Much like crabs, there are many ways to prepare the meal, but at the heart of it is dropping a living creature into boiling hot water. Standup and storytelling preparation is much the same. Read more

Last we left our heroes, they were introduced to the stage, decided what to do with the microphone and either talked the audience down from their applause or let the silence work its subtle, powerful magic. Not a word of the routine has been spoken. If all goes well, this is the apex of the crippling terror that you will feel. Read more

Much like babies and pizza, much of the difference between stand-up and storytelling is in the delivery. Some differences are subtle, such as cash or credit being the preferred method of payment; some are substantial, like the difference between 18 hours of indigestion and 18 years of financial and emotional responsibility over another human being. But unlike the delivery of pizza and babies, to which I have only been a spectator I have a decent amount of experience in the delivery of both stand-up and storytelling. Read more

I once read about an experiment (somebody else read it and told me about it) where five gorillas were placed in a metal cage with a cement platform in the middle of it. Above the platform were bananas. Any time one gorilla climbed the platform to get the bananas, the others were administered an electric shock. Soon, anytime a gorilla would head toward the platform to get a banana, the other gorillas would swoop in and give the offending gorilla a Cesar-style beatdown. Read more

Some high school friends and I began writing a book back in the mid-90s about casual humor called “We’re So Serious about Comedy, It Isn’t Funny.” We’re still waiting to hear back from some publishers. We had dissected all comedy into what we called The Four “C”s of Comedy. Those Four “C”s are content, context, timing and delivery. Read more

First off, I don’t fancy myself an expert in either standup or storytelling, so find a few grains of salt to go with this article. I do, however, fancy myself an expert in knowing and dissecting the difference between two things that I am approximately average in. Take that with your choice of spice. Read more

First of all, it should be noted that the Three Beer Rule ONLY applies to stage performances. The formulas for talking to pretty girls, dancing at weddings and religious conversations with ex-girlfriends and/or family members are much different and constantly in flux. Read more

Beer image courtesy Rodrigo Menezes, Wikimedia Commons

Have you ever had a credit card bill that was due at the end of the month?  And rather than logging on to get an idea of the damage you’ll be facing, you panic and just decide to ignore it?  Like, you literally sit down, launch your web browser and start typing in the URL for your credit card’s website, then delete it and just head to Facebook instead? Read more

When I signed up for this summer’s Capital Fringe in December, I was confident in my script for my solo-show “McGoddess.” After all, I had already performed it three times in the DMV and a full week with a director at a theatre in Ithaca, N.Y., so I knew that I had worked out all the kinks and it was perfection. Read more

I am continually amazed by how many adults–I’m talking about grown-ass people over the age of 30 here–say things to me like, “I don’t have any stories,” or, “I only have one good story.” Read more

We’re not evolved for performance storytelling. For most of human history, when you found yourself standing alone on a flat surface and a dozen expectant eyeballs on you, well, that’s usually when you could expect to be eaten or stoned to death. There’s a reason the stage can feel like a trap. How many audience members can you take out with that microphone stand? (No more than five or six, I figure, before the rest swarm you.) Read more

When I was asked to contribute on the topic of “stage fright,” I tried to put myself back in those shoes of waiting for my name to be announced right before hopping on stage to tell my story.

Then I vomited all over those shoes.

Oh, I can write on stage fright. Read more

This is the biggest thing successful storytellers have in common with seasoned baseball players: they understand that there is no crying while performing. Sure, you can tell a story that’s so compelling and touching that you make your audience members cry–that’s fine; in fact, more power to you, if that’s how you work it, bringing the emotionally-connective heat. Read more

Recently, Blog Bizatch and fellow storyteller Meredith Maslich posted an entry on the differences between performance storytelling and social storytelling.  I find the topic fascinating because a lot of times I actually discover my performance stories through social storytelling. Read more

If you come early enough to a Speakeasy show, you just may spot some of it: a man in a 3-piece suit talking to himself while pacing; a woman facing a back wall gesturing wildly to no one; or someone chanting, “red leather, yellow leather” over and over, in spite of the fact that there’s no leather anywhere nearby–red, yellow, or otherwise. Read more