Editor’s Note: The Commuting Introvert is a weekly column that highlights short-form entertainment for commuting students.
The Moth Podcast
Back in simpler days, novelist and poet George Dawes Green used to gather with a small group of friends on a porch in Georgia where they would tell stories. They listened to each other, and they would laugh, cry, reminisce — but most of all, feel a great intimacy with the storyteller. When Green moved to New York he revived the tradition in an apartment, and by popular demand it grew to bigger venues and eventually expanded to other cities and occasional tours. This gathering of storytellers and listeners was named “The Moth” after the moths that would flutter to the light on that Georgia porch, their attraction similar to that of the listeners to the minstrel.
The Moth Podcast captures those cherished nights of storytelling in a byte-sized package, best made for those rides back to campus or home. Each episode features one storyteller from a cast of underdogs and celebrities, including hip-hop legend Darryl “D.M.C.” McDaniels, N.Y.P.D. Lieutenant Steve Osbourne and satirist (and Spinal Tap star) Tony Hendra among many more. The stories themselves range from the outright ridiculous, with writer Andrew Solomon recalling the time his depression was cured with African tribal voodoo, to the unquestionably tragic, with comedian Anthony Griffith recalling his rise to fame as his three-year-old daughter died of cancer. From there, many of the stories fall in between those two extremes and sometimes go beyond. If you want to be treated by something wholesome and cleansing, The Moth Podcast is a top choice for your ears’ delight.