Sleepwalk With Me: And Other Painfully True Stories

AUTHOR: Mike Birbiglia

PUBLISHED: 2011

GENRE: Memoir/Comedy

Who knew sleep disorders could be so funny?

Mike Birbiglia was eking out a living as a stand-up comic when he started sleep-walking - not just down the hall, but down the hall and on the furniture and, in one memorable case, out the window.  Everyone told him to go to the doctor.  He ate dinner instead. 

I first heard Birbiglia on the Moth Radio Hour.*  I liked his laid-back style of storytelling, so when I heard he had a book out, I downloaded it to my Kindle.  Comedic acts don’t always translate to the page, and I figured if it sucked, at least I hadn’t paid hard-cover price.  I’ve since read it twice. 

Sleepwalk With Me is the story of Birbiglia’s Massachusetts childhood and his struggles trying to make it as a comic.  Much like his comedy, his writing is conversationalist, a string of whatever random things come into his head rather than an obviously planned set.  (Yes, I know it’s not actually that random, but the good comic makes it seem that way.)  It’s basically a stand-up routine on paper, which sounds like it shouldn’t work, but does. 

Birbiglia’s humor is mostly self-effacing, although his parents appear frequently.  (The book opens with his father trying to teach a young Mike the family motto: don’t talk about it.  Obviously, Mike does not follow that advice.)  His siblings show up (including a surprising touching scene when he and his sister Gina bond over their love of bears), along with the talent scouts, club owners, and agents that float in and out of a comic’s life.

Birbiglia is eventually diagnosed as suffering from rapid eye movement behavior disorder.  Normal people basically become paralyzed when they fall asleep.  It’s what keeps you from acting out your dreams.  Birbiglia doesn’t.  So when he dreams of giant praying mantises on the ceiling or nuclear missiles coming in his direction, he reacts physically.  And then he wakes up, in a kung-fu pose on top of the TiVo, or in the middle of a Walla Walla street.  It’s a serious problem, but Birbiglia accepts it with the same, “hey, it’s cool, I guess” attitude he seems to bring to every problem.  It’s what makes his story so funny and so relatable at the same time, even in its strangest moments.

LENGTH: 208 pages

MAINSTREAM OR NOT?: Not really.  Birbiglia appears frequently on This American Life and some other NPR programs, and pops up on HBO and Comedy Central once in a while, but is still not really known to the general public.

SO, SHOULD I READ IT OR NOT?: Yes.  Sleepwalk With Me is one of those rare creatures: a stand-up routine that translated into a good book.

*The Moth Radio Hour is real people telling true stories without notes.  It’s people just getting up on stage and telling 5-minute stories to an audience of strangers, and it’s awesome.  You can find the podcasts on iTunes, listen to the Moth Radio Hour on your local NPR station, or get information at www.themoth.org.  Listen to Birbiglia’s, then find Edgar Oliver and listen to his, and then listen to the rest of them.  It’ll be worth it.