Living in LA with his girlfriend, Michael has gotten used to agreeing with plans that he’s not at all enthusiastic about, because he figures that most of the time, they’re not going to happen. So when his two close friends … Continue reading
Growing up in Detroit, Cooper wants to be an actor, but is self-conscious about how much he looks like Tom Cruise – he doesn’t want that to hurt his chance at getting roles in the future. In 2000, while “Mission … Continue reading
Heather’s childhood obsession with her mother’s beauty — and especially her mother’s perfect bosom — transitions gradually into an unusually strong desire for sexuality, which leads to Heather doing things like shoving stuffed animals down her pants, and observing the … Continue reading
Joanne is a free spirit who’s worked as a circus aerialist and a touring theatre performer, and her new Argentinian boyfriend (and ESL student) Alejandro is somewhat the opposite – clean cut, responsible and stable. When Joanne invites him to … Continue reading
After reading a short story in his college creative writing class about a man with OCD, Matt has a flash of insight and realizes that he himself showed all the signs of obsessive-compulsive behavior in his youth — counting rituals, … Continue reading
Max grew up in the early 1980’s on the south shore of Long Island, running with a very tough street gang that he describes as “rock and roll surf dudes.” His manifesto was basically “sex, drugs, fight,” but he was … Continue reading
Luke was a large, fat kid, but the summer he was 17, he grew from 5’10 to 6’4, and his height made him a hot commodity on his basketball team. He started believing that he had what it took to … Continue reading
Starlee gets a job in LA for a month, and has to rent a car. The first day she picks up the car, she’s talking to her sister on the phone, and gets distracted by her sister’s tale of this … Continue reading
Keith is 22, and is the artistic director of a professional theatre company in Wilmington, DE. He loves being accessible to his audiences, and after a performance of one of the plays, a minister of a local church (“Scruffy,” Keith … Continue reading
Amy’s been married to her husband for two decades. They’re a great match, laughing together and creating mischief despite the fact that he lives with a slew of debilitating health problems, including chronic back pain. One day in 2016 she … Continue reading
Emerson is obsessed with finding free parking spots, to the point that if he sees a great parking spot, he’ll park in it, even if he doesn’t need to park or be in that neighborhood. One summer day in Atlanta, … Continue reading
Paul is working at a boarding school in Switzerland, and one summer day, smokes pot with a new friend, Adam, out in the woods. Paul starts to feel a flushed giddiness that he equates with the beginnings of romance — … Continue reading
Shauna has hemorrhoid issues, which she knows could be helped by a hot tub, but she and her husband are reluctant to let themselves spend money on something so expensive and luxurious. So Shauna hits up Craig’s List, and finds … Continue reading
Sumer lives with her husband and three kids in an old house in Iowa. During the hot summers, the kids often sleep in their parents’ room because it has the only air conditioner. One night, Sumer and her husband wake … Continue reading
Susanne is the mother of two kids, Tori and Liam, when she and her husband decide to have a third. After four miscarriages that keep Susanne pregnant for a year with no resulting baby, she finally sustains a pregnancy all … Continue reading
Tyson and his newlywed wife Colleen are young, devout Christians – virgins until marriage – and discover on their wedding night that their attempt at intercourse causes Colleen terrible pain — so much that they can’t complete the act. For … Continue reading
25-year old Adrien is finding her new home of NYC to be really lonely. She falls for a guy named Jose who she’s met at a party, but when he realizes he’s 15 years older than her, he insists that … Continue reading
Andrew grows up Jewish in the south, with an identity as a rather nerdy, dateless hypochondriac; he wants so much to be cool, and to have a girlfriend, and it’s just not happening. While he’s in high school, he visits … Continue reading
Marc is standing outside his building at 2am, when a prostitute approaches and asks if he wants sex. Marc says yes, and takes her up to the apartment he shares with his girlfriend, who’s out of town. He’s never hired … Continue reading
A year after he graduates high school, Aaron goes to live on a kibbutz in Israel, largely because he’s pretty sure it’s going to be an intellectual, socialist utopia, and the kibbutz girls will be horny for Americans. He immediately … Continue reading
Kumail tells his Risk! Live in LA co-host Pete about the time in his life when he lived with three roommates in Chicago, in a 3-story house with an attic, and his roommate Katie kept insisting that she heard “someone … Continue reading
Carlos is in film school in LA, and his assignment is to create a character study; he’s only allowed to use one actor in the film, and he feels this rule is stupid. He decides to get around it by … Continue reading
Dave moved to NYC from Cleveland, and is constantly regaled with stories of how edgy and dangerous the city used to be, filled with bodily fluids and debauchery; he’s acutely aware of how adorable and sedate his life is in … Continue reading
When Joy was little, her mom told the whole family that she’d talked to the Lord, face to face, and he’d reassured her she was about as perfect as a person could be, and because of that, the whole family … Continue reading
Andrea confesses that when she was little she was in love with her brother, 3 years older than her, and knew she’d end up marrying him. Raised by a single mom, she had no examples of what dating was supposed … Continue reading
Sara hits puberty at age 11, and starts feeling many new feelings that she directs into a unique outlet: inspired by some romance novels she discovered at the library, she writes a 50-page porn screenplay, meant to be cast with … Continue reading
Kevin decides to combat his nagging insecurity that he’s the weakest member of his comedy troupe, The State, by getting away for a while, and taking a cross-country “hippie bus trip” from NYC to San Francisco. Amidst much joviality and … Continue reading
Miles finally goes on a date with a coworker he’s had a crush on for quite a while — Dana. He gets wasted the night before, and is thus hung over for their date in Central Park; then, as he … Continue reading
When his comedy troupe The State breaks up, Kevin has to start a solo career, and creates a weird, elaborate, performance-art style comedic character monologue that centers around possibly being (or not being) Charles Manson. He tries it out at … Continue reading
Mather was a freshman theatre major at NYU, with the whole big city around him, but he somehow still felt lonely and isolated. He fell into the habit of drinking a lot — sometimes to blackout state. One night, walking … Continue reading
Ophira is hired to write an article for a big, glossy magazine – Marie Claire — and has to come up with a pitch. She decides she’ll train to be a Dominatrix and then try to get a gig. She … Continue reading
Brand new to NYC at 18 after growing up in conservative, closeted Cincinnati, Kevin tests out a gay bar on the Upper West Side. He feels out of place, but does end up getting very very drunk, and remembers that … Continue reading