my daughter, Una, who created this radio fort. Thanks most of all to you who have listened. Tell your friends. Tell your enemies.

We're working it out. See you next time.