Georgetown alum Mike Birbiglia (COL ’00), a stand-up comic, writer, actor and director, appeared in the second episode of Girls, titled “Vagina Panic,” which aired on Sunday. Girls, which premiered on HBO earlier this month, is a comedy about a group of twenty-something friends living in New York City.

The episode follows one of the characters, Hannah, during her job search. Birbiglia appears as a Brooklyn-born Syracuse graduate who interviews her for a position at his company. His character is awkward and clumsy, to say the least (“I like a bar where the median age is about 55.”).

Here is the transcript of the traitorous exchange:

Hannah: “Where did you go to school?”

Birbiglia: “Oh I just, I went to Syracuse.”

“I have so many friends who went there!”

“Yeah me too!”

“Haha, because you went there!” Awkward pause ensues.

Hannah proceeds to bomb the job interview by making a joke about incidences of date rape decreasing at Syracuse since Birbiglia’s character’s graduation.

Regardless … a Syracuse alum? Where are your priorities, Mr. Birbiglia?

The episode can be found on several websites that are likely implant a virus in your computer.

Photo: Google Images

In this week’s issue of the Voice, I had the chance to talk to quite a few former Georgetown comedians. Unfortunately, we didn’t have space for all of their quotes in the article, so here are a few of the extras:

Alison Becker (COL ’99) on the advantages of being a comedian at Georgetown:

“Because the comedy vibe at Georgetown was so under the radar of the administration, we did whatever we wanted. It was student-run, and that’s how comedy should be: without rules. And Georgetown gave me something that few other schools could have: the chance to create with genuinely intelligent people. You can’t be an idiot and be a good comedian. You have to play to the height of your intelligence. And I am thankful that my fellow improv players challenged me intellectually and comedically. “

Mike Birbiglia (COL ’00) on benefiting from Georgetown’s erudite culture and bureaucratic red-tape:

“The upside of Georgetown is that I was surrounded by people from all different fields. government, language, science. so in some ways, I feel like I benefited by osmosis, and it gave me a slightly more balanced view of the world.”

“When I was at Georgetown, I resented the administration and bureaucracy of the performing arts, but when I have distance from it I can see that they really have more of a long view and that yes, it was a struggle to get something up and running on campus but that actually there ought to be a struggle of some kind, because the struggle students will face when they leave Georgetown is far more arduous.”

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NSO staple Mike Birbiglia (COL ’00) is in the midst of a nationwide tour, and in anticipation of his Saturday night performance at Warner Theater in D.C. he had a chat with Washington Post readers earlier this week.

While many of the questions were about his comedic work, quite a few Washingtonians used the chat as a chance to discuss Birbiglia’s time at Georgetown.

One reader claimed to be the runner-up in the “Funniest Person at Georgetown” contest the year Birbiglia won, another asked about his “theory of bisexuality,” which he developed while taking a women’s studies class at Georgetown,  and someone else admitted her “friend” had a huge crush on him when they were in college together.

The best part of the chat, though, comes when a reader asks him for help controlling his fellow Hoyas’ urinary habits:

Washington, D.C.: Why are you so funny?

Also, can you get these Georgetown students to stop peeing on my front lawn?

Mike Birbiglia: I can’t vouch for those people. I never peed in anyone’s lawn while at GU, though I did once ride in a shopping cart.

…

Georgetown: We pee on everyone’s lawns.

Mike Birbiglia: Sounds like you do. Yes.

Remember Mike Birbiglia, the sort of-funny Georgetown alum and stand-up comedian who performs every year at NSO? Well, according to the Hollywood Reporter, CBS, home of lots of sort of-funny things, has greenlighted his sitcom for the fall. Called Mike Birbiglia’s Secret Public Journal, it will be based on, yes, Mr. Big’s “secret public journal”, which is actually just the name of his blog. A quick perusal of recent entries finds it a bit lacking; on the other hand, the pitch for Seinfeld probably didn’t sound much better than “a stand-up comedian who lives with his girlfriend in Brooklyn and struggles in his efforts to be a grown up, have a relationship and do the right things.” Here’s hoping they change the name to just Birbiglia, as in: “Hey man, what’d you do last night?” “Oh, y’know, just stayed home and watched Birbiglia”.

Only time will tell whether this show will meet with success to rival the critical acclaim of fellow Georgetown alum Mitch Hurwitz’s Arrested Development, or if, also like Arrested Development, it will be a commercial failure. Or maybe even both.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Birbigs