PMP#70: RISKy Confessional Comedy w/ Kevin Allison

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Kevin was in the infamous sketch comedy group The State but has since channeled his energies into giving, curating, and coaching personal stories via his stage show and podcast RISK! He joins your hosts Mark, Erica, and Brian to discuss this idiosyncratic form: Do the stories have to be funny? Can you change things? What’s the relation to autobiographical, humorous essays a la David Sedaris? What might be too personal or actually indicating trauma to actually share on RISK? This seems like something anyone can do, so what’s the role of craft and story-telling history?

Listen to RISK at risk-show.com, and watch many stories on the RISK! YouTube channel. Also: kevinallison.net, thestorystudio.org, and @thekevinallison. Kevin’s story about prostituting himself is about 14 minutes into this episode. Hear Kevin on WTF! Listen to that audio guide Kevin mentions, “What Every RISK! Storyteller Should Know.” Read about the four lies of storytelling.

This episode includes bonus discussion you can access by supporting the podcast at patreon.com/prettymuchpop. This time, the hosts tell (or at least outline, in Mark’s case) their own RISKy stories, and the result is TOO PERSONAL for our public feed. This podcast is part of the Partially Examined Life podcast network and is curated by openculture.com.