The Moth

And hey, a good playlist doesn't hurt either.

Welcome to The Moth, I'm Suzanne Rust.

When your flight's been delayed for nine hours and counting, when you're stuck in traffic so hellish that not even the best podcast in the world can lift your spirits, when the TSA line is stretching fully out of the airport, it can feel like maybe going home for the holidays wasn't the best decision.

And though spending time with family and friends around the holiday can be stressful, there's a reason why people brave the awfulness that is holiday travel.

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Up next, we've got a story from Nina Livingstone, who told this at a Boston Story Slam.

Here's Nina, live at The Moth.

I had my first panic attack when I visited Russia as a teenager.

I certainly hope that as you move forward, you'll consider diving into storytelling.

I like to listen to the moth radio hour.

It's a public radio thing.

You can find them on YouTube, Moth Radio Hour.

It's sold at auction.

But as Troublemaker A writes, and Carol did a whole thing on The Moth, which is like this storytelling NPR thing.

And then she wrote about it, I think, badly for Glamour.

I've seen her raw copy.

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This is the Moth Radio Hour.

I'm your host, Kate Tellers.

In this show, our storytellers are taking us to work and giving us a behind-the-scenes look at life on the job.

As part of my job at the Moth, I lead workshops for companies who want to use storytelling to build teams and culture and better their communication.

Despite the context, even the most buttoned-up corporate spaces are staffed with human beings with hearts and minds.

This is how I ended up hearing about a creative lead's meet-cute on the L in Chicago, being wowed by a managing consultant whose grandfather was the inspiration for an iconic Sesame Street character, and spending a few hours with an operations manager who briefly ran away with the circus.

Work can be a grind, but if you're curious about the people around you, who knows what you might unlock? I'll introduce our first story by saying a sentence that never fails to blow my children's minds.

That's why I just got into comedy, storytelling.

I won the Moth a bunch.

Then I started writing.

Then I became a writer.

It wasn't until I told these stories that, And for the first, because I told these stories on stage sometimes, but you don't really get the same reaction.

You know, you're on stage.

You know, at the Moth, I won with one of these stories, some storytelling competition in New York.

And, you know, there's silence in the room, but people aren't sharing their stories at you.

No.

I mean... it's not even like like i can memorize a story and you know i do that on the moth but like you have to memorize like little lines right and it's like timing and it's like you have to be like you have to know to say oh i'm going in the kitchen like after the guy says this and then yeah it's just little yeah all over the place and there's like even though it's a play i have a bad back so i at one point i'm like crawling across the the living room which is a stage yeah

obviously

no but like ah that's physical comedy no but it's also like i can do that

You're booked and busy.

Wait.

Also, you're doing the moth again.

Yes.

Thank you so much for having me.

Welcome to The Moth.

I'm Ophira Eisenberg.

Getting up on stage to tell jokes is A strange profession.

Getting up on stage to tell a story, well...

That is also a very intense thing to do.

And I will say the Moth audience is usually a bit more generous than a random weekend comedy club.

The Moth loves to laugh.