Comedian Mike Birbiglia has spoken about how he was convinced he was being catfished when he was asked to star in Taylor Swift‘s video for ‘Anti-Hero’ – watch below.
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Swift shared the music video for ‘Anti-Hero’, the lead single from her new album ‘Midnights’, last month.
In the video we see Swift appear as a giant-sized version of herself at a dinner party, watch her own funeral as dreamt in the song lyrics (“I have this dream my daughter-in-law kills me for the money/ She thinks I left them in the will“), and worry about weight-gain in an angel-and-devil incarnation of her personalities.
Birbiglia stars as one of Swift’s heirs in the music video alongside John Early and Mary Elizabeth Ellis, dramatically fighting over her will at her funeral.
Appearing on The Late Show this week (November 8), Birbiglia told Stephen Colbert that being in the video was “just a fluke-y thing”. He went on to explain how he had a friend in common with Swift, producer Jack Antonoff, who Birbiglia said he met at Bonnaroo 15 years ago.
“It just so happened she was writing the music video the day that we happened to meet,” he said. “And we were having pizza with Jack and a bunch of folks and she thought, ‘Oh, you’. Apparently in her mind she thought this is the dystopic, nightmare version of what my son would be. And that’s my dream come true.”
Birbiglia told Colbert that he received a text from Swift shortly after the meeting and he initially thought he was being catfished.
He added: “I thought, ‘it’s either Taylor Swift… that would be cool,’ or it’s someone catfishing me who’s an excellent writer. Because she sent the script to the video, that’s wonderful and very funny… so I thought, ‘either way, sort of a win-win.’ And I go, ‘count me in… either Taylor Swift or catfish person!’”
Earlier this week, Swift released a limited-time download of ‘Anti Hero’ featuring her ‘Midnights‘ co-producer Antonoff. The release comes after a fan created a remix of the song that features a guest appearance from Nintendo mascot Mario – check it out here.
Swift previously said that ‘Anti Hero’ hears her delve deeper into her “insecurities” than ever before, describing it as a guided tour through “all the things I hate about myself”.
Meanwhile, last Friday (November 4) Swift added eight extra shows to her recently announced ‘The Eras Tour’ – see the new dates here and buy tickets here.