The Nutshell True Story Hour

Johnny Taylor grew up with a mother with bipolar disorder with religious mania. That included bouts of serious delusions, which he first witnessed as a small child. It was often confusing, scary and strange. Without a doubt, it shaped the person he became as an adult.

He has been a comedian for many years, and leans into the storytelling style of comedy. But he’s rarely told the story about his mom on stage. It just never felt right for a comedy audience

But storytelling audiences are different! For our May 2026 Nutshell show (Cults, Crackpots and Swindlers), Johnny got real with our audience and told stories about his mom that he generally told off stage—ones where his mother was convinced that he was John the baptist, or that she was the real killer of Nicole Brown.

Though there still was some humor, it was dark, and an emotionally raw experience for him. After the story, we sat down with Johnny in his Roseville home to discuss the story. We learned a whole lot more about his mother, his siblings, the complexities of his family dynamics and how there’s enough for Johnny to make a 1-person show if he ever wants to.

The Nutshell Three:

Amy Bee

Keith Lowell Jensen

Aaron Carnes

Sound Engineer: Chris Reeves

Thank you to:

DJ Yuma Tripp for allowing us to use his song “Lazy Skank” for our episodes and our live show.

Hyperpixel for audio and video services.

Sofia Theatre for a beautiful stage to gather around.

Our photographer, Antonio Lovig.

Babalou and Suzon Lucore for watching over our event table and engaging with people in the best way possible.

We believe stories deserve to be heard and storytellers deserve to be paid, including the ones who make this podcast possible. If The Nutshell True Story Hour has ever made you laugh, cry, or feel a little less alone, consider becoming a paid subscriber. It's the most direct way to keep this going. And we are so grateful for every single person who does. xoxo, Amy

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit https://www.inanutshellstorytelling.com/subscribe

Keith Staten is a Sacramento lawyer turned storyteller. But before he ever got on stage (or presented a convincing case to a jury), he spent his days “sigging.” As a kid in Vallejo, he and his friends would sling insults back and forth, supposedly in fun, though it could also be mean and hurtful. If you wanted to keep hanging with this crew, you had to develop a thick skin and hone a sharp tongue. Which is exactly what Keith did, and it served him well as a lawyer years later.

But not everyone took to sigging. Rita, Keith’s sibling, stayed at Keith’s family home for a while. Because she had to walk home with Keith and his friends, she soon became deeply enmeshed in the game of sigging, whether she wanted to or not. And when his friends piled on Rita with insults about her weight, Keith felt it was in his best interest to join in.

Keith told this story at the In a Nutshell Storytelling “All You Can Eat” show. It was a powerful and blunt performance, and at times the audience was asked to confront their own biases and consider whether it’s good or bad to be toughened up by insults.

After the story, we talked to Keith at his lawyer’s office. We had a fascinating conversation, and he explained the context and shared some pieces of the story that had been intentionally left out.

The Nutshell Three:

Amy Bee

Keith Lowell Jensen

Aaron Carnes

Sound Engineer: Chris Reeves

Thank you to:

DJ Yuma Tripp for allowing us to use his song “Lazy Skank” for our episodes and our live show.

Hyperpixel for audio and video services.

Sofia Theatre for a beautiful stage to gather around.

Our photographer, Antonio Lovig.

Babalou and Suzon Lucore for watching over our event table and engaging with people in the best way possible.

We believe stories deserve to be heard and storytellers deserve to be paid, including the ones who make this podcast possible. If The Nutshell True Story Hour has ever made you laugh, cry, or feel a little less alone, consider becoming a paid subscriber. It's the most direct way to keep this going. And we are so grateful for every single person who does. xoxo, Amy

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit https://www.inanutshellstorytelling.com/subscribe

One day, Becky Lynn found herself on the other side of a long-term relationship, finally with enough distance and a healthy headspace to get back out there. It’d been a long time since she’d been on the dating scene, and much had changed. How does one even find “Mr. Right” nowadays? And did she even want a Mr. Right, something serious? She wasn’t totally sure. But then she DID meet Mr. Right, the perfect man, someone she might be able to build a fulfilling life with. So Becky jumped in, heart first.

Soon, something happened that made it clear Mr. Right was living a double life. Faced with the crushing reality that the man she loved had been lying to her, she weighed her options and came up with three solutions. At our live show, Becky tells the audience her three solutions, lets them choose which one she should’ve acted on, and ends her harrowing, emotional story without saying what she ultimately decided.

