Comedian and storyteller Gabe Mollica’s one-person show, “Solo,” begins with the declaration that upon turning 30, he realized he had no friends. Wait. Was that true? Is it still true today? After taking his show to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2022, as well as Winnipeg, Dublin and Dallas, Mollica’s show has settled in for a second limited-engagement run at the SoHo Playhouse in New York City. Mollica joined me over Zoom to talk about what friendship means to him now, whether comedians have actual friends, the realities of the Edinburgh Fringe and the power of a critical review. Mollica also reflects on how his fandom of musical theater and Stephen Sondheim specifically resulted in a sincere correspondence with the late, great American composer, and whether the inspiration Mike Birbiglia’s shows have given Mollica might ever evolve into an actual friendship with him.
Click here for tickets for Gabe Mollica’s “Solo” at SoHo Playhouse in NYC.
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This transcript has been edited and condensed only slightly for your convenience.
Last things first, Gabe Mollica, congratulations on the extension of your SoHo Playhouse run of Solo, not a one-man show about Harrison Ford's Star Wars character.
Though we do have some merch that is a knockoff on that and I'm hoping the show gets big enough where we get sued. That would be very exciting. But thank you. I was just doing some show math, because I've been doing this show so much, and we're in week seven doing it Off-Broadway with a little interruption to do it in LA. And before that, it was Edinburgh Fringe, Winnipeg Fringe, 59e59 in the United States. So like it's been a lot of the show. I'm not sick of it, because it keeps changing, which is very exciting.
So speaking about changing, my question for you right off the bat is, as you've done this show Solo: A Show About Friendship, for at least a year now: How have your own ideas about friendship changed?
That's a really nice question. The reason it's nice is because it's one thing to talk about the show, and I'm happy to talk about the show, but to talk about my attitude about my own life I think is kind of even more interesting. Which is, my attitude has definitely shifted. I kind of put a label to this thing that I was struggling with, which is this idea of, I have these bros in my life. And there's certain limitations to the way that we communicate and our default setting of how we communicate. And I've been able to share that with people and other people have come up to me and talked in their life about feeling similarly. So 1) It's made me feel less alone about just like having the thought that oh, maybe I'm not as close with the bros as I'd like to be or as I could be or as I would ideally like it, and a year later, you know, my mother. A big part about the show is like my mom got sick, my friends didn't know what to do. And so I was like, Wait, do I not have any friends? And so first of all, my mom's doing a lot better. But in terms of relating to the friends in the group. We have gotten better. People in my friend group have brought up stuff to me that they would not have brought up before, I don't think. Personal things. They call on the phone every once in a while. I call the phone more one-on-one. And that's kind of my advice.
It’s funny, Sean. There are some people who are the friendship influencer types, where they're like, join a bowling league. Do bingo. I don't have that in me. I'm not here to be like, I'm an expert on friendship. I'm kind of just like, here's my life. I made some art about it. Maybe you can relate to it. Maybe not. Maybe he can discuss that. But I don't have advice, besides call your bros more often. Be intentional about the time you spend. Maybe bring up the thing that you are worried to bring up because you think they won't want to talk about it. Those are basic general tenants about how to be a better friend in your 30s, but I'm not the kind of guy that's like, yeah, if you join a choir, everything will work out. I don't know if that's true.
Although not that many people put on a show, basically challenges all of their acquaintances. Hey, I'd like friends. Tell me your actual truth, instead of just this small talk stuff. Then your acquaintances see your show and think, ‘Oh is he talking about me?’