Editor’s Note: With a brand new year comes new shows, new faces, and a new format for Vanyaland’s recurring weekly live comedy rundown, Mic’d Up. We’ll be hyping club shows, theater and arena gigs, open mics, and whatever else to help fill your free time with some much-needed laughter.
The comedy machine manned by Mike Birbiglia has known no chill for quite some time now, and the critical acclaim he’s received for one show after another explains it all. But that doesn’t mean he can’t pump the brakes, or even stop the ride completely from time to time – much like he’ll do in Northampton this weekend.
Starting tonight (February 21), the Shrewsbury native and award-winning comedian will bring his Please Stop The Ride tour home to Massachusetts for a Friday-Saturday double serving at NoHo’s Academy of Music Theatre for a pair of sold-out shows. Birbiglia’s latest one-man show brings his audience even deeper into the ever-expansive mind of an artist, father, and husband we’ve had the pleasure of getting to know more and more with each new offering, once again expertly crafted into a fully immersive storytelling masterclass that brings together comedy, poignancy, and the strikingly thought-provoking approach we’ve come to admire about the multi-talented comic.
Sure, let’s get excited for the return of Birbigs by revisiting his Netflix specials, including 2023’s The Old Man and The Pool, but remember that every new show that comes from the brilliantly silly and thoughtful mind of one of comedy’s true pillars of joke writing excellence delivers an all-new perspective, so just prepare to be brought in a new, delightful direction this weekend.
MIKE BIRBIGLIA :: Friday, February 21 and Saturday, February 22 at Academy of Music Theatre, 247 Main St. in Northampton, MA :: 6:30 p.m. both nights, $39 to $69 :: Advance Tickets