Sleepwalk with Me by Mike Birbiglia

A lot of comedians’ books pretty much feel like their sets with a little more framing and context. Which is how this book felt.

Mike Birbiglia is a hilarious stand-up, and he has a long-form style that’s pretty hard to match. But if you’re at all familiar with his act, the small asides are clearly his bits with not a whole lot of change.

It’s kind of strange to read a larger piece with bits you already know contained within. You know the bits are coming, you like them, but somehow they feel deflated.

There was one section that stood away from the rest of these, a chapter remembering and eulogizing Mitch Hedberg, which is a must-read for any Hedberg fan.

This book was sort of the opposite of the Sh*t My Dad Says book. I expected that to be a long list of one-liners. Instead, you get these longer stories that lend the whole thing a lot of extra humor. They enhance the jokes rather than squeezing them for every drop of laughter juice drink.

If you’ve heard Birbiglia on This American Life or The Moth, get his albums first. If you STILL want more, then give this book a shot. But the order is still firmly Album, Book.