The Moth Radio Hour

As I mentioned in closing last time, I’m going to be recording a story for The Moth Radio Hour on Monday, February 10th in front of a live audience. The broadcast date has not been set yet, but the public is welcome to purchase tickets to be a part of the audience for the recording in the Great Hall at Cooper Union. This particular Moth Radio Hour is focused on stories of near danger. The event is titled “Flirting with Disaster: Stories of Narrow Escapes.” The Emcee will be Peter Sagal from Wait Wait … Don’t Tell Me!, the NPR news quiz. On February 10th, I will be sharing an exciting story of near disaster along with four other storytellers. The recording event starts at 7:30pm, and tickets are already on sale. I would love to see some of you in the audience.

Peter Sagal, host of “Wait Wait … Don’t Tell Me!”

For those of you unfamiliar with The Moth Radio Hour, the Moth is a not-for-profit organization that focuses on storytelling, inviting both professional and novice storytellers to share exciting, extraordinary true-life events. Founded in 1997 by George Dawes Green, the Moth has hosted thousands of storytellers in dozens of cities across the country. Each event is centered on a single theme, and the evening’s storytellers approach and explore that theme from many different angles. Past storytellers have ranged from bestselling author and staff writer for The New Yorker Malcolm Gladwell to actress, comedian, former Saturday Night Live cast member and fellow Dartmouth graduate Rachel Dratch to civil rights leader and activist Reverend Al Sharpton.

For the event “Flirting with Disaster: Stories of Narrow Escapes,” I will be sharing an incident from my many years as Artistic Director of the Big Apple Circus, an incident that potentially threatened to close down the circus entirely.

The view from the podium of the Great Hall at Cooper Union

This Moth event is part of The Moth Mainstage program, the organization’s “flagship program” with events in both New York City and Los Angeles. I’m excited to be featured as one of the evening’s five luminaries, and I hope that some of you will come out to share the night with me. Remember, Monday, February 10th at 7:30pm at Cooper Union, tickets already available online.

And for any of you who can’t make it to the live event, when I find out the broadcast date I will let you all know!