I created a storytelling show that allows me to really look at some of the most awkward and embarrassing things I’ve done in my life, and put them in some sort of context.

And now that it’s almost ready, I’m, of course, looking at the stories that I’ve put together and have started wondering… “Hmmm, is that a good idea, Ryan? Isn’t that the kind of thing you shouldn’t tell a room full of strangers?”

But it’s too late now. The show is ready, and in less than a week it’ll be in the world. 

The good news

The good news is: the show has all the hallmarks of being really really good. Or at least being something I can be really proud of (which is roughly the same thing).

It remains to be seen how it is delivered into the world, and how it’s received. But I really like it. It’s built of a whole bunch of sturdy story pieces, yet is more than the sum of its parts. I guess you could say I’m proud of it.

A big part of the show creation process has been looking at some incidents in my past and trying to ascribe some meaning. I mean most of the questions that the stories have brought up have been some variation on “What the hell was I thinking?”

And the answer is, usually, that I wasn’t.

The origin story

I had this show in mind for years. How many years? I don’t know, but quite a number. And now finally, I’ve managed to actually get down and do it.

How long have I had the idea for a new storytelling show in mind? Probably about 4 or 5 years, when I first publicly told the story of the time I pissed off Tiger Woods. It’s a good story, and it clocked in at about 22 minutes.

The lazy yet ambitious part of me (my soul) realized hey, this is basically half of an hour-long show!

Well, since that time I’ve done, as is my wont, very very little about it. Except just kinda thinking about it occasionally and putting the show into my year-end goals list each year. Then transferring it to the next year’s list early in January.

But then, just a couple months ago I got a new job. And the pause between the old job and the new afforded me the possibility to take some time off.

And I thought: now’s the time. But unlike other times when I thought “Now’s the time” this time I actually did some stuff.

 I engaged some help from some friends, Joana Ponder for some directing and Andrew McAlpine for the dope art, and with a date (6 November) in the calendar, it’s on.

Here’s to new creative ventures, particularly ones that dredge up a bunch of the dumb things you’ve done and are sandwiched between two fulltime career-focused day jobs.