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Buffalo is one of those places Ive always enjoyed visiting.
In general, those are the folks I encounter when Im on the road.
And I love being on the road.
I like meeting people from all over the country and performing shows.
I understand where the trope comes from, but in truth, Im not a coastal elite.
Often, actual coastal elites will say to me, It must be hard doing shows in the Midwest.
And I say, No, its easier.
The further you go into more remote locations, the more people seem to crave live comedy.
I was booked there by, I believe, the town of Seward.
If memory serves, I was pretty terrible and the crowd was pretty great.
Same with Fargo, North Dakota.
I once played at a bar called Bunkys in Ohio.
No, it was fun.
Ive performed in the center of all-night college walkathons and in the deli lines of cafeterias in the afternoon.
Hell gigs are part of the job.
But the location actually doesnt really matter.
People just want to watch comedy.
Your botched first kiss is their botched first kiss.
Your sleepwalking is their sleep apnea or whatever it is that keeps them up at night.
Stand-up comedy on TV can shrink the format.
It can feel like reheated pizza.
I stopped at a local pizzeria called Thompson and Bleecker and sat down at the communal table.
That was the moment I knew I had to drive home.
When the Venn diagram of Joe Rogan intersects with NPR, I know theres something of a national consensus.
Things are bad and are about to get worse.
I drove the four hours back to Brooklyn.
We postponed the Buffalo shows for what we thought was a shocking amount of time: four months.
My agent asked me to consider doing some virtual shows, to which I was completely resistant.
I remember my brother Joe and I laughing at the sheer idea of it.
Whats next, Zoom comedy?
Well, yes, actually.
Sam said to me, I actually get a lot out of it.
Thats when I decided I would try this at least once.
Then I decided to do more.
I started adding virtual crew members: a cinematographer, a sound technician, a director.
We added three more iPhones to give us new camera angles.
We lit my brother Joes Rhode Island office like a TV studio.
It became this strange hybrid stand-up comedy interactive talk show.
I want to laugh!
Those folks were unmuted by the hosts.
Were living in the science-fiction future we had imagined.
The clubs and bars and theaters and even laundromats and bowling alleys were closed.
Five continents and over 20 different countries were represented.
At very least, they need to laugh particularly when life is most burdensome and unwieldy.
Its the defibrillator that sends a shock to the heart to restore a normal rhythm.
Ive received more thank-you notes in the span of these last 11 months than Ive received in years.
Its probably not my best work; Im writing it on the fly.
But I enjoy it because I feel connected to people all over the country and all over the world.
Im not saying its ideal.
I mean, lets be honest.
Its a hell gig.
Mike Birbigliais a comedian, filmmaker, and the author ofSleepwalk With MeandThe New One.
