Comedian Mike Birbiglia.

A clean comic can be hard to find these days. Not in terms of personal hygiene – that’s something we wouldn’t presume or want to have to judge – but in terms of content. Shock-value, fame, and R-rated comics seem to go hand-in-hand, which does tend to segment the potential audience. Not so with comedian Mike Birbiglia, whose show at the Ordway brought a wide band of attendees with ages ranging from the 20s up to the 80s.

• Read an interview with Mike Birbiglia.

Not that Birbiglia doesn’t talk about sex in The New One, his fresh-from-Broadway solo comedy show that’s in town for a four-show run at the Ordway. After all, the titular new one is a baby in the family, and there are no storks involved when you decide to expand yours. Rather, the way that Birbiglia talks about the subject is such that you could easily bring a parent or grandparent along for the ride. The travails of parenting and family planning are played for high comedy on top of serious truths, and the opening night audience responded with gales of laughter.

If you’re familiar with Birbiglia from National Public Radio’s This American Life or the Moth Radio Hour, you might be interested to know that The New One features plenty of material not performed elsewhere. However, if you’re a faithful listener of the above, you might also be interested to know that there a few callbacks to previous story threads that he’s related, where you get a little more insight and follow-through (with attendant humor) to these episodes. First-time Birbiglia attendees and listeners will get pulled right in.

The New One runs about 80 minutes with no intermission and no opening act. If you just read the description, you might not think that parenting and family planning would fill that whole time well and with great comedy. You’d be wrong: with Birbiglia’s melodious voice and deft comedic timing, the evening flies by, and when the show comes to close it has both a natural ending and a feeling that you really want to hear Birbiglia’s again for the sequel sometime soon.

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The New One runs through October 19 at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts in St. Paul, MN.

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Basil Considine

Basil Considine was the Editor of the Twin Cities Arts Reader from 2018-2022. He served as Performing Arts Editor and Senior Classical Music and Drama Critic for the Arts Reader's first five years, before succeeding Hanne Appelbaum. He was previously the Resident Classical Music and Drama Critic at the Twin Cities Daily Planet and remains an occasional contributing writer for The Boston Musical Intelligencer and The Chattanoogan. He holds a PhD in Music and Drama from Boston University, an MTS in Sacred Music from the BU School of Theology, and a BA in Music and Theatre from the University of San Diego.

Basil was named one of Musical America's 30 Professionals of the Year in 2017. He was previously the Regional Governor for the National Opera Association's North Central Region and the 2021-2022 U.S. Fulbright Faculty Scholar to Madagascar.

Latest posts by Basil Considine (see all)

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