Ira Glass

Arts & Entertainment

Ira Glass

Public Radio Host on His First Movie

Michael Lipkin | September 13, 2012 10:30 am

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What if you dreamt you were running for your life, chased by an animal or monster---and while you were having that nightmare, you were also running in real life, no longer in conscious control of your body? That's what happened to comedian Mike Birbiglia, who had a number of sleepwalking episodes. He's shared some of those experiences in a one-man show, on the "This American Life" radio program, and now, in the upcoming movie, Sleepwalk with Me. In the mostly autobiographical film, Birbiglia shares the stresses of road life as a novice stand-up comic, working through a difficult relationship -- and how all of that led to his dangerous sleepwalks.

The movie is co-written and co-produced by Ira Glass, host of "This American Life," who we spoke with last month. Though there have been thousands of dramatic "This American Life" stories, this is only the second to be adapted into a movie, and the first with Glass' direct involvement.

"It's a very relatable story. [Birbiglia's] a guy in his 20s who isn't sure what to do with his life and he's expressing his anxiety through these incredibly visual and increasingly spectacular sleepwalk scenes," Glass said. "It was surprising enough to be a movie."

The movie is playing now at the Music Box Theatre, and is available on demand on the IFC channel.

In honor of the movie's release, we've posted an inside look into the radio show we originally aired in 2002, when it was produced in Navy Pier: