After my performance at Union Hall. Photo credit: Hunter Peress

Backstage at Cheap Date Comedy at Union Hall with the cast of the show. Photo credit: Hunter Peress

Singing “Christmas Is Bullshit” at Big Break Standup at The Nest in Brooklyn. Photo credit: Jordan Russo

I had a blast this past December performing Christmas Is Bullshit all over New York City. I did eleven performances, including one with comedians David Cross and Jim Gaffigan, and I got to perform at tons of venues I’d never performed at before, like Union Hall, Chelsea Music Hall, UCB East, Caveat and the Slipper Room. It was so fun to share the song with all kinds of audiences, and when I sang it for a burlesque audience, people were howling at every joke and singing along to the song. Lucky for me, comedy and burlesque audiences in New York are NOT into Christmas, so they loved this song!

Can’t wait to do it all again later this year, and this time I’ll be able to start planning my performances further in advance, so I hope to do it at least 30 times.

Putting this song out and being able to perform it really transformed my holiday season. Instead of it being all about stuff I don’t like, it was all about the stuff I like the most: singing, performing, hanging out with other artists, making new friends, having new experiences, and having people tell me they loved my performance. I didn’t make this song just so I would have something to look forward to during the holidays, but now I do anyway!

Best of all, my parents like the song, and I was really worried they wouldn’t. But a good song is a good song, no matter who made it. 😉

I’m so glad to have an active presence again on YouTube, Facebook and Spotify as well. Can’t wait to bring out more music, videos and other projects for people to enjoy!

 

Whew, it’s been a crazy year, but I’m finally done with all the touring and bookstore events Kevin Allison and I did to promote the release of the new book my true story is in (and that I helped compile and edit), RISK! True Stories People Never Thought They’d Dare To Share. 

Here I am with one of the first finished copies of the book as soon as it was ready. It was so awesome to see my name and story in print!

It was also really cool to see my name listed in the same book as some of my favorite actors and comedians. The book includes stories from people like Dan Savage, Michael Ian Black, Marc Maron, Aisha Tyler, Lili Taylor and many more. It’s an honor to share the page with them. 🙂

Our live bookstore and RISK! events, where I read my story to audiences in New York, Boston, San Francisco, LA, Chicago and Washington, DC, were so much fun. I got to see and share the book with so many friends who live all around the USA, and I was so touched to have their support for this exciting project.

I learned SO much by being involved with making this book happen from beginning to end, and I’m so excited by how much everyone who’s gotten the book loves it so far. We’ve got 270 5-star reviews on Amazon so far, and people are giving it to their friends who love true stories but aren’t big podcast listeners. I know this book is going to keep delighting readers for many years to come, because it’s timeless, and the truth never goes out of style. 🙂

If you haven’t gotten the book yet, you can grab it wherever books are sold in paperback, audiobook or e-book, so go get yourself and your friends a copy or ten now!

I’m super excited to say that my true story, The Downward Spiral, that originally aired on the RISK! podcast a couple years ago, will be included in the forthcoming RISK! book, to be published on July 17, 2018 by Hachette Books!

I’ll be in the collection of some of the best true stories to ever air on the RISK! podcast, alongside awesome stories from Marc Maron, Aisha Tyler, Ts Madison, Michael Ian Black, Dan Savage and more. I’ve read the whole manuscript of the book, and it’s just incredible. The stories are SO GOOD, even if you’ve listened to them before on RISK!, and there will be lots of new stories as well, so whether you know these stories from the podcast or not, you need to get this book.

You can preorder the book now at TheRISKbook.com. It’s only $17, and every preorder we get from now through July 17 will count toward our first week sales. If we get enough of those, we’ll be on the New York Times Bestseller list, so please go preorder tons of copies for yourself and your friends and help us make this a big success. If you love uncensored true stories you won’t hear anywhere else, this is the book for you!

I had a great time speaking at Viacom this week on a panel on podcasting for the Junior Hollywood Radio and Television Society. I’ve been wanting to speak on a panel for a while, so I jumped at this opportunity, and it was just as fun as I had hoped.

My fellow panelists were super funny and there were so many laughs. I loved talking about how podcasting is an awesome way that artists can make a living, have a ton of fun, and do things their own way, with total artistic freedom. And I really loved talking to young people who are interested in starting their own podcasts and just needed a little encouragement and guidance.

Even though I have a lot of fun working on the RISK! podcast, and I do it mainly in my pajamas, I really have learned a TON about running a business, podcasting, working in entertainment, managing employees, creating the life I want, and making a great show, and it’s awesome to feel that that knowledge is valuable and powerful and can inspire others to build something awesome of their own and thrive on their own terms.

Thanks to Junior Hollywood Radio and Television Society for having me, and I can’t wait to speak at more events and inspire more people to do what they love!

A few weeks ago, my good friend Anna Haas asked if I could jump into a play she wrote the music for, and I happily said yes. That’s how I ended up in the Greek Chorus of the off-Broadway play SEPH, which, it turns out, was written by my Harvard ’06 classmate, Tori Keenan-Zelt! You can see me and the rest of the chorus above, belting our hearts out and making paper bird puppets fly.

It was great to be on stage again, and I hope it’s not another ten years before I do some theater, because it’s still a ton of fun!