OK, occasionally Palladium Paul slips away from his desk and returns to doing some performing.
And I’m really excited about what I’m doing this Friday, June 8. I’m one of four storytellers chosen to share a revealing personal story for the RISK podcast, during a live show.
What’s Risk? Just one of the best storytelling sites in the world. Their weekly podcasts are downloaded more than 2 million times a month.
Here’s what they say:
RISK! is a live show and podcast where people tell true stories they never thought they’d dare to share in public, hosted by Kevin Allison of the legendary TV sketch comedy troupe, The State. The award-winning live show happens monthly in New York and Los Angeles and has featured people like Janeane Garofalo, Lisa Lampanelli, Kevin Nealon, Margaret Cho, Marc Maron, Sarah Silverman, Lili Taylor, Rachel Dratch, Andy Borowitz and more, dropping the act and showing a side of themselves we’ve never seen before.
There was a call for story submissions for the Tampa and Orlando live shows. From those, RISK picked four storytellers for each city. In Tampa that is Robert Reed, Lisa Kirchner, Jessica Pepper and Paul Wilborn (Palladium Paul). Stories promise to be hilarious, jaw-dropping and gut wrenching sometimes all in the same story. RISK host and creator, Kevin Allison, will be on stage with the local guests.
The Tampa show is at the Attic at Rock Brothers in Ybor City. That’s at 1510 E 8th Ave . Doors open at 8, with the live show at 9. Tickets are $20. For tickets, you can follow this link.
Kevin Allison, the founder and host of the podcast and live shows, talks a bit about where RISK started in this excerpt below:
Kevin Allison
Allison started his comedy career on the sketch series The State on MTV. But in 2009, everything changed. “I was doing a solo show out West, playing characters as usual,” he says. “Afterward, Michael Ian Black [also of The State] said, ‘I kept hoping you’d drop the act and tell some of your own stories.’ I said, ‘Yikes, that just seems so risky…’ But even as I said it, I could feel in my gut that that kind of risk could lead to the best stuff.”
The very next week, Kevin was on stage telling his own stories. “Suddenly, I was looking right into the eyes of audience members. We were reacting to each other, like friends. After the show, people didn’t just say, ‘That was funny,’ they said, ‘Thank you. That really got to me.’ I was finding the meaning in my own experiences and the people listening felt like they’d lived through these things with me. The more I worried I was taking a risk with a story – because it was too emotional, too provocative, or just too nuts – the more the audience lit up.”
In August of 2009, host Kevin and producer Michelle Walson started the live show RISK!, “where people tell true stories they never thought they’d dare to share in public,” at Arlene’s Grocery on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. It was an instant hit. Stories ran the gamut from the sacred to the profane, the hilarious to the horrific – and for the audience, it was a chance to reconnect with the things that make us human. It’s still just about the most cathartic, laugh-out-loud, anything-goes kind of smorgasbord you’re likely to see anywhere. The monthly RISK! live show, winner of an ECNY Award for Best Variety Show, now lives at The Bell House in Brooklyn and the Bootleg Theater in LA. RISK! also tours to sold out international crowds.
…And tours the U.S., including the Tampa stop this Friday night.
I hope to see you there so you can hear my very own RISKY true story.
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