NEW YORK—Few show titles better reflect their subject matter than Mike Birbiglia’s one-person effort, “Thank God for Jokes,” running at the Lynn Redgrave Theater through May 29. The self-deprecating comedian offers a gentle and pointed lesson on the importance of humor, while proving that the joke itself is not nearly as important as the circumstances in which it is presented.
For example, no one likes to be reminded by their boss that they were late to work, much less reprimanded for it in front of the entire office. Yet if someone “happens” to be talking about people who have a habit of being chronically late when, just at that point, latecomers come into the theater, and Birbiglia personally welcomes them before going off on a 15-minute riff on the subject—then it is funny. Hopefully even to those being singled out.