Fortunately, when we interviewed Becky for this podcast episode, she dishes on all the details, including her choices for dealing with a lying fool and why she handled it the way she did. It’s a fantastic conversation!

We also get updates on her love life. Spoiler alert: Things have gotten much better.

Becky has her feet firmly planted in the storytelling scene and the comedy world. For more info, go here.

The Nutshell Three:

Amy Bee

Keith Lowell Jensen

Aaron Carnes

Sound Engineer: Chris Reeves

Thank you to:

DJ Yuma Tripp for allowing us to use his song “Lazy Skank” for our episodes and our live show.

Hyperpixel for audio and video services.

Sofia Theatre for a beautiful stage to gather around.

Our photographer, Antonio Lovig.

Babalou and Suzon Lucore for watching over our event table and engaging with people in the best way possible.

We believe stories deserve to be heard and storytellers deserve to be paid, including the ones who make this podcast possible. If The Nutshell True Story Hour has ever made you laugh, cry, or feel a little less alone, consider becoming a paid subscriber. It's the most direct way to keep this going. And we are so grateful for every single person who does. xoxo, Amy

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit https://www.inanutshellstorytelling.com/subscribe

When Joe Klocek was a teenager, he realized he felt more strongly than others, especially lows. When he felt lows, they were really low. So low, he finally attempted suicide.

His parents were well-meaning, but they didn’t know what to do, and decided to have him committed. Maybe the instinct was right, but the mental institution provided very little actual care, and Joe felt like he was being held in prison, wasting his days watching Three’s Company reruns.

Since Joe was a minor, he didn’t have any agency to decide whether or not he had to be institutionalized and eventually went to court to get released.

The problem? His parents went to court too—to fight to keep him committed. What ensued was a battle for Joe’s freedom and sanity, possibly at the cost of his family.

Joe told this story at our February 2026 show, The People Who Made Us. He’d been wanting to tell this tale for years, but as a comedian, felt uncomfortable doing so. But he finally faced this piece of his past on our stage, and wow, was it moving. Our interview with him, a week later (At JP Frary’s house), was also a compelling emotional ride for Joe. We’re honored and appreciative he decided to share his story with us and our audience. And now we get to share it with you, too.

Joe is an iconic SF comedian, and you can check him out here.

The Nutshell Three:

Amy Bee

Keith Lowell Jensen

Aaron Carnes

Sound Engineer: Chris Reeves

Thank you to:

DJ Yuma Tripp for allowing us to use his song “Lazy Skank” for our episodes and our live show.

Hyperpixel for audio and video services.

Sofia Theatre for a beautiful stage to gather around.

Our photographer, Antonio Lovig.

Babalou and Suzon Lucore for watching over our event table and engaging with people in the best way possible.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit https://www.inanutshellstorytelling.com/subscribe

When JP Frary was sexually assaulted in his youth, no one in his family knew how to talk to him about it. They would get this look in their eyes that JP couldn’t quite identify. Was it worry? Pity? Accusation? With no one—including himself—having the words or the ability to process what had happened, JP began to spend long stretches alone, haunting the woods on the outskirts of his small hometown in Northern California. It seemed a reasonable outcome, or perhaps a foregone conclusion, he decided, that he had become a ghost.

During his time as a ghost, JP watched. He saw how the weather moved slowly, then suddenly, in the backwoods of his home. He saw the creek burble with motion and then puddle up like wannabe tide pools. He watched the trees. He watched the wildlife. And when his wanderings led him to the backyards and the manicured lawns and the sliding glass doors of families with mothers and fathers and sisters and brothers, well, he watched them, too.

Because JP was a ghost, and that’s what ghosts do.

We’re honored JP shared this story with us and on our stage. Listen to the story first, then hear JP talk with us about how difficult it was to put this particular story together.

The Nutshell Three:

Amy Bee

Keith Lowell Jensen

Aaron Carnes

Sound Engineer: Chris Reeves

Thank you to:

DJ Yuma Tripp for allowing us to use his song “Lazy Skank” for our episodes and our live show.

Hyperpixel for audio and video services.

Sofia Theatre for a beautiful stage to gather around.

Our photographer, Antonio Lovig.

Babalou and Suzon Lucore for watching over our event table and engaging with people in the best way possible.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit https://www.inanutshellstorytelling.com/subscribe

When Kathleen Taylor enlisted in the military as a young woman, she’d already lived a full life. Or so she believed. When they sent her to London, she saw herself as knowledgeable and worldly, someone who could adapt to any situation she was dropped into. But not only did her rigid ideas on style and “how to experience London” rub her colleagues the wrong way, but the only other woman in the military unit (Sue Ellen)—a very unworldly, uncultured person—was the one everyone wanted to hang out with.

