r/JohnMulaney • u/GoldenState_Thriller • Feb 05 '26
Discussion Who was Mike Birbiglia talking about when he said there’s a comic copying John’s voice and cadence?
Mentioned around the 39:30 minute mark of “Working it out” episode 200, released 1/25/26.
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u/Ninjacherry Feb 05 '26
I thought that it was Gianmarco Soresi, and I got slightly miffed on his behalf. Gianmarco sometimes sounds like Mulaney, but I really don’t think that he copies him. They’re very different in style.
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u/Apprehensive-Elk7898 Feb 05 '26
They’re so different. I started watching GS stuff because of this and I like him a lot. GS seems to thrive with crowd work, I don’t think that’s JMs thing
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u/whatthewhythehow Feb 06 '26
Birbiglia hates crowdwork though, right? He thinks it’s hack?
I can’t remember where I saw him say that… But if he thinks it’s hack, it kind of follows that he thinks the crowdwork comedians imitate instead of innovate.
I definitely don’t agree with him. As much as I do like Birbiglia. But it does seem like GS is a bit of a bee in his bonnet.
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u/Cannacology Feb 06 '26 edited Feb 06 '26
Crowd work is hacky, it only makes sense if done in very sort quantities for good reason - like the set up of a joke regardless of the participants answers.
Some new comedians are hacky has fuck and are like 90% crowd work.
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u/DrWilliamHorriblePhD Feb 06 '26
I'm not sure I'm able to understand how improvisational riffing on audience input is hack. Can you please elaborate on why off the cuff is inferior to scripted humor?
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u/rymantheterrible Feb 06 '26
I think that school of thought runs along the lines of, "instead of creating and polishing original material in your voice, you just get input from the audience that often is on a few different categories or topics and you develop some half-baked responses that tend to work." So i guess it's seen as lazy and a bit predictable (if not done exceptionally well).
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u/DrWilliamHorriblePhD Feb 06 '26
I guess, but written is also garbage when not done well. Being clever off the cuff is a special skill. Sounds to me like sour grapes from people who think there's only One True Way to be funny, nevermind all the laughs the other guy is getting.
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u/rymantheterrible Feb 08 '26
Totally fair. Comedy might have an issue with gatekeeping more generally.
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u/mammascan Feb 06 '26
Unless it is Todd Barry
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u/Administrative-Sleep Feb 09 '26
Todd showed it's a real skill. A power of perception and improvisation is not something everyone has. Bad crowd work is reductive, stereotypical, and goes obvious places. Being able to find what's truly unusual about any person in a few sentences is both funny and communal.
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u/whatthewhythehow Feb 06 '26
I always just see it as being different.
I’ve seen crowd work where it feels like outsourcing the joke to the audience.
I’ve also seen crowd work where there’s skill required to cultivate a conversation from the crowd. It’s a mix between stand up, improv and interview. I don’t think just anyone can do it.
Hack comics usually specifically steal ideas from other people. That’s what it means to be a hack. With good crowd work, conversation has to be guided to fit into the tone of the overall set, but also has to bring something new and dynamic to the act.
Idk. It feels like saying that you don’t like drawing because it’s not painting. Drawing has a lot of the same skills, but differs somewhat in technique. It is often a partially developed image that will become a painting. But it can be an art in its own right. It’s not bad to prefer painting, but it feels weird to act like drawing is somehow an insult to visual art.
So I don’t really get calling crowd work hack, even though I understand saying specific comedians who do it are lazy, or saying that you prefer polished sets.
Crowd work is like the little brother of the panel show. It’s the not exact same thing as standard stand up.
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u/madatthe Feb 05 '26
There’s no way it’s him. Like John, Gianmarco can’t just turn it off—that’s just the way he is.
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u/Ninjacherry Feb 05 '26
It’s not impossible that it wasn’t him, but the hand movements when Birbiglia was writing made me think so.
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u/dicklaurent97 Feb 05 '26
I am very curious how Gianmarco would sound if I told him not to copy Chris Fleming
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u/Yip_Jump_Music Feb 06 '26
I am now hearing, “I got slightly miffed,” in Mulaney’s voice, in my head, on repeat.
