Seriously funny

A trio of comics mine the dark side for laughs.

By Jane Borden

Mike Bribiglia

Photograph: Seth Olenick

Comedian Patrice Oneal isn’t laughing as he tells the story of his near-death experience due to diabetes; he sits alone on a dark stage. Diagnosed at age 22, he ignored medical advice and pushed his condition aside. He pauses before remembering the sage words from a girlfriend during sex—the words that finally drove him to go to the hospital and change his life: “Baby, your pee tastes like birthday cake.”

This fall, three veteran stand-ups leave their yuk-filled comedy-club sets behind for the serious, self-exploratory Off Broadway solo show—with thematic arcs and everything. Tom Shillue showcases Supernormal at Joe’s Pub September 7. Oneal’s Positivity debuts as part of the New York Comedy Festival in November. And Mike Birbiglia launches Sleepwalk with Me at the Bleecker Street Theatre November 11. Make no mistake, though: These pieces are all funny.

Tom Shillue

Photograph: Seth Olenick

Birbiglia, 30, peppers an intricately crafted monologue—about heartbreak, his father and one very disturbing sleep disorder—with the trademark witticisms that have already made him a commercial hit. Although the comic has released three albums, had three Comedy Central specials and national tours, he says, “I’ve never been involved in something as financially risky as doing a show Off Broadway. It’s a tough sell when you’re successful at something already to say, ‘No, I’m gonna do this other thing now.’ ” Happily, his crossover is coproduced by Nathan Lane, who contacted the comic after stumbling into a workshop of Sleepwalk at Carolines earlier this year.

Attaching a Broadway star to the show can’t stem the emotional risks, though. The airing of dirty laundry inherent in a serious work of autobiography can be terrifying to the kind of performer—e.g. a comedian—who thrives on affirmation. Oneal has never been afraid of alienating audiences. “You have to border on asshole, ’cause it splits the audience,” the 38-year-old says. “It creates an emotional charge between them.” His forceful performances have been a staple on the club circuit for 16 years and earned him three cable specials. Positivity, which he describes as “a preface to my jokes,” pulls back the screen of his act, which has been called racist, homophobic and misogynist. “I’ll do a joke and then clarify where the joke came from,” he says. Throughout the free-form piece, Oneal touches on his weight issues and on the pressures he felt from his black peers—he never learned to type in high school because it was considered “gay” or, the biggest insult, “white.”

Patrice Oneal

Photograph: Dandion.com

Shillue, on the other hand, strives to explain exactly how Caucasian he is. Supernormal, “a memoir on its feet,” as Shillue describes it, is the 42-year-old’s look at his conservative, Catholic, Massachusetts upbringing through the lens of classic storytelling. The tales—about sledding, the prom, Thanksgiving with the family—are charming, heartwarming and delivered with vivid details. Many carry a darker undercurrent; a piece about bringing a toy to scout camp becomes a metaphor for the inescapable cycle of masculine hostility.

The yarns, although laugh-out-loud funny, are a far cry from Shillue’s club act. But arty comedy isn’t new to Shillue. For eight years, he’s been leading a double life: telling tame, shiny jokes in mainstream clubs, on tours, specials and albums, and then sneaking to downtown rooms to share stories from his life. Supernormal is the first time he’s strung them into a cohesive whole, but the process began at Moonwork, a popular downtown showcase. “The same people would come back every month,” he recalls. “So I had to have new material. I just started talking about my family—and they liked it more than the stand-up! It’s so much more satisfying than getting a laugh off one finely crafted joke. But I think a lot of other comics feel the opposite.” Here’s hoping he’s wrong—at least until we get sick of all this emotional nakedness and beg comics to hide behind a string of zingers once again.

Shillue showcases Supernormal at Joe’s Pub Sept 7. Birbiglia’s Sleepwalk with Me starts previews at the Bleecker Street Theatre Oct 17. Oneal’s Positivity is at the Zipper Theater in November.

NEXT: Mock star Fancy a typical comedy festival? Go someplace else.»

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