
Mike Birbiglia is living ‘The Good Life' on Netflix
Advertisement
In a statement to Variety, Birbiglia called 'The Good Life' his 'most personal' special since it covers his 'life right now' instead of stories from the past.
'So there's really no filter,' Birbiglia said. 'At certain points during the tour I literally thought on stage: 'Whoa. Am I really gonna tell this story?' But that's sort of the idea behind these shows. I try to probe into what's most painful in order to figure out what's most funny.'
Birbiglia's return to Netflix marks the latest chapter in the ongoing streaming skirmishes over stand-up comedy. While Netflix and rivals like Amazon and HBO have long been destinations for comics, Hulu recently entered the chat with the
Advertisement
In addition to 'The Good Life' and 'The Old Man and the Pool,' Birbiglia's 2019 special 'The New One' and 2017's 'Thank God for Jokes' also streamed on Netflix.
'I'm always looking for what is the funniest hour I can put out,' Birbiglia
Matt Juul can be reached at
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Tom's Guide
18 minutes ago
- Tom's Guide
Netflix just added every season of this super-bingeable mystery thriller show — and you've got 100 episodes to watch now
If there's one thing that always goes down a treat on Netflix, it's a show with a lot of seasons. The streaming service's subscribers love a good binge-watch. So, when I saw that Netflix U.S. recently added 'Blindspot' (on June 7), I was confident it would be a near instant success. And my hunch was correct. Not even 48 hours after 'Blindspot' was added to the platform's library and it's already found its way into the Netflix top 10 most-watched list, currently ranked at No. 9. If 'Blindspot' falls within your own television blindspot, it's an NBC series that debuted in 2015 and ran for five seasons, and a total of 100 episodes. It's also a great binge-watch as each case-of-the-week installment feels satisfying on its own, but all the while, in the background, a larger web of mystery and conspiracy is being spun. It's not exactly reinventing the TV crime drama mold, but it's a show you can consume in great quantities and still crave more. Let's dive into everything you need to know about 'Blindspot' now that it's found its new home on Netflix. 'Blindspot' opens with a beat cop noticing an unattended duffle bag in New York City's iconic Times Square. Calling in the FBI, they are shocked to discover that the luggage contains a naked women with no memories and covered in freshly-inked tattoos. Dubbed Jane Doe (Jaimie Alexander), one of the tattoos points towards FBI agent Kurt Weller (Sullivan Stapleton), who is quickly called in to investigate the situation in the hopes of learning Jane's identity and unraveling the mysteries buried deep within her marked skin. The pair team up and begin hunting for answers, with each tattoo offering up its own set of clues. But as Weller and Jane get closer to uncovering buried secrets, they find themselves in the middle of a sprawling conspiracy, and must face the fact that some truths are hidden further than skin deep. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. As noted, 'Blindspot' debuted in 2015 and didn't conclude until 2020, but even then, it felt like a throwback to highly bingeable 2000s television like 'Lost,' 'Fringe' and 'Bones.' It's one of those crime thriller shows that constantly offers up two types of mysteries: Those that are solved within each 45-minute episode, and those that take an entire season, or even multiple seasons, to unfold. It's a pretty compelling formula that many great television shows have successfully mined, and it will keep you hooked from the first episode until the last. Of course, the biggest unanswered question at first is Jane Doe's identity, and while the show does eventually move beyond this mystery — fortunately, the big reveal of Jane's backstory isn't stretched out across the show's entire run — this central hook is more than enough to get you invested in the first season. The shifting relationship between Jane and Weller is another core pillar of 'Blindspot,' with the pair striking up an uneasy alliance before signs of a will-they-won't-they romance start to blossom. Again, it's pretty textbook stuff, but sometimes you don't need a show to subvert expectations. 'Blindspot' is probably best described as TV junk food. It's simple and predictable but comforting. Unfortunately, like a lot of shows of its ilk, 'Blindspot' does become increasingly outlandish in its latter seasons. The show writers were forced to spin up new mysteries to keep the show going beyond its initial core premise. Its attempts to redefine itself aren't always successful, and things become more than a little bit silly by the end. It gives big "Prison Break" vibes. Nevertheless, 'Blindspot' is a great pick if you want a Netflix show that will keep you occupied for more than a single weekend. It has plenty of throwback charms, even if you'll have to leave some logic at the door. If you're able to suspend your disbelief, it's a worthwhile binge. If you're looking