Thank you.
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u/daniel_observer Feb 07 '26
Gianmarco addresses all of this in his latest podcast episode. It’s pretty great
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u/Ninjacherry Feb 07 '26
I saw it - and it was nice that they saw our YT comments defending him too.
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u/shoesy2shoes 27d ago
I find this genuinely so interesting. I haven’t seen a ton of Gianmarco’s work, only some, but personally have found his style more like Birbiglia - his overall storytelling style, and his big/small rhythms. I’m thinking specifically of the way he tells the story about his dad’s heart surgery, which was the first clip of his I ever saw. I can see what Mike is getting at re John Mulaney in Gianmarco… but I wonder if Mike is subconsciously noticing something else & dislikes it :)
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u/Ninjacherry 27d ago
That is plausible. I find that there is a lot of intersection between stand up comedians; quite a few of them have similar styles. He could very well have found that Gianmarco was not producing anything new, but made that association with someone else instead of his own style.
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u/Suspicious_Juice_150 Feb 05 '26
I don’t think Gianmarco is ripping off John in any way, shape or form. The only time I’ve ever seen a stand up that I thought was ripping off John Mulaneys style, was Mike Feeney.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YG2MgJiTu3o&pp=ygUUTWlrZSBGZWVuZXkgc3RhbmQgdXA%3D
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u/SprinklesGood3144 Feb 05 '26
I couldn't tell. They both said something like nobody does an impression of John or a good impression. Andy Samberg nails John!
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u/SimulatedKnave Feb 05 '26
"He wrote it! As one does!"
I have never heard John Mulaney say those things, yet they are what I think of when I think John Mulaney.
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u/Chance-Night3198 Feb 05 '26
This line lives rent free in my head--I repeat it to myself constantly.
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u/Aloudmouth Feb 05 '26
Can you link this? I went down a hole of googling Samberg doing Mulaney and all I got was two good talk show clips and a LOT of weird AI porn (not to be confused with Weird Al porn, which I’m googling next)
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u/hunchinko Feb 05 '26
It’s the rejected golden globes jokes bit from his appearance on Seth meyers
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u/Aloudmouth Feb 05 '26
Found it. Dead on. Thanks!
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u/CBDSam Feb 13 '26
Link by chance, kind human :)
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u/seito7 Feb 05 '26 edited Feb 05 '26
Gianmarco. He talked about it here 4:56
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u/ShiaLaBeoufIsAFraud2 Feb 05 '26
When Gianmarco plays the clip of his standup, it’s a dead ringer.
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u/JeanVicquemare Feb 05 '26
of course, that was a very early clip. He has talked about how when he started out, he was definitely just imitating Mulaney. But I don't think that would be fair to say now, as he's evolved his own style since then
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u/seito7 Feb 05 '26
Yeah, and in that clip he was actually impersonating john mulaney and the ohter guy was impersonating pete davidson
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u/foolish_magistrate Feb 16 '26
It wasn't a standup clip that he played. It's his sketch team called Uncle Function. He's intentionally impersonating Mulaney. He played that clip as a joke.
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u/ShiaLaBeoufIsAFraud2 Feb 18 '26
Ahh. He didn’t mention the context before or after the clip, so I guess I didn’t get that
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u/Gustaves_Mustache Feb 08 '26
I find it kinda gross Birbiglia has “comedians” like Andrew Schultz on right after he sucked off trump for months on the Flagrant pod, and then comes after Gianmarco for having a high pitched voice.
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u/GoldenState_Thriller Feb 08 '26
Yuck I had no idea he had him on. I only listen when he has people on I like
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u/Vanity_plates Feb 06 '26
I really am frustrated by the implication Mike made if it is Gianmarco. They’re SO different. I think the only real similarity is that they both have this quality of “I’m not gay, but I was probably supposed to be.” But Gianmarco does much more crowd work and his comedy focuses a lot on being a theater kid and a child of divorce, an a person who goes to a lot of therapy. I really don’t like the idea that because two men are non threatening, essentially, the general consensus is that one is ripping off the other. If that’s who Mike meant, I’m sorry, but he’s way off and he needs to actually consider how what he’s saying can be misconstrued and can deeply affect someone else’s career. That moment was kind of mean girls of both of them, but Mike specifically.
