Dream sequences are so often about like bad symbolism. And Ira's, like, yeah. Did you have a hand in that?BIRBIGLIA: It's, it's not the easiest thing, in the sense that it's - I think your tendency when you play yourself is to accentuate something about you that you think is the funny thing about you. And, yeah, I guess we got involved.GROSS: And you did that because?BIRBIGLIA: So you're so controlling.BIRBIGLIA: (As Matt) No, well, kind of.
I mean I ended up getting involved in this, heavily in the screenwriting with this so close, but like you're not the screenwriter, you don't get the pleasure of writing, you don't get the pleasure really of editing, you don't get the pleasure of directly, you don't get the pleasure of performing. So, in translating into a movie, what did you both discuss in terms of what you wanted the look to be? Talese's books include, "Unto The Sons," the story of the immigrant experience in America, and also the chronicle of Talese's own Italian ancestors coming to this country. Mike Birbiglia talks about the sleepwalking that nearly killed him.
And then it's like a whole movie about saving a cat. And often it's just kind of like there's like this famous story where Billy Wilder is talking to Jack Lemmon in the first film that they did together. And basically Mike just picks up the girlfriend from work. You have to be able to walk on stage and bomb, and walk off and think - that went great.GROSS: How would you have done that?GLASS: And it's up one YouTube if anybody wants to watch it.GLASS: Yes, but - yeah, I know.
And we dropped those into the movie, in the test screenings, and all of a sudden things that got no laughs all of a sudden were getting big laughs.BIRBIGLIA: (As Matt) Yeah, yeah, it's just - you know, I've decided I'm not going to get married until I'm sure that nothing else good can happen in my life.GLASS: Noted. We're talking about their new movie "Sleepwalk with Me." More after a break.
Mike Birbiglia was born on June 20, 1978 in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, USA. And so it was not ideal, I have to say.MARON: (As Marc) You married, or...?GROSS: My guests are Ira Glass, the creator and host of "This American Life," and comic and actor Mike Birbiglia. Like, you don't do focus groups for "This American Life," right? And there came a point in doing - when we did the TV show, I consciously set out to lose weight to be on television - not because anybody asked me to, but because I knew that I was going to have to look at a lot of pictures of myself, and like anybody over 40, that is not something you look forward to.So Ira, you're a producer of the movie "Sleepwalk With Me." What does that mean?BIRBIGLIA: You and I recorded separate audio for the trailer in your studio.GROSS: I mean - and, you know, these usually end with you like running for your life or falling off of something.But at the time, because it was part of the - he recorded it as part of the Moth Storytelling Series - which purports to be true - we really didn't think about it.
People aren't going to judge you on how you look or whether you're attractive enough.
I don't know what else is in it.
That's my whole job.GLASS: I'm so professional.
I was nicer than that. Like people got very mean about it, and we just went in and adjusted a number of things.GLASS: Yes, yes, yes.
And so I could have - I'll sometimes have incidents, but they're nothing like - and also I take medication that was based on my diagnosis, which is called REM behavior disorder, and so it - even the sleepwalking incidents I have are much calmer than the ones that I used to have.GLASS: You told me about it, yeah.GROSS: So Ira, can you talk about watching Mike off screen just in real life and watching him on set playing Mike, and then watching him on screen seeing how that all worked out?The comedian co-wrote a film with Ira Glass, of public radio's This American Life, about his life and sleepwalking disorder.
That's a dream. And, you know, even in "The Sopranos" when they did, you know, that extended long dream sequence, I just feel like it's a cheap move.