Good One Explores the Messy Process Behind Well-Crafted Comedy

In the days of “content” being valued over art, we can be so consumed by the cycle of constant output that we forget the lengthy process needed to craft something of real quality. Comedy is not exempt from this vicious circle; quick clips of bits on social media don’t reflect the hours, days, months, and even years required to perfect a joke.

Mike Birbiglia draws back the curtain back on this process in the new Peacock docu-special Good One: A Show About Jokes. The project is an adaptation of the Vulture podcast Good One: A Podcast About Jokes, which is hosted by the site’s senior editor Jesse David Fox. Talking heads, stand-up sets, conversations with friends, and talk show clips are stitched together to show the messy, involved work behind Birbiglia’s famously cohesive comedy.

Birbiglia is known for creating specials with strong overarching narratives and themes. Seeing the impressive final product—like his fantastic 2023 hour The Old Man and the Pool—can be so overwhelming and seemingly self-evident that we forget about the blood, sweat, and tears that went into it. On Good One, Birbiglia takes us behind the scenes as he workshops material in Providence, Rhode Island and Washington, D.C. in order to come up with a new hour following The Old Man and the Pool.

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The docu-special is fairly straightforward. Besides Birbiglia himself, we hear from his brother Joe (who was actually considered the funny one in the family), sister Gina, wife Jen Stein, school friends, and fellow comedians like Seth Meyers, Atsuko Okatsuka, and Hasan Minhaj. Most of the talking is done by Birbiglia, which makes sense considering the subject matter, but the brief moments with his old pals and siblings leave us wanting more input from these figures in Birbiglia’s life (as opposed to the comics, who mostly come across as sycophantic). They provide only a smattering of color here, and perhaps a more fully fleshed-out docu-special would allow them to really make a splash. However, given that this project is more about craft than Birbiglia’s background, I can’t fault the team behind Good One too much.

We watch the same jokes evolve over the course of the 45 minute docu-special as Birbiglia sorts through his piles of index cards like he’s completing some massive puzzle. Seeing how the comedy sausage is made is a vital demystifying process for non-entertainers. With Good One, we witness the effort that goes into creating something that seems so easy when delivered on stage, and thus can further appreciate the finished product. For longtime comedy fans, many of these revelations will feel fairly obvious, but to newcomers and Birbiglia devotees, there are genuine insights here.

Good One falls short when scenes of Birbiglia performing in front of audiences or chatting to his nearest and dearest are intercut with cheesy, unnecessary animation. For example, in one segment, Birbiglia’s influences (Richard Pryor, Steven Wright, Mitch Hedberg) are turned into a test tube of comedic DNA, which is redundant considering he’d just talked about the stand-ups who inspired him, and almost comes across as condescending. I understand wanting to mix up the format, but this method is ineffective.

Birbiglia offers up a vulnerable look into how he creates comedy on Good One, and while the docu-special can feel surface-level at times, it certainly makes us appreciate the labor and grit necessary to produce slick stand-up sets.

Good One: A Show About Jokes is now streaming on Peacock.

Clare Martin is a cemetery enthusiast and Paste’s assistant comedy editor. Go harass her on Twitter @theclaremartin.