to sink your teeth into a show this week on Netflix, 'Blindspot' is a great pick. It certainly doesn't fall into the prestige TV category, with some ropey production and far from award-worthy performances, but it's got enough satisfying ingredients to keep you engaged. If you're looking to sink your teeth into a show this week on Netflix, "Blindspot' is a great pick. It's a show that belongs to a different era of television in many ways. We're now in an era of sub-10 episode seasons released several years apart, but 'Blindspot' debuted during a time when viewers were served up 20+ episode seasons on a dependable yearly basis. Anybody with a fondness for that period of television will get a real kick out of 'Blindspot's' predictability. And viewers just looking for a show that'll take a while to finish, and one that offers up enough unanswered questions to keep the investment level high, will also find plenty to enjoy. It's certainly not a ground-breaking series, or one concerned with going beyond its familiar genre conventions, but it plays to its intended audience pretty darn well, and that's all it needs to be a success. I have a feeling that 'Blindspot' might stick around among the most-watched series on Netflix for a while, as similar bingeable 2010s shows have found great success in the TV streaming era. And I wouldn't be surprised if over the next few days, it climbs even higher in Netflix's top 10 chart. However, if you consumed 'Blindspot' as it aired on NBC in the 2010s, and are looking for something completely new instead, check out our rundown of everything new added to Netflix this month, including equally binge-worthy original series like 'Sirens' and lots more. Stream "Blindspot" seasons 1-5 on Netflix now


Bloomberg
23 minutes ago
- Bloomberg
Trump's Golden Dome Creates Opening for Space Force to Gain Relevance
By and Sana Pashankar Save Five years after its formation during President Donald Trump's first administration prompted jokes about the Star Trek-style logo and inspired a Netflix Inc. sitcom with Steve Carell, the US Space Force is still looking for respect. 'Many people don't even understand the Space Force is real,' General Michael Guetlein, the agency's vice chief of space operations, told a Washington area conference in March. 'That was a luxury that we had when space wasn't contested. We no longer enjoy that luxury.'
Yahoo
28 minutes ago
- Yahoo
'The Last of Us' co-creator reacts to fans angry over Pedro Pascal's shocking exit: 'He's in literally everything else'
Pedro Pascal may have been brutally dispatched from The Last of Us, but at least he's, in the words of series co-creator Craig Mazin, "in literally everything else." "He did a thing. Everyone lost their s---, and then I had to do that same thing, because he did the thing, I loved doing the thing, I thought it was great," Mazin told Variety during Thursday's "A Night in the Writers' Room" event in Los Angeles. Though Mazin and co-creator Neil Druckmann were simply following the story set forth in the video game The Last of Us is based on, fans were still shocked by the death of Pascal's series lead Joel in the second episode of the second season. That shock has transformed for some into anger, which has given voice to ample criticism. "The big complaint that I've gotten is, 'Why did you kill Pedro Pascal?' And I keep explaining, we didn't kill him! He's a man, he's alive. He's fine. And he's in literally everything else. So I don't know what the problem is!" Mazin joked. Fans aren't the only ones still reeling from having to watch Joel die at the hands of Kaitlyn Dever's Abby. Pascal himself told Entertainment Weekly in April that he's in "active denial" about his own character's fate. "I realize this more and more as I get older, I find myself slipping into denial that anything is over. I know that I'm forever bonded to so many members of the experience and just have to see them under different circumstances, but never will under the circumstances of playing Joel on The Last of Us," Pascal said. "And, no, I don't spend a lot of time thinking about it because it makes me sad." The Chile-born actor's sister, Lux, also said in May that she "wanted to throw the iPad" when she got to the scene depicting Joel's death. Lux joked that it's "not the first time he's done it to me, it's not the second time he's done it to me. I think it's the fourth time he's done it to me. Because how many deaths has he had? Game of Thrones, Equalizer 2, The Last of Us — each is more violent than the other.... Seeing my brother die that way, I didn't like it at all." Some of the "everything else" Mazin referred to include Ari Aster's film Eddington (releasing July 18), which Pascal was recently seen in Cannes promoting at the seaside town's illustrious annual film festival. He can be seen Friday in theaters in Celine Song's Dakota Johnson and Chris Evans rom-com Materialists, and he also stars as Reed Richards in July 23 Marvel release The Fantastic Four: First Steps, a character he'll reprise for Avengers: Doomsday. Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly