You can follow this podcast on:

Apple Podcasts | Google Play | iHeartRadio | Spotify | Stitcher

Welcome to another episode of the Comedic Pursuits podcast. I got to sit down with an incredibly interesting guy who’s lived a million comedy lives. I’m talking, of course, about Michael Bird. He currently lives in New York City, but he does his show, Bird and Friends Cosmic Unity, all over the country and internationally.

Highlights from my interview with Michael Bird

He recently hit his hundredth show, which is incredible, especially since he’s only been doing it for a little under two years. We’ll talk about his show, his comedy training in Chicago, Austin, DC, and UCB, his time with WIT ensemble Commonwealth, and his house team at The PIT in New York City.

Without further ado, Michael Bird.

Some of Michael’s answers have been edited for clarity. To hear his full responses, listen to his podcast episode.

What are some of your first memories of comedy?

When I was in kindergarten, my teacher was reading Jack and the Beanstalk to us. She wanted people to act out the story while she was reading, and she chose me to play Jack. I crushed it. While she was reading, we basically had to improvise the things that were happening in the story.

There was one part where the giant came, and I was hiding from him in the oven. I pretended to go to sleep, and I started snoring. When I did that, the entire kindergarten class started laughing, and I felt this burst of joy in that laughter because it was what I wanted to happen. I was trying to be funny, and it worked. I was like, “This is what I want to do for the rest of my life.”

What was your college improv experience like?

I went to college at UT Austin and ended up auditioning for a new improv group on campus called Giggle Pants. The group started as three guys who did ComedySportz, short-form improv, with each other in high school. It was all dudes, and it got super raunchy all the time. I was like, “Is this what I have to do to be funny?” I was not doing well, and I thought they were going to kick me out.

I think I Googled “how to get good at improv,” and this book, The Second City Almanac of Improvisation, popped up. I finished it in a weekend, and it changed everything. I felt like every chapter was full of golden improv advice.

I went to the next rehearsal, and I was charged. We played a short-form game, and I came in hard with a relationship. I made one of the guys my girlfriend who I was breaking up with, and I got into it. Everyone was like, “Where the fuck is this coming from?”