"In addition to his stand-up, Birbiglia has a role in upcoming film The Fault in Our Stars, based on the popular book by John Green. He is also a frequent contributor to NPR’s This American Life and wrote and directed a feature film, Sleepwalk with Me, based off his book and one-man show." — Eric Bricker

“In addition to his stand-up, Birbiglia has a role in upcoming film The Fault in Our Stars, based on the popular book by John Green. He is also a frequent contributor to NPR’s This American Life and wrote and directed a feature film, Sleepwalk with Me, based off his book and one-man show.” — Eric Bricker

Stand-up comedian, writer and actor Mike Birbiglia has traveled across the country for comedy before, but never quite like this. His ongoing Thank God for Jokes tour, which stops at the Modell Performing Arts Center in Baltimore tonight, has the comic traveling to 100 cities across the U.S.

“Which, by the way, most people don’t know that there are 100 cities in America,” Birbiglia said, laughing.

Returning to this state is still “nostalgic” for Birbiglia, whose first job in the comedy industry was “working the door at the Washington, D.C., Improv,” he said.

“The first two cities I was performing in were D.C. and Baltimore, and, I mean, it’s a great town and it’s got a good comedy scene,” Birbiglia said. “Many years ago — probably about five years ago — I opened for Jon Stewart at Merriweather Post Pavilion, which is actually the biggest show I’ve ever done. We performed in front of 10,000 people, which was a real career highlight. And then also over the years, I’ve opened for really neat people in Baltimore. Like at the Meyerhoff, I opened for Lewis Black and Mitch Hedberg and Dave Attell … So I have a lot of really positive memories from Baltimore.”

After years of serving as an opening act, Birbiglia has found success as a headliner. In addition to his stand-up, Birbiglia has a role in upcoming film The Fault in Our Stars, based on the popular book by John Green. He is also a frequent contributor to NPR’s This American Life and wrote and directed a feature film, Sleepwalk with Me, based off his book and one-man show. Birbiglia’s most recent one-man show, My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend, was recorded in 2013 and is available on Netflix.

Rather than resting on his laurels, Birbiglia is drawing from all of these experiences for Thank God for Jokes, he said.

“It’s story-based, but it’s not a single narrative,” he explained. “My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend and Sleepwalk With Me both begin and end in the same place, more or less. They’re telling a series of stories that add up to a single story, a single narrative. And Thank God for Jokes I came at with the approach of, like, I just want to take all the stuff I’ve learned from writing a book, directing a movie, you know, doing all these specials, and just go back to making the funniest show I can possibly make.

“You know, really try to blow the audience’s mind and just really have this communal experience.”

That sense of community is one of the reasons for the tour’s title, Birbiglia said. Because, at their best, “comedy shows are sort of almost a religious experience,” he said.

“I feel like the idea that you’re in a room with 1,000 or 1,500 people — you know, a bunch of strangers — and you’re all together, laughing at the same kind of bizarro thoughts and stories and relatable human experience, I feel like it’s kind of euphoric. And that was the incarnation of the whole thing,” he said.

And though Birbiglia’s tour is exhaustive, every stop has been “really exciting,” he said.

“It used to be that I would perform at bars under the title, like, ‘Comedy Night!’ And I would be one of three or four comedians on the bill. And there would be a lot of people who were like, ‘I don’t like this kind of comedy! Not me!’” Birbiglia said, chuckling. “And, you know, about three out of the hundred people in the audience would be like, ‘I like that guy. That guy’s my favorite.’”

“Over the years, essentially those three out of a hundred people have kind of stuck with me from every audience. And now that’s what every audience is; it’s like everybody’s there on purpose, everybody’s there because they want to be there and they like the kind of comedy that I do, and so it makes it very eventful, every show,” Birbiglia said.

“And it’s almost like this one big inside joke with the entire audience where everyone’s already on the same page, so I don’t need to spend 10 minutes convincing the audience upfront that I’m funny or that I’m worthy of being on the stage, basically. So it’s kind of like we can dive back into it like old friends,” he said.

“And it makes me feel like I really need to bring it every show,” Birbiglia said, citing musicians such as The National and Neil Young as inspirations. “Like, you really need to leave it all out there, you have to leave it on the floor and, you know, give yourself to the audience, to the point where when you walk offstage, it’s like you have nothing left.”