Comedian Mike Birbiglia comes to Beaver Creek

Mike Birbiglia combines the best of stand-up comedy with a screenwriter’s, and storyteller’s, sensibility, thanks to his education and experience.

He originally wanted to be a writer for “Late Night with Conan O’Brien,” but after asking writers during his internship there how to score the job, they pointed him toward standup and improv. So, he continued to practice his improv skills in college while studying screenwriting and playwriting.

After college, a gig working the door at an improv theater in Washington D.C., where he’d also briefly take the stage, paid him $40 a night. And that was enough to encourage him as a professional comedian.

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“Out of school, it was a more viable prospect than being a screenwriter. There are zero openings for that job, but I knew I could make a small living as a comedian, so I put in my 10,000 hours, driving my mom’s station wagon (and touring nationwide).”

The mileage he put on that station wagon eventually landed him on Broadway. His first solo show, which merged both screenwriting and comedy, launched in 2008 off-Broadway. Presented by Nathan Lane, “Sleepwalk With Me” garnered critical acclaim and led to more solo shows, which he’s also turned into films and books.

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“After three to five years of working on each show, you create a (plethora) of stories and jokes, and you’re left with a book full (of content),” he said.

For example, he has been working on his current show, “Please Stop the Ride,” for about a year and hopes to release a book in the next year or two and bring it to Broadway, like his last two shows. He currently has penned 70,000-80,000 words but can only fit about 10,000 words into his 90-minute solo shows.

“But you never know for sure until it’s done,” he said about the book and Broadway. “Shows have an arc to them. I did extended runs throughout the nation with ‘The New One’ to find out the contours and bends.”

He also elicits feedback from his wife, who’s a poet, his brother and friends like Ira Glass. In fact, it was a friend and fellow comedian who nudged him to spill his secrets on stage. That particular night, when he was in his 20s backstage, he offhandedly remarked: “The person I’m seeing is thinking about having kids, which is sad because we’re going to have to breakup.” His friend asked if he said that on stage, so he figured he’d try it.

“It was met with laughs. There’s a certain catharsis to telling people what you would think are secrets,” he said. “But the longer I do these shows, the more I realize that often, when you think you have a secret, people see it (before you reveal it).”

He has honed his skills on Broadway, where audiences listen more closely, as opposed to in clubs where comedians can get away with more.

“The takeaway was: People are focused on the words. They’re really listening. Theater is about a certain precision with every word because the audience is very scrupulous,” he said, adding he appreciates how theaters allow for more moments of silence and connection with audiences.

In “The New One,” now on Netflix and out as a book, the latter of which includes his wife’s poetry, he made fun of how people overzealously say, “If you had a child, you would see the world through a baby’s eyes.” He thought that was an “overwrought and tedious line,” until he had his own kid and now sees the world through her.

“You laugh at yourself for laughing at others,” he said.

While the Vilar Performing Arts Center recommends Wednesday’s show for mature audiences of 18 and older, Birbiglia said it’s appropriate for 12 and older.

“I don’t curse a lot, but I also don’t censor myself a lot,” he said. “It’s very funny, and it’s very fun. It’s a lot about the experience of having a child and realizing that with the more questions she asks, how little I really know. I thought I knew more, so it was a surprising realization at 45 years old.”

He looks forward to visiting Beaver Creek, since he skied here a couple times as a kid.

“I couldn’t recommend more highly taking your kids skiing,” he said. “It stays with you. I started when I was 3, and I can still do it. It’s a gift to give your kid.”