Review: With warm humor, ‘The New One’ tackles the question of procreation

In “The New One,” which has transferred to Broadway after a sold-out run off-Broadway this past summer writer and comedian Mike Birbiglia improbably begins the evening by explaining that he has an unusually intimate relationship with furniture — his sofa “hugs” him. But after spending 80 minutes with Mike at the Cort Theatre, I no longer found it surprising that even an inanimate object offered affection. With a comedy style reminiscent of Steven Wright (though less cerebral), amiably nerdy Birbiglia finds surreal hilarity in the mundane and wins us over with humor that is neither malicious nor diminishing, along with insights that are moving but not mawkish.