Oh, Birbiglia, You Had Us at Stick Insects. Or... Stick in Sex?

So remember the other day when we told you how hilaaaaaarious Mike Birbiglia is, and how you should totally go see his show this week? We wouldn't tell you to do something we wouldn't do ourselves. (Well, that's a lie. We often tell people to do things we wouldn't, simply because the outcome is pretty funny. Example: Go try to eat ten saltines in under a minute with no water. We'll be waiting.)

Our point is this: We caught Birbiglia's show last night at Helium Comedy Club (20th and Sansom). We went in with some pretty high expectations, given our past experience with Birbiglia. (And, frankly, the fact that we could drag our normally suburban-bound friends into the city on a work night with no protest whatsoever as soon as we called them up to ask, 'So, want to see Mike Birbiglia tomorrow night?' Seriously. We thought we heard the sound of cartoon wheels screeching, they agreed so quickly.)

Virginia's Ryan Conner capably handled the opening and emcee duties (keep an eye on this guy), warming up the crowd for Birbiglia.

And then Birbiglia came on, and it was a blur of laughter. Birbiglia insists that he's the kind of guy that makes awkward situations more awkward, and he spent a little over an hour explaining exactly how awkward he can make any situation, from moving furniture into an apartment to a celebrity pro-am golf tournament.

Nothing we can say here can do justice to Birbiglia's act without giving away some of his best jokes, but when a comedian can riff for ten minutes about the fact that someone in the front row thought he was saying 'stick in sex' during a story about stick insects and still have you bent double laughing, you know you're in for a good show.

Here's the deal: When you wake up the next morning and every one of your abdominal muscles aches from laughing the night before, you saw a good comedian. Mike Birbiglia? Good comedian.

Mike Birbiglia
Helium Comedy Club (20th and Sansom)
Tonight, 8/10/07 - Sat, 8/11/07, various times
$20-$29
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