As Kathleen found herself in unpretentious punk clubs surrounded by folks with no sense of shame, she learned a valuable lesson about herself. She may know a lot from books and a big brain, but she has no chill.

We sat down with Kathleen in her beautiful Sacramento home. She was a delight to talk with about her story; it was abundantly clear how different she is now from the person she was back then.

Aside from being a fantastic writer and storyteller, Kathleen is a professor, an Air Force veteran, and the founder of Veteran Women’s Voices, which supports women military veterans in California in developing the writing skills and confidence to express their unique experiences.

The Nutshell Three:

Amy Bee

Keith Lowell Jensen

Aaron Carnes

Sound Engineer: Chris Reeves

Thank you to:

DJ Yuma Tripp for allowing us to use his song “Lazy Skank” for our episodes and our live show.

Hyperpixel for audio and video services.

Sofia Theatre for a beautiful stage to gather around.

Our photographer, Antonio Lovig.

Babalou and Suzon Lucore for watching over our event table and engaging with people in the best way possible.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit https://www.inanutshellstorytelling.com/subscribe

Travel. Who doesn’t love a good trip. It can be be in a plane, train or automobile. As long as it gets you from point A to point B, and you experience some life in the process. Our theme last November was “Planes, Trains and Automobiles.” And while we intended that to give us a bounty of holiday stories. Sacramento-based storyteller John Aubert (host of Do Tell and Assistant Events Producer at Capital Storytelling) took the prompt quite literal. His story involved travel.

And while each of these forms of transportation were mentioned. It was the automobile that was the focus of his story. There’s nothing quite like hitting the road and making good miles. That was the trip John thought was was having, until he noticed a few peculiar details on his journey. Humiliation ensued.

After the story, we sat down with John at the Sofia Theater to learn why this story was so embarrassing for him to tell on stage. Isn’t pain where all the best stories come from?

The Nutshell True Story Hour is presented byIn a Nutshell Storytelling

The Nutshell Three:

Amy Bee

Keith Lowell Jensen

Aaron Carnes

Sound Engineer: Chris Reeves

Thank you to:

DJ Yuma Tripp for allowing us to use his song “Lazy Skank” for our episodes and our live show.

Hyperpixel for audio and video services.

Sofia Theatre for a beautiful stage to gather around.

Babalou and Suzon Lucore for watching over our event table and engaging with people in the best way possible.

YOU can also subscribe for true stories and backstage conversations from the In a Nutshell community.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit https://www.inanutshellstorytelling.com/subscribe

Storyteller/comedian DNA has done a lot of things in his career. He’s put on big comedy festivals in Santa Cruz, he’s done extensive journalistic pieces, and he’s even recently made a movie. But perhaps his strangest pursuit was running for Mayor of Chico…five times!

When DNA came to In a Nutshell last year to tell his story of running for mayor, the theme was “It’s a beautiful day.” The reason it was a beautiful day for DNA was that he didn’t run his campaign(s) like a normal politician. There were pranks, publicity stunts and jokes. “Nudes for Nader” was one of the most famous publicity stunts that emerged from all of this. Some of it was designed to comment on the foul nature of American politics.

So, when we talked to DNA (In Chico, of course), we got quite philosophical in our conversation. The sour state of politics, the dumbing down of American culture and the hopelessness that any of it will ever get better. It’s a fun listen! Plus, we find out if he still wants to be the mayor of Chico.

The Nutshell True Story Hour is presented byIn a Nutshell Storytelling

The Nutshell Three:

Amy Bee

Keith Lowell Jensen

Aaron Carnes

Sound Engineer: Chris Reeves

Thank you to:

DJ Yuma Tripp for allowing us to use his song “Lazy Skank” for our episodes and our live show.

Hyperpixel for audio and video services.

Sofia Theatre for a beautiful stage to gather around.

Babalou and Suzon Lucore for watching over our event table and engaging with people in the best way possible.

SHOUT OUT to Frances Southwick for becoming a paid subscriber and supporting live storytelling! You’re our ride or die, Frances!

YOU can also subscribe for true stories and backstage conversations from the In a Nutshell community.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit https://www.inanutshellstorytelling.com/subscribe

Anne Rutherford wasn’t booked on our show, In a Nutshell storytelling. But one of our storytellers got sick, and Anne—an audience member and professional storyteller—volunteered to replace her. Anne stole the show.