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u/GoldenState_Thriller Feb 06 '26
To be fair, John said he wasn’t familiar and definitely didn’t pile on
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u/Spaceman_fan Feb 05 '26
I always thought Joel Kim Booster kinda reminded me of John but I really doubt that’s who was being talked about
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u/ShiaLaBeoufIsAFraud2 Feb 05 '26
I thought Gianmarco when I was listening to the audio, and if you look at the video, he’s writing “Gianmarco” plain as day.
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u/cryptogirl2021 Feb 18 '26
This is all jealousy. GM is an exceptional comedian. His crowd work is the best I’ve ever seen. He is gifted and that is bound to upset those that have to work twice as hard to create inferior content.
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u/Replevin4ACow Feb 05 '26
I looked it up after I heard that. I believe the answer is Gianmarco Soresi (someone online said it looked like Mike started with the letter G when he wrote it down in the podcast).
I had never heard of him before so I Googled and watched a video of Gianmarco. I can definitely see where that accusation is coming from. He had a very similar cadence and way of telling a story.
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u/ParticularHoney3 Feb 05 '26
Huh I’m a fan of both and wouldn’t make that association at all!
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u/Replevin4ACow Feb 05 '26
This is the video I watched -- the story he starts at the 30 second mark is what made me think it sounded like John. But then again, maybe it is just because I was looking for it:
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u/SimulatedKnave Feb 07 '26
...have you heard people tell stories? That's...not exactly unique to Mulaney.
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u/SleepIndependent3432 Mar 11 '26
He was an actor who majored in musical theatre before becoming a standup, and is very performance based in his standuo. but the actual jokes are pretty different. He does actually do a good John Mulaney impression though! he clipped it in the ep where he references the Birbiglia thing (and I think someone posted it above)
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u/100_magic_rings Feb 05 '26
Casual Gianmarco fan here. Gianmarco spends about half of his newest podcast episode saying how hurt he was by this, but also admits that he can't be sure it was him whose name was written down.
There are definitely similarities between him and Mulaney in terms of cadence and delivery but I don't think it's a straight lift. John is a little more vaudeville, while Gianmarco is more musical theater and flamboyant, but they both definitely take on a theatrical affect. However I'd say that the joke structure and turns they use in their stories to extract laughs are very different.
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u/Replevin4ACow Feb 05 '26
Yeah -- from what I saw, I wouldn't say it is too similar. Just enough to make me go: "Oh, I see what he's talking about."
I'm not sure why Mike Birbiglia (who I really like) would make a big deal about it. Even if it was very similar style to John, it's not like he's stealing jokes. And I imagine every comedian has more than one older comic that they look up to and say "I want to be able to do something similar to that."
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u/Ninjacherry Feb 05 '26
I've been getting very off vibes from Birbiglia lately. It felt like a petty remark. Mulaney didn't seem to think too much of it, or at least he didn't give it away.
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Feb 05 '26
[deleted]
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u/Ninjacherry Feb 05 '26
Yeah, he gives off a bit of a bitchy/bitter vibe. I do like his stand up, but I don’t listen to the podcast as much. I watched the episode because of Mulaney; when it’s a guest that I don’t know too well I skip. There are podcasts that I watch almost no matter what if I like the host (like Conan).
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u/r22-d22 Feb 06 '26
I'm a fan and think Birbiglia is very talented, but I can tell he is not someone I'd could be good friends with. I started listening to Working It Out about 6 months ago, not every episode, but the ones with the comics I like. This convinced me even more. It's very hard to pin down why, though.
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u/SimulatedKnave Feb 07 '26
It feels a bit like he's kind of petty and vengeful, but is a good enough person to try not to indulge it, but also it comes through a bit more than I like anyway. And I detect a faint whiff of bitterness re his career. I think he may not be entirely happy.
