The Nutshell True Story Hour

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....

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...

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...

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...

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 milit...

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 Cap...

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 i...

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 w...

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 Survivo...

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 deli...

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 t...

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...

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 “hap...

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...

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...

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 stepfat...

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...

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...

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...

When we found out Kiry Shabazz was going to tell a story at our inaugural In a Nutshell Storytelling live show back in January, we were pretty psyched. Keith and Kiry go way back, Aaron knew Kiry from writing articles about him, and Amy saw Kiry at a live show once and fell immediately into deep cerebral infatuation. It’s hard to explain Kiry’s magic; it’s something you have to experience live to...

Storyteller  Lucie Moses  shared her story about fostering wild squirrels at our  In a Nutshell Storytelling   event at the beautiful Sofia Theatre, where the theme was “Strange Bedfellows.” We’d seen a clip of Lucie telling this tale at a  Moth Slam  and later found out that the performance was how her kids discovered the full story of Luke and Busta, two baby wild squirrels who took a liking to...

Our inaugural episode shares a story from In a Nutshell Storytelling 's first live show at the stellar Sofia Theatre back in January, when the prompt was "Breaking the Ice." Master storyteller JP Frary told us a tale about turning 21 on an Alaskan fishing boat full of seasoned fishermen. JP felt like the odd man out and homesick to boot until he shared his letters from home with the crew members (...