The theme that night was “Eureka,” and Anne immediately knew which story she wanted to tell. It involved love (of course), but more specifically, falling for the wrong person. Someone who didn’t seem to be all that interested in her, but she couldn’t stop thinking about him. It took a silent meditation retreat and witnessing the unusual behaviors of some roaming peacocks for Anne to say, “Eureka! This guy isn’t right for me!”

For this episode, we drove up to Anne’s beautiful house in Chico, CA, and discussed her story. We learned a bunch about other storytelling genres besides true and personal. Turns out, Anne does them all! In fact, one of her most popular characters, Clementine, made an appearance during the interview.

The Nutshell True Story Hour is presented byIn a Nutshell Storytelling

The Nutshell Three:

Amy Bee

Keith Lowell Jensen

Aaron Carnes

Sound Engineer: Chris Reeves

Thank you to:

DJ Yuma Tripp for allowing us to use his song “Lazy Skank” for our episodes and our live show.

Hyperpixel for audio and video services.

Sofia Theatre for a beautiful stage to gather around.

Babalou and Suzon Lucore for watching over our event table and engaging with people in the best way possible.

SHOUT OUT to Frances Southwick for becoming a paid subscriber and supporting live storytelling! You’re our ride or die, Frances!

YOU can also subscribe for true stories and backstage conversations from the In a Nutshell community.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit https://www.inanutshellstorytelling.com/subscribe

Sacramento firefighter Joe Hunter applied to be a contestant on Survivor as a way to cope with the grief of the loss of his sister, who was murdered in a case of domestic abuse. Joe, who loved his sister dearly, had fought with her the last time they’d spoken, and the regret was tearing him apart.

Joe’s therapist suggested he do something that his sister loved. She’d always wanted to be on Survivor, so he applied. And he made it on. He finished third in season 48 and was so loved that he was invited to the All-Star season 50, which is currently airing.

Last September, Joe told his story on the Nutshell stage, where he shared how being a Survivor contestant simultaneously healed him and messed with his sense of reality. In this episode of the Nutshell True Story Hour, we dig into all these topics even deeper. Joe is an absolutely delightful human and was extremely gracious with us.

This podcast is free for everyone, and it’s made possible by our paid subscribers. If you’d like to support stories like Joe’s, becoming a paid subscriber helps us keep going. xoxo, Amy

The Nutshell True Story Hour is presented byIn a Nutshell Storytelling

The Nutshell Three:

Amy Bee

Keith Lowell Jensen

Aaron Carnes

Sound Engineer: Chris Reeves

Thank you to:

DJ Yuma Tripp for allowing us to use his song “Lazy Skank” for our episodes and our live show.

Hyperpixel for audio and video services.

Sofia Theatre for a beautiful stage to gather around.

Babalou and Suzon Lucore for watching over our event table and engaging with people in the best way possible.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit https://www.inanutshellstorytelling.com/subscribe

A racist encounter in a restaurant bathroom pushes Kimberlli Joy to stop hiding her anger.

Last August, storyteller Kimberlli Joy performed on our show with the theme, “Bullies.” Kim and her sister Karla grew up in Boston, and one night, feeling fine and looking good, they headed out for an evening at Wally’s, a famous jazz club, and stopped at a fancy restaurant along the way. There, after a delicious meal and some strategic conversation to get other patrons wondering, are these two young ladies famous?, they excused themselves to use the bathroom, and that’s when a self-important businessman decided to spew some racist s**t.

This wasn’t Kim’s first experience dealing with white people resorting to racial epithets at the drop of a hat; she had grown up in Boston, after all, and she had been schooled her whole life on how to deal with such things. And being a young Black woman, the pressure to at all times make sure no one—no one!—would ever perceive her as angry was ingrained in her like a second skin. Kim was well-versed in turning the other cheek.

But not this night. Cheeks were no longer being turned. Kim was going to stand up for herself and her sister, perceptions be damned. Weren’t those perceptions built to keep her down, anyway? No more.

It’s an experience that she and her sister now look back on fondly. And when we interviewed Kim about the story, she told us, “I like that person,” referring to herself. We all do!

Kimberlli can be seen and heard across multiple stages and is here on Substack. She is currently working on a solo show. Let’s all go support her!

The Nutshell True Story Hour is presented byIn a Nutshell Storytelling

The Nutshell Three:

Amy Bee

Keith Lowell Jensen

Aaron Carnes

Sound Engineer: Chris Reeves

Thank you to:

DJ Yuma Tripp for allowing us to use his song “Lazy Skank” for our episodes and our live show.

