The Moth Story SLAM! Jokers

The Moth returns to the Cliff Bell’s stage on the theme: Jokers. Get your stories ready and join us! Tickets are $10 at the door, advance tickets available at themoth.org.

The Rundown 

• 4 p.m. Doors open! Sign up to tell a story, volunteer to be on a judging team or just sit back and listen.
• 7:30