Mike Birbiglia has been making the rounds promoting his Worldwide Comedy Pizza Party Encore which he describes as being like “a live standup comedy show combined with the worst Zoom meeting except nobody gets fired.” And what he makes clear is that he is producing and broadcasting this show from the office he shares with his brother right here in Providence.
Go see for yourself in this segment from Thursday’s Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon where he shows off his four — count ’em four — cameras. And I believe that’s a What Cheer sign on the wall.
This week, Birbiglia is promoting local pizza joints and the Pizza Party participants are being invited to hold up the pizza box of their favorite local pizza place. For some reason, Birbiglia only had a piece of cardboard with “Pizza Marvin” written on it. I went this evening to check in with Pizza Marvin — clams, cocktails, ice cream — at the corner of Wickenden and Governor, and the joint was hopping. One busy man gave me a quick listen and said “Friday night? Not the best timing.” My response: “It’s Friday?”
So I had a bunch of questions for those guys, but they can wait. (RI Monthly wrote up Pizza Marvin when they opened last December.) Order ahead; they have a pick-up window on Governor Street.
I can’t even pretend to be objective on either of these topics: I love Mike Birbiglia and pizza equally.
Pizza Party runs 9pm, Friday, April 16 and 9pm, Saturday, April 17. Birbiglia indicated he wants to keep it going. It’s $25 a pop, but a portion of the proceeds goes to regional food banks — $65K so far.