Storytelling Time - The Moth

Last week I went with my date to Busby's on Wilshire to watch some story telling. The Moth is a storytelling circuit that has been around New York for over 10 years and is now branching out to other cities. The storytelling is completely amateur, and the event is a contest. Speakers are judged on the spot by audience members. It's a pretty low key event. Anyone can go up and tell a story as long as your name is one of the ten drawn out of the tote bag.

On the night I went, the theme for the stories was winter. Most of the speakers stuck to the theme, while others strayed and didn't adhere to it. Of the 10 storytellers, I think I enjoyed 4 of them. No one was completely awful and it takes some bravery to go up on stage and get judged.

In the end, a wrestler and his story of his first win took first prize. I like 2 other stories more than his, but whatever. I was entertained.

Edit: Call me Iran, because I made a mistake and totally forgot about the Israeli who won with a great story about taking his little brother to the pool in the winter. The wrestler did not win.

I really like the idea of storytelling competitions. It gets very personal, and it's a fun way to be entertained. The stories all had some comedy, some drama, and there were some awkwards moments as well.

The Moth events in Los Angeles have a weird schedule, so check their website for info. There are multiple venues and where the event takes place depends on the number of weeks in the month.