Poor sound quality
by BZ on 4/29/24The Chicago Theatre - ChicagoThe sound quality was very poor in the loge seating area. Strong echo.
Venue
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Mike Birbiglia is a comedian, writer, director, and actor who has performed his award-winning solo shows worldwide--from the Sydney Opera House to the West End of London to Broadway. His five solo shows Sleepwalk With Me, My Girlfriend's Boyfriend, Thank God For Jokes, The New One, and The Old Man & The Pool enjoyed successful runs on and off Broadway and became hit Netflix comedy specials. The shows merge storytelling and comedy in a way that The New York Times has called "Birbiglian." Birbiglia also wrote, directed, and starred in the films Sleepwalk with Me and Don't Think Twice. As an actor, Birbiglia has appeared in the films Trainwreck, The Fault in Our Stars, Popstar, A Man Called Otto as well as TV roles in Orange Is the New Black and Billions. He hosts the podcast Mike Birbiglia's Working It Out.
The sound quality was very poor in the loge seating area. Strong echo.
Amazing show as expected! Did not disappoint. Love his sense of humor and how he combines/ ends it with words of wisdom.
Mike B never disappoints, and again provided a great show at the Chicago Theater, with a really fun opening act in Gary Simmons.
Show was great! Traveled from Detroit to Chicago just to see him! Gary(opening act) was really good, too!
The warmup act was mediocre at best. Mike started at 7:05 and we were walking out at 8:06. He was funny with some good belly laughs but about a 7 out of 10.
The folding chairs need to be spaced higher from the row on front. I spent half the show bobbing and weaving around the very tall men sitting in front of me. Also you need to put the address of the parking garage that is included in the ticket price for GPS. There is construction and half the roads closed to get to the garage and we would have appreciated the address.
The show may have started a little late because the lines were long and it wrapped around 2 blocks. We got into the theatre 15 minutes past the show start time because of it. The comedian, Mike B is a fantastic. Love his story telling and clean jokes. You will not be disappointed.
Paramount staff was great. Show was even better than expected. Mike is a special kind of comedian. Great stories. My jaws were sore after laughing so hard and smiling for 90 minutes. He didn’t resort to foul language like so many comedians do these days. Highly recommend seeing him to anyone who wants a good laugh.
Overall I probably only laughed at about 15% of his jokes. It seems like he was just trying out mostly new material so maybe in the future he will perform better than he did. I personally wouldn't go to another show of his, but if you've checked out his stuff and like his material, it's worth giving a shot.
I have been following and listening to Mike Birbiglia since early on in his career. He has always cracked me up and once again he didn’t disappoint. I couldn’t be a bigger fan.
We've seen Mile Birbiglia several times now and it is always a blast. His humor keeps you laughing during, and after the show. Highly recommend seeing him when you have the opportunity.
Mike B. presents a very good show. We thoroughly enjoyed his routine. The venue, however, was terrible. Universal knew that hundreds of people were coming in time for the show, yet they failed to provide adequate security screening. Only three of the ten stations were open. We were directed by security to a line. After waiting 20 minutes without progress, we were told that the line we were in was not being admitted. We had to go to another line. After speaking with two supervisors, all they said was "sorry."They refused to make appropriate accommodations for the people who were lied to. By the time we got through the security check point for Universal we had to race to the Hard Rock. Upon arriving at that door, we were put through security screening again. After arriving an hour prior to show time, we were late for the show. Once inside we had to sit on the most uncomfortable seats that were crammed together making it difficult to even move. A very bad experience indeed. We highly recommend the Mike B. show - but NEVER at the Hard Rock Universal.
Mike Birbiglia is a storyteller comedian, and if that is your style, there is none better. This is the fourth show of his that I have seen in person - out of six total. For his last show, "The Old Man and the Pool,"we saw a "working it out"version of the show in a small club in Orlando when it was just thoughts and jokes in a notebook. There was a theme but no narrative spine. We then saw the finished show on Broadway a couple years later and it was incredible. Everything was perfectly crafted, it built upon itself, and it was both hilarious and profoundly moving. We saw this show in March 2024, and it is still early in the development of "Please Stop the Ride."Mike shared during the performance that he works on shows for 3-4 years, and he mentioned on his "Working It Out"podcast that this show was still in the "try things and see what works"phase. It felt a bit further on than the small club show, which is good because this show was at the Hard Rock - definitely not a small club. But there isn't his signature well crafted through-line yet, though most of the prepared material was around a common theme. The 70 minutes also included a good bit of crowd work and ended with a story from "The Old Man and the Pool."I would imagine that stuff will become a smaller part of the performances as the main show comes together. All that to say, if you love Mike, you will be thoroughly entertained. If you are checking this out because you have seen one of his finished shows and are looking for the same experience, maybe wait and catch the tour in late 2024 or early 2025.
Just not sure if enduring the ridiculously long walk and fighting huge crowds to sit on folding chairs squeezed into an auditorium are worth it to see a really funny guy!
Though the event started 30 minutes late, Birbiglia and Gary Simons (opening act) were very good. The venue, not so much. This was my first time at Hard Rock Orlando and I was disappointed in the seating. They were simply chairs and, while comfortable enough, were crammed together. Leg room was fine, but we were sitting elbow to elbow. Sitting between 2 larger gentlemen, I had to sit somewhat sideways. Doubt I will go to this venue again.
Mike Birbiglia typically has a more subdued act online but this was a very unexpectedly lively night much to our surprise. Lots of fun and lots of laughs. Highly recommend catching him live.
Rescheduled the show a month very late to the original show date, and ticket resale was never opened, so I lost the cost of the tickets.
Hard Rock is great place to see comedy or concerts, I like the venue.
It was a great time. Mike was awesome, his warm up guy I think his name was Dave Simon was really enjoyable too.
The Venue is terrible. Having to enter thru Universal park and exit the same way took away from the enjoyment of the show. Mike was good , but slightly dis-jointed. Apparently this is where he tries out new material for his Broadway performances and TV specials. As a person who has lived in Brooklyn my wife and I totally appreciate the 'loss of heat' story, however it may not resonate as well with native Floridians.