688 - Writing Jokes with Mike Birbiglia
Scriptnotes Podcast
John August
4.8 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 27 May 2025
⏱️ 66 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
John and Craig welcome back writer, director, and comedian Mike Birbiglia (Don’t Think Twice, Sleepwalk with Me) to take a look at several true news stories and ask, how would this be a joke? Stories include run-club haters, a conflicted bone marrow donor, and the coyotes roaming San Francisco.
We also look at how Mike developed his new Netflix special, The Good Life, and answer listener questions on taking an idea from a podcast and knowing when you’ve broken a story.
In our bonus segment for premium members, Mike walks us through how he’s able to market his work without it feel like marketing.
Links:
- Mike Birbiglia
- The Good Life on Netflix
- Mike’s previous episodes: 121, 168, 261, 427, 443, and Working it Out: Screenwriting Advice You’ll Actually Use
- Episode 660 – Moneyball
- Ira Glass on Mike’s podcast Working it Out
- Elizabeth Gilbert TED Talk
- The Run Club Haters by Melissa Dahl for Curbed
- I Hadn’t Heard From My Dad in Over a Decade. Now He’s Returned With a Brazen Request. I’m Actually Considering It. from Slate’s Care and Feeding
- The Coyotes of San Francisco by Heather Knight and Loren Elliot for NY Times
- Coyote Vest
- Everybody’s Live with John Mulaney
- Chris Fleming
- Blue Prince
- Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt!
- Check out the Inneresting Newsletter
- Become a Scriptnotes Premium member, or gift a subscription!
- Subscribe to Scriptnotes on YouTube
- Craig Mazin on Instagram
- John August on Bluesky and Instagram
- Outro by Nick Moore (send us yours!)
- Scriptnotes is produced by Drew Marquardt with help from Sam Shapson. It’s edited by Matthew Chilelli.
Email us at ask@johnaugust.com
You can download the episode here.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome. My name is John August. |
| 0:03.9 | Wow. Okay. So, my name is Craig Mason. |
| 0:06.4 | And you're listening to Episode 688 of Script Notes. |
| 0:08.8 | It's a podcast about screenwriting and things that are interesting to screenwriters. |
| 0:11.9 | Today on the show, we welcome back a seven-time guest. |
| 0:14.7 | He is a comedian, filmmaker, and podcaster, whose new special The Good Life debuted this week on Netflix. |
| 0:20.1 | It is a legendary bike Barbiglia. |
| 0:22.2 | Welcome back. |
| 0:22.7 | You guys, this is my favorite podcast. |
| 0:25.6 | I, on the flight here, listen to the Taffy Ackner Moneyball episode. |
| 0:31.7 | As a fan of the show, I request more breaking apart a movie. |
| 0:37.6 | Oh, yeah. Did you dive? Yeah. Oh my gosh. |
| 0:40.1 | You don't do it. I think he's right. Yeah. I think he's right. We don't do it enough. |
| 0:43.7 | But I guess what we do do enough or maybe too much of is having Mike Brubigley on the show. |
| 0:49.0 | Seven-time host. We should give you the like the jacket, the robe that S&Lers get. The seven timers club. |
| 0:55.9 | So here are the episodes he was on. |
| 0:57.4 | So first was in 2013 for my girlfriend's boyfriend's screenwriter. |
| 1:01.4 | So way back to your first film. |
| 1:03.4 | Then Austin Forever in 2014. |
| 1:05.8 | So that was Austin Live show, which I'd forgotten that we actually, so that's the way for sort of first. |
| 1:08.7 | My girlfriend's boyfriend's special, and then was it... |
| 1:11.1 | We talked about Sleepwalk with me in the movie? |
... |
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