Caleb Hearon: Improv Saved His Life

Mike Birbiglia's Working It Out

Mike Birbiglia's Working It Out podcast

Mygirlfriendsboyfriend, Interviews, Comedy Interviews, Sleepwalkwithme, Iraglass, Comedy, Thankgodforjokes, Thenewone, Mikebirbiglia, Dontthinktwice, Birbiglia

4.8 • 4K Ratings

🗓️ 20 October 2025

⏱️ 60 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Comedian Caleb Hearon just turned 30 and he’s already got an hour-long HBO special, hosts a hit podcast (So True with Caleb Hearon), and was named one of the top social media influencers of 2025 by Rolling Stone. But it hasn’t been an easy road. Caleb talks with Mike about his battles with suicidal ideation, how improv comedy saved his life, and how he drew on the passing of his estranged father for his comedy special. Plus, Caleb and Mike discuss the value seeing stand-up live vs. on TV, and come up with a plan to go off the grid and live in a cabin in the mountains together.

Transcript

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0:00.0	You've said that you don't respect straight guys as a rule.
0:04.0	Yeah.
0:05.3	What's the disrespectful thing that you think about me that you're not saying?
0:10.1	Oh, God.
0:11.0	Swing away. Swing away.
0:12.2	Straight, still? Is that still the truth? Okay. You never know.
0:16.3	It's, my life is long and things are...
0:18.0	Is that the truth?
0:20.3	Yeah.... Mike, life is long and things are... That is the voice of the great Caleb Heron.
0:28.6	Caleb Heron is a fantastic stand-up comedian.
0:31.6	He is a new special on HBO called Model Comedian.
0:34.7	It's hilarious.
0:35.7	He hosts a podcast called So True with Caleb Herron. He's been
0:38.8	doing stand-up and improv for years and years, and he's having a big moment right now. We're just
0:43.8	walking into the studio. A fan of his came up and they were chatting. It was very sweet. He's a very
0:49.9	sweet guy, a very funny person. We have really fun conversation today. We'd never met. It was a great
0:56.2	example of when the podcast becomes really fun for me, just meeting a new person who I think is hilarious.
1:02.7	Also in the studio today with him are two of his associates, Chance and Michelle, who are really sweet
1:10.0	and funny.
1:15.1	For those of you who don't know, we actually just launched Working It Out Premium,
1:18.1	so you notice if you're on Apple Podcasts in the feed,
1:24.8	there's a new episode that you can only access if you subscribe to Working It Out Premium.
	...

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