Hyperpixel for audio and video services.

Sofia Theatre for a beautiful stage to gather around.

Babalou and Suzon Lucore for watching over our event table and engaging with people in the best way possible.

If you enjoy these stories, consider becoming a paid subscriber. Your support helps us pay storytellers, our sound engineer, ourselves, and keeps us sharing true stories with everyone.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit https://www.inanutshellstorytelling.com/subscribe

Hello, our lovely story friends!

This is our first episode of the Nutshell True Story Hour!

It’s kind of like our previous podcast Prompt, but better, more refined (read: sound engineer, ooh-la-la), and destined to be your favorite podcast of all time.

Every episode, we share with you one of our favorite stories told live at our show, In a Nutshell Storytelling, followed by a conversation with the storyteller about how that story came to be.

For our first episode, we bring you Bay Area storytelling celebrity Corey Rosen, who, for our theme “Bullies,” shared a funny, insightful story about losing his cool one day while driving his kids to school. Anyone who has had to drop their kids off knows the situation is already rife with potential miscommunication, frazzled nerves, and entitled, impatient parents ready to point fingers at anyone except themselves. Throw in a guy just trying to get 14 meaningful minutes with his kids (and yeah, maybe Corey has a touch of the instigator in him), and, well, yep. Someone’s gonna get punched in the face.

Like most well-told stories, Corey’s doesn’t give us an obvious good guy or bad guy. Instead, he presents us with imperfect people reacting in their own imperfect ways. And when Corey sat down with us later, he gained a fresh perspective on a story he’s told many times before.

Corey Rosen is the host of The Moth Storyslam in Berkeley, CA, as well as Simply Said in Larkspur. He is also the author of Your Story, Well Told & A Story for Everything.

The Nutshell Story Hour is presented byIn a Nutshell Storytelling

The Nutshell Three:

Amy Bee

Keith Lowell Jensen

Aaron Carnes

Sound Engineer: Chris Reeves

Thank you to:

DJ Yuma Tripp for allowing us to use his song “Lazy Skank” for our episodes and our live show.

Hyperpixel for audio and video services.

Sofia Theatre for a beautiful stage to gather around.

Babalou for watching over our event table and engaging with people in the best way possible.

If you’re enjoying The Nutshell True Story Hour, one of the best ways to support it is by becoming a paid subscriber.

Your support helps us pay storytellers, pay our sound engineer (ooh-la-la indeed), keep live shows going, and continue sharing these stories freely with the world.

We believe true stories should be accessible and paid subscribers make that possible. Thank you for being here.

Our paid subscribers make this podcast possible! Ed Lewis, Holly James, Kathleen Taylor, Kevin Woodruff, Ashley Berenstein, Lori B, John McAvoy, Jolene Lavine, Abigail Hoiland (Thanks, RIDE or DIE!), Wendy Jordan

(And yes, I read every single comment and message. Come say hi! xoxo, Amy)

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit https://www.inanutshellstorytelling.com/subscribe

Diane Amos brought down the house at our July 2025 show, themed “Soundtracks,” with a story about a single day containing the full spectrum of emotion, from celebration to loss and everything in between (even a little bit of spice and celebrity show up on this day of days). It’s a day that’s such a whiplash of a rollercoaster ride that all Diane can really do is throw her hands into the air, sing a little song, and marvel at how life can be so beautiful, so terrible, so unexpected, so precious.

Enjoy her story, then join us in our conversation with Diane, who shared details on her life as the queen of Pine-Sol and offered candid insights into her world of improv, comedy, acting, performance, and, of course, storytelling. Visit her website, and if you get a chance to see Diane live, take it! (Ahem, she will be back on our stage this July, so you know what to do.)You will not be disappointed. Meanwhile, this live audio recording of Diane’s big, beautiful day should hold you over until then.

This is our last episode of season one of our podcast, and after today, our podcast will be known as The Nutshell True Story Hour (we were getting buried under a bunch of AI content with the name “Prompt”). Our patron saint of “Yay!” Aaron Carnes is going to take over as the main host and let Amy and Kieth do what they do best, which is, well, let’s be nice here and call it “add flavor.” Aaron is the accomplished podcaster of the Nutshell Three, after all, and we want you to get to know him the same way you get to know Keith on stage and me, Amy, here. And don’t believe Keith (HI, KEITH!), Aaron DEFINITELY has the best podcaster voice. We’re so lucky to have him in so many ways. Ask him sometime what it’s like to have one easily distracted loudmouth and one hyper-fixated loudmouth following him around all the time . . . the dude deserves a medal!