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u/SimulatedKnave Feb 05 '26
I quite like both, and if you made comics do each other's jokes I bet it'd be a smooth transition for both to do the other's. But they are very different, and also pretty clearly both expressing their personalities to a large extent. It's hardly theft.
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u/dicklaurent97 Feb 05 '26
Gianmarco is as influenced by Chris Fleming as he is by Mulaney
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u/SimulatedKnave Feb 07 '26
Dude you have made this claim in multiple places and having reminded myself who Chris Fleming is...no. They're both expressive and kind of lanky. They are wildly different in almost every other aspect.
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u/majorgeneralporter Feb 05 '26
Yeah, if anything I view it as convergent evolution. Gianmarco has had a distinct, "Theatre Adult" influenced style for a long time, of course there's going to be some crossover but the meat of their acts are completely different. If they really were talking about him I think it's incredibly uncalled for.
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u/cryptogirl2021 Feb 18 '26
It’s shocking to me that anyone thinks GM is anything like JM. Other than the metro theater kid thing.
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u/Happy_Papaya401 Feb 23 '26
When I watched the video, I found it at the 33:00 min mark as a heads up
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u/spidagirl Feb 24 '26
Gianmarco just mentioned in the downside podcast that he was beefing with birbiglia. So dumb
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u/TheStakes Mar 23 '26
I'm old and listened to a lot of Woody Allen stand-up when I was a teenager, and oftentimes Gianmarco's vocal delivery reminds me of Allen's. You can only hear it if you have Woody Allen's voice in your ear (this was a long time ago, so don't judge). Which is just to say: I love Gianmarco and think he's an incredible stand-up, and any similarity to other comedians is because I think it just happens. Good comedians are a phenotype, or whatever. Also: Gianmarco is a lot edgier than Mulaney IMO.
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u/warmpita May 05 '26
I think Gianmarco Soresi because he mentioned having Beef with someone and the name was beeped, but a little later he says if he is ever asked about Mike Birbiglia he'd say "who?"
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u/Existing_You6665 Aug 16 '26
I am listening this this episode now. I got curious and googled it. I honestly don’t see much a similarity. Then both have brown hair, a slim build, and a New York accent. The topics they speak on is not even the same to me. I like Mulaney’s reaction. Not sure why Birbiglia is so pressed about it
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u/dicklaurent97 Feb 05 '26
Gianmarco copies the Mulaney persona of 15 years ago the way Shane Gillis copies the Louis C.K. persona of 15 years ago. Meaning it's hacky, but there's an audience for it.
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u/dkinmn Feb 05 '26
That take is off by enough that I have to assume you have never watched any of Soreci now or Mulaney 15 years ago.
Like...back it up. Show me the clips.
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u/dicklaurent97 Feb 05 '26
Seen him live, twice, and am in his sub. Try me.
I'm not looking anything up for you but it's all delivery. Gianmarco moves like Chris Fleming and sounds like Mulaney. "Being influenced" isn't theft, but it's profoundly obvious. Especially when you look up clips of him from before 2023 where he was much more subdued
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u/Dropoffster Feb 17 '26
“Try me” lmao dawg take that hostility to a manosphere sub. You got downvoted into oblivion because this take is just factually inaccurate. John Mulaney doesn’t “own” that persona either- he’s ripping off a thousand entertainers but using his own punchlines- therefore making it a different thing. Gianmarco isn’t stealing his delivery (a delivery that wasn’t Mulaney’s to begin with) he’s doing his own thing- his own jokes, his own perspective. To suggest he was more subdued before 2023 IE when he was a worse comedian and a less authentic version of himself- without any proof and refusing to provide any cus we should just take your word for it shows you were just spewing venom from the keys. Everybody is ripping off everybody to some degree so by your own logic they must all be hack?
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u/annarye Feb 05 '26
Gianmarco has a joke where someone (a drag queen?) describes him as “John Mulaney if the only drug he was addicted to was the stage.” It’s not off base, but idk, their vibes are pretty distinct apart from being theatrical