Mike Birbiglia Reflects On Rejection From Hollywood: ‘I Felt So Hurt By The Experience’

By Shakiel Mahjouri. Published: 5 Dec 2019 4:20 PM

Mike Birbiglia says being rejected by Hollywood was one of the best and worst things that ever happened to him.

Birbiglia mirrored his showbiz experiences between Hollywood and New York when speaking to “Saturday Night Live” alum Kevin Nealon. The two chatted on Nealon’s “Hiking with Kevin” series.

“After being in the business since I graduated in 2000, I got a CBS pilot,” he shared. “It was based on my life, and I was a comedian and all this stuff. And then it didn’t get picked up. I went back home and I was so upset.”

“I felt so hurt by the experience – judged, rejected and all this stuff that people often feel in this town for good reasons,” Birbiglia continued. “My takeaway from it was, well I have this show ‘Sleepwalk With Me,’ which I love and I’m passionate about.”

So Birbiglia got to work, finding a way to put Hollywood level production into his own creation: “I put it up Off-Broadway and I convinced a producer that we should have this up.”

“It ran for eight months and Nathan Lane agreed to present it. It changed my whole life,” he concluded. “I’ve been in New York ever since doing these solo shows. It was honestly the best thing that ever happened to me.”