Okay, humans! Enjoy the episode, enjoy Diane Amos, tell us what you think (I read and respond to all comments!), and until we see you again, keep telling each other your stories.

xoxo, Amy

Prompt: is presented byIn a Nutshell Storytelling

Hostest: Amy Bee

Mostest: Keith Lowell Jensen

Producer: Aaron Carnes

Sound Engineer: Chris Reeves

Thank you to:

DJ Yuma Tripp for allowing us to use his song “Lazy Skank” for our episodes and our live show.

Hyperpixel for audio and video services.

Sofia Theatre for a beautiful stage to gather around.

Babalou for watching over our event table and engaging with people in the best way possible.

Prompt is free to listen to!

If you’d like to support the podcast, live storytelling, and the work we’re building around it, becoming a paid subscriber helps make that possible.

Thanks for listening and being here💜 xoxo, Amy

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit https://www.inanutshellstorytelling.com/subscribe

Prompt time, baby!

And this time around, it’s a doozy! We sat down with Claire Hennessy, the fiery Brit who told a wonderfully cheeky tale about meeting up in midlife with a man she briefly (but passionately) dated as a teenager. Claire hilariously nails down all the complications and insecurities of being in a body that has lived a life and seen its share of adventures. Her story ends with a “happily ever after,” as being brave, taking chances, and putting yourself out there despite life’s lumps and bumps often leads to real opportunity and real fulfillment. Her storytelling style is fearless, candid, and incredibly relatable. And our conversation with her was pretty much the same.

Claire is the co-creator of Six Feet Apart Productions, whose online storytelling shows have been getting rave reviews and grabbing audiences in the Bay Area and around the world since they launched during COVID. They now have a live show called The Story Shuffle, featuring all-genre storytelling, from true stories to folk tales.

Prompt: is presented byIn a Nutshell Storytelling

Hostest: Amy Bee

Mostest: Keith Lowell Jensen

Producer: Aaron Carnes

Sound Engineer: Chris Reeves

Thank you to:

DJ Yuma Tripp for allowing us to use his song “Lazy Skank” for our episodes and our live show.

Hyperpixel for audio and video services.

Sofia Theatre for a beautiful stage to gather around.

Babalou for watching over our event table and engaging with people in the best way possible.

Prompt is free to listen to!

If you’d like to support the podcast, live storytelling, and the work we’re building around it, becoming a paid subscriber helps make that possible.

Thanks for listening and being here💜 xoxo, Amy

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit https://www.inanutshellstorytelling.com/subscribe

Prompt is back! This week, our story comes from comedian/storyteller/one-half of Pretty Good Stories, Beau Ryder Davis. This is a special one because it was the first story told at the very first Nutshell show back in January 2025. Beau is a quick-witted storyteller who is keenly tuned in to the audience, inserting lightning-fast jokes and quips without losing sight of the story.

Beau grew up in Hazard, Kentucky (current population: approx. 5,000), and recognized at an early age that he was different from the manly men who made up most of his family. Young Beau was oddly comfortable in his skin, though, and his family consistently supported him, even though they were fond to note he was a whimsical child. Beau uses his story of a bat being found trapped in the family home to explore his identity and his relationship with his father.

Beau created Pretty Good Stories with Tom Darci. He’ll be performing at our March 27 show, themed: All You Can Eat. Tickets are available at The Sofia box office (916) 443-0394.

Prompt: is presented byIn a Nutshell Storytelling

Hostest: Amy Bee

Mostest: Keith Lowell Jensen

Producer: Aaron Carnes

Sound Engineer: Chris Reeves

Thank you to:

DJ Yuma Tripp for allowing us to use his song “Lazy Skank” for our episodes and our live show.

Hyperpixel for audio and video services.

Sofia Theatre for a beautiful stage to gather around.

Babalou for watching over our event table and engaging with people in the best way possible.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit https://www.inanutshellstorytelling.com/subscribe

Our guest for Episode 8 of Prompt is me, Amy Bee! Keith and Aaron were gracious enough to let me tell a story—my first real time on a real stage—at our March Nutshell show. I told a story about being around ten years old and trying to fit in with my local Girl Scout troop, doing an okay job at it, until cookie season arrived and everything quickly fell apart. The tale is bittersweet and deals with that keen need we all have to belong somewhere—anywhere—and what lengths we’re willing to go to in order to do so.

The recording is also a personal documentary of my own revisiting of an experience I’ve historically conveyed as quirky but embarrassing, that through the act of turning it into an oral story, I was able to find compassion for the kid who, okay yeah, was a misfit and didn’t always make the best decisions, but was doing her best with what she had. I hope you enjoy the story and the interview. Please message or comment or email me with your thoughts—I’d LOVE to hear them!

(I didn’t have any photos of me in the Girl Scouts, so these photos are around the age I think I was. A LOT happened during this time period! But those are other stories for other times.)

Want to know more? Amy Bee writes about facing her social anxiety and stage fright at This Might Go Terribly. Check it out and let her know she’s not alone in this big, big world.

Prompt: is presented byIn a Nutshell Storytelling

Hostus: Amy Bee

Mostus: Keith Lowell Jensen

Producer: Aaron Carnes

Thank you to:

DJ Yuma Tripp for allowing us to use his song “Lazy Skank” for our episodes and our live show.

Hyperpixel for audio and video services.

Sofia Theatre for a beautiful stage to gather around.

Babalou for watching over our event table and engaging with people in the best way possible.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit https://www.inanutshellstorytelling.com/subscribe

This week, we’re talking to comedic storyteller Keith Lowell Jensen, who is not only the mostus to my hostus here at Prompt and the ringmaster of our main shows at In a Nutshell Storytelling, but he’s also a great friend and the only person I’d ever trust to take care of my dog Maxi if I died.

Keith shared a story at our February Nutshell about visiting Ukraine during wartime with his stepfather-in-law. In the story, Keith examines the eeriness of being a tourist in a city where everyday life is mixed with the sounds of air raid sirens and shuttered stained-glass church windows. Signs and artifacts of war were found throughout the cities he visited, sometimes subtly, like the lack of international tourists, and other times quite clearly, such as a dungeon restaurant decorated with a theme of the ongoing war.

Keith’s story highlights Ukraine’s resilience as a nation in the face of invasion, while also illustrating the personal helplessness individuals experience once the war machine starts churning. In doing so, Keith captures the universal feeling of powerlessness we all encounter at different times in our lives, as well as the sense of unfairness or injustice many of us are feeling right now.

Keith has a Substack you can check out, as well as many comedy specials online. Let’s help him get his latest—What I Was Arrested For—to 300k views! You can also see him monthly at In a Nutshell Storytelling and WILDCARD in Sacramento.

Prompt: is presented byIn a Nutshell Storytelling

Hostus: Amy Bee

Mostus: Keith Lowell Jensen

Producer: Aaron Carnes

Thank you to:

DJ Yuma Tripp for allowing us to use his song “Lazy Skank” for our episodes and our live show.

Hyperpixel for audio and video services.

Sofia Theatre for a beautiful stage to gather around.

Babalou for watching over our event table and engaging with people in the best way possible.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit https://www.inanutshellstorytelling.com/subscribe

Our story this episode comes from Regina Stoops, a comedian, storyteller, developmental disabilities advocate, and half of Six Feet Apart Productions. Her story was a vulnerable account describing the devastation and rejection she felt when she found out her toddler had Autism, and how another son’s brush with death moved her from rejection to acceptance in an instant. It was a tale that resonated deeply with many parents in our audience, who related to Regina’s concern for her children, but it also struck a chord with others of us, not only those who have had to learn to accept their own diagnoses and neurodivergences, but also everyone who has experienced the real and universal disappointment when things don’t turn out as expected.

Regina’s story is full of grace and wit; she shared her experience honestly, without pretending her emotions or reactions were anything other than what they were, and her willingness to be open with herself—and us—allows everyone a poignant glimpse of how freeing and relieving acceptance can be. Maybe acceptance is always present, waiting to be recognized, if we’re willing to look.

Visit Regina’sblog and find out where to watch her perform.

Regina is a co-creator of Six Feet Apart Productions, a platform where you can listen to and tell your own stories.

Prompt: is presented byIn a Nutshell Storytelling

Hostest: Amy Bee

Mostest: Keith Lowell Jensen

Producer: Aaron Carnes

Thank you to:

DJ Yuma Tripp for allowing us to use his song “Lazy Skank” for our episodes and our live show.

Hyperpixel for audio and video services.

Sofia Theatre for a beautiful stage to gather around.

Babalou for watching over our event table and engaging with people in the best way possible.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit https://www.inanutshellstorytelling.com/subscribe

Today, we’re sharing a story performed by Karin Babbitt, a comedian, teacher, writer, performer, and the child of an Auschwitz survivor. All of these identifiers have played an essential role in shaping Karin’s storytelling style, which she might describe the same way she did her college thesis to us: as a deliberate and balanced mix of horror and humor. This ability to blend the terrible with the beautiful is Karin’s most valuable survival tool, and she uses it quickly and cleverly to process those things, in one form or another, that we all must confront to make life livable.

It’s a lot to navigate—how to survive a survivor. How can one honor the story that needs to be told and remembered without letting it consume one’s own story and sense of self?

Karin’s story unfolds like two vignettes clashing and grinding against each other to create a snapshot of life as a child in the Hollywood Hills with a mother and a culture at odds with everything else. Our conversation has the same feel—perspectives, cultures, and identities all at odds, trying to understand themselves and each other. Throughout the entire episode, there is an undeniable sense of burden and pressure, with no easy place to set them down.

Karin’s a skilled storyteller and a great conversationalist. She openly shared with us her unique circumstances within the world and how the blessings/burdens garnered from those circumstances have continued to dominate most aspects of her life. Her story is messy, painful, convoluted, preoccupied, theatrical, and unfinished, and yet somehow she has distilled it down to a powerful and polished performance.

It is also, above all else, beautifully, wonderously, achingly hers.

We’re so glad she shared it with us.

Check out Karin’s website and give her some love! She has a new album available there called Not In a Cult.

A semi-curated list of items, subjects, and places mentioned in Karin’s interview:

The Holocaust

Auschwitz Concentration Camp

Hollywood Hills

Judaism (earliest monotheistic religion)

Bat Mitzvah (A coming-of-age ritual in Judaism for females)

Matzah brei (Yiddish for "fried matzo")

Canter’s Deli

Bonomo (sp) Italy (?)

The Appell (torturous roll call)

Max & Morris (aka Max and Moritz by Wilhelm Busch)

The Katzenjammer Kids (American comic strip created by Rudolph Dirks)

Struwwelpeter (Book by Heinrich Hoffmann)

Baroque Era

Josef Mengele (the "Angel of Death," Nazi German officer)

Alice Miller (Book: For Your Own Good: Hidden Cruelty in Child-Rearing and the Roots of Violence)

Dina Babbitt (Karin’s mom’s Wiki page)

Konstantin Stanislavski (famous theatre practitioner)

Steve Bluestein (comedian, writer)

“CFU” (Check For Understanding)

Prompt: is presented byIn a Nutshell Storytelling

Hostest: Amy Bee

Mostest: Keith Lowell Jensen

Producer: Aaron Carnes

Thank you to:

DJ Yuma Tripp for allowing us to use his song “Lazy Skank” for our episodes and our live show.

Hyperpixel for audio and video services.

Sofia Theatre for a beautiful stage to gather around.

Babalou for watching over our event table and engaging with people in the best way possible.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit https://www.inanutshellstorytelling.com/subscribe

This week on Prompt, we spoke with Maryam Moosavi, a Sacramento comedian who shared a roller-coaster of a story at our April Nutshell show—so well told and filled with all the best aspects of storytelling that it was hard to believe this was Maryam’s first serious attempt at it. On the surface, her story is about being fourteen and getting sexually involved with a nineteen-year-old, and how that experience unravels her family, her school, and herself. But on a deeper level, it chronicles a young person’s struggle for self-actualization within a constrictive family, the loneliness that such a struggle breeds, and how alienating and indifferent the world and its authority figures can be—even as they claim they are only “trying to protect.”

Maryam shares this story of her younger self with humor, vulnerability, and impressively, without watering down any of the ambivalence or contradictions that come with being fourteen years old. So sit back, settle in, and enjoy the story. My prediction is: Anyone who was a fourteen-year-old girl will relate, parents listening will hold their breath to the end, and the rest of us adults will wonder for the hundredth time how we made it out of our teenage years alive.

(PS We had some mic and tech issues this round—more than usual, that is. Sorry for all the pops and clunks and thuds. It’s still an excellent conversation!)

Prompt: is presented byIn a Nutshell Storytelling

Hostest: Amy Bee

Mostest: Keith Lowell Jensen

Producer: Aaron Carnes

Thank you to:

DJ Yuma Tripp for allowing us to use his song “Lazy Skank” for our episodes and our live show.

Hyperpixel for audio and video services.

Sofia Theatre for a beautiful stage to gather around.

Babalou for watching over our event table and engaging with people in the best way possible.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit https://www.inanutshellstorytelling.com/subscribe