If you ever see Mike Birbiglia walking down the street, you should go shake him, because he’s probably sleep-walking. Despite struggles with his sleep disorder, Birbiglia has quickly emerged as one of the funniest and most inspired comedians in recent years. After making a breakthrough appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman at age 24, Birbiglia wrote and produced an off-Broadway comedy show called Sleepwalk with Me. Most recently, he’s been working on a new book and touring across the country with Comedy Central Live. The Travesty recently spoke with Mike about success, parents, and how a unique life provides the best inspiration.

Texas Travesty: What would you consider to be your first big break into the world of comedy?

Mike Birbiglia: There’s been so many along the way. You think there’s going to be one big break, and then that one will happen, and you’re like, “Well, I’m still poor,” so I think I need some more breaks. Then you get another break, and you still need more. Probably the most memorable thing that I’ve ever done is doing Letterman when I was 24, because I really idolized Letterman my whole life, and to be on his show and to have him like my set was pretty mind-blowing for me.

TT: I read that you were voted “Funniest Person on Campus” at Georgetown University when you went to school there.

MB: Yeah, it was a contest, so that was actually the first time I ever did stand-up. I entered this contest and I won, so maybe it was just beginner’s luck. In fairness, it was not a hilarious school, but there’s some good people there. I worked with Nick Kroll, and he’s a very funny comedian and actor. He’s in that new show “The League”.

TT: So you didn’t count anything as a major success until you did Letterman after finishing school?

MB: Yeah, that was the point where it legitimized me to my parents, which I think is more important than anything, or at least it seems that way. It feels like you have to legitimize your existence when you explain yourself to your parents, and that was the point in which they stopped telling me not to be a comedian.

TT: Were your parents supportive of you making this career move, or were they more like, “No, you should go to law school”?

MB: Yeah, there was a lot of that. Certainly when I was in college there was a lot of that and also when I got out of college, for the first couple of years. My dad would say semi-supportive things like, “This comedy thing might parlay nicely into advertising,” and I told him, “No, this is it. This is the plan.” Yeah, it’s kind of hard. My dad’s a doctor, and he didn’t send his kid to college for four years to get a job making fun of him in front of strangers; that was not in the cards.

TT: Living in New York City, do you feel like a lot of your material comes from the city?

MB: I definitely think there is a pace to New York City that’s really fast, and I think it leads to a lot of productivity and a lot of writing. When I’m in California, for example, I never get any writing done. There are so many people, and that’s part of it, and there are so many different types of people living in a small space. New York is good for comedy, overall.

TT: Most people who have disorders tend to not talk about it much and keep it quiet. You, on the other hand, turned your particular situation (REM behavior disorder) into a big time production. What inspired you to go in this direction?

MB: It kind of evolved into that. It started off as this one-man play that I was writing about a guy and a girl who had been dating since college, and the guy mentions that he wants to break up, but he didn’t want to deal with it or confront it. The metaphor that ran through the play was that the character was sleepwalking, and it would kind of represent this sort of anxiety. And while I was writing this play, I had this incident where I jumped out of a second-story window in my sleep, from my own personal sleepwalking, and my director Seth Parrish told me, “I think that’s your play. I think that’s how you need to structure it.” So that’s what the play became about; the idea that you can avoid something for so long that it can kill you.

TT: It’s interesting to see how that idea evolved. I know that the play has seen a lot of critical success.

MB: Yeah, and we’re very fortunate for that. We were nervous to see what the critics would say, because you kind of live and die by the critics in New York, and luckily they were very positive. It was a great experience. What was great about it was the fact that it allowed me to stay in New York for eight months straight. I usually tour about 100 cities and towns a year, and for an eight-month span I was able to be in one city. It was good for my relationships and good for my personal life.

TT: I noticed that you poke fun at your brother Joe in some of your shows. Does he ever try to come up with ways to get back at you?

MB: I don’t think so…maybe in really subtle ways. Now I’m getting paranoid. No, Joe has always been extremely supportive and I make jokes about him, but we’re really close and he collaborates on a lot of writing with me. He’s a really great comedic writer; he’s the funny guy in the family. He’s always the class clown of the family. I write my ‘Secret Public Journal’ blog and I’ll email it to him, and then he’ll send me back some ideas and edits. Then I’ll take half of them and do a new version, and send it back to him, and so forth. That’s how I write my journals every week.

TT: You’re performing this Saturday at the Paramount Theatre here in Austin. Do you ever write jokes specific to the place you're performing?

MB: Not really. I always try to make my material as human as possible, so I don’t really have to adjust it that much. But I also try to improvise a little bit every show depending on what’s going on or where I am. I always like visiting Austin—I’ve been there probably four or five times over the years. I performed at SXSW at Emo’s. Eugene Mirman and I did a show there once. I always have a great time there. I find the people to be really smart there, and it’s always fun to visit.

TT: The Austin show is the last stop on your latest tour. What do you do usually when you’re off tour to kick back and relax in your free time?

MB: Well, I don’t have a ton of free time. I play a little bit of tennis, and I went to this adult tennis camp thing this summer. I play guitar a little bit as well, but I spend quite a lot of time writing. I see it as a privilege to be able to write. I’m working on a screenplay adaptation of “Sleepwalk with Me” and also a book with Simon and Schuster called “Sleepwalk with Me and Other Stories”. I’m kind of up to my neck in writing assignments right now.

TT: So no rest for the weary?

MB: Yeah, exactly. I feel like when you do what you love, you have to do it much more than what is comfortable, in order to keep up with everyone else who is doing what they love.

TT: What’s going to be in your latest book? Autobiographical stories?

MB: Yeah, it’s all autobiographical stories. The centerpiece of it will probably be some stories from the show, but the majority of the stories will just be kind of awkward childhood stories, and things like that. It’s been fun. I’ve actually had to force myself to sit down and think about it. I wake in the morning and go to Starbucks and I just say, “I’m going to spend the next four hours here and just type until I have nothing else in my brain.” What’s come out of it is a lot of stories that I say, “Wow, I forgot that even happened!” Overall, I end up finding stuff that I didn’t know was there. Actually, some of the stories I discovered in the book process I’m telling on stage. I have this story about going to a carnival when I was a kid with this girl I had a huge crush on, and I described my experience going on the Scrambler with her and the digestive insanity that ensues from eating popcorn, peanuts, and cotton candy and then going on a ride called the Scrambler. That was just a story I found writing the book, and now it’s one of my favorite stories in stand-up. The cool thing about coming back to Austin is coming back to town with a whole new show that people here haven’t seen before…I have a whole new thing and I’m excited about it.