♪♪ Birbiglia: I mean, I'm stunned by the whole experience.

I mean, we're at Lincoln Center.

I mean, it's stunning.

It's my favorite opening night I've ever had.

I've done five shows -- "Sleepwalk with Me," "My Girlfriend's Boyfriend," "Thank God for Jokes," "The New One," and now "The Old Man & the Pool."

And, yeah, it's my favorite one I've ever done.

Boritt: Mike's first idea for this show was he wanted to do a swimming pool on stage, and the show was gonna start with him swimming laps in a real pool.

And we actually sorted all that out and we figured it out and we had worked out this wonderful magic trick to make him magically disappear out of the pool at the end of it.

And once we had that all figured out, he said, "You know what?

I think we can do something simpler."

So what we did instead is this big wave, but it becomes this sort of metaphysical thing hanging over him, is really the power and the strength of it.

It's both kind of beautiful and it's slightly ominous at times.

It's kind of theatrical abstraction at its best, I think, and that's the fun of doing it and the joy of doing it, that Mike's words are what transforms it from one thing to the next.

He's so incredible, and I'm so excited to see it.

I've seen him a few times, but, you know, like, this is really something.

Stiller: I'm excited 'cause I'm a big Mike Birbiglia fan.

More than just a comedy thing.

He's always telling a really, really interesting and visually emotional story.

There's nobody else like him, so I'm excited to see it.

Halfway home, I stop at a rest stop to pee.

I don't mean to be graphic.

This is just what happened.

There was blood in my pee.

I know.

How do you think I felt?

'Cause I knew it could mean, like, five things, and three of them mean I die, and the other two aren't exactly a trip to the Bahamas either.

And so I get home, like, 2:30 in the morning.

I woke up my dad.

I told him what happened.

He had a very grave look on his face 'cause he's a doctor, so he knows about the Bahamas.

I'm able to learn from the people I'm working with.

So when I work with Tom Hanks, I learn from him as an actor.

When I work with Taylor, I learn from her as a director.

And Tom Hanks came and saw the show, which was wild, and we made a TikTok together, which was even stranger.

I have to be honest -- Sometimes it's a little annoying when people do my bits to me, but... Hey, ain't you Mikey Bag o' Donuts?

You're Joey Bag o' Donuts?

You're Mikey -- You're Joey Bag o' Donuts' brother, right?

Yeah, you're alright.

You're a good guy.

Hey.

Hey.

He's a good guy.

Alright?

This is Mikey Bag o' Donuts.

He's a good guy.

He was listening to my comedy albums, and he would do a bit to me from the comedy album on set.

Like, where we'd be in this fake neighborhood in this movie called "A Man Called Otto" that comes out at Christmas.

I'm Beppo!

Both: Hi, Beppo!

You wanna see a trick?

Both: Yes!

Can I borrow a coin?

What did you do?

Give me back the quarter!

The thing about his shows is that they're so funny and also so moving, heartwarming.

There's some deep level of philosophy behind everything he's doing.

Maybe he's a genius.

I think Mike's work is, like, both so funny and incredibly deep.

He has captured that sweet spot between having a deep, well-thought-out act, but delivered with the almost boyish, childish innocence and energy.

Mike has these little beats like he -- When he performs, it's like you're listening to him at a jazz club.

You hear every little breath.

The strength of the writing is that he really wants it to have a depth of feeling that, traditionally, like, comedians don't go for, and yet still have a really funny line like every 15 or 20 seconds.

Like, there's a whole section now in the beginning of the show that came out of a conversation that he and I had -- the moment when he talked to his parents, and his mom was like, "You're going to be fine."

And his dad, who's a doctor, a surgeon, is like, "No, you really might not be fine," and what that was like to hear it.

He got diagnosed with cancer and really realized he might die.

And I think that for a comedian to be thinking through like, "How do I sell that feeling of that?"

-- I think it's part of what makes his work so special.

And I read this and I thought, "Maybe this is what I have."

And I still didn't see a doctor.

[ Laughter ] Life is so absurd.

These bodies we're in are so absurd.

And if I share that absurdity with the audience and they're able to take that away, fantastic.

[ Applause ] ♪♪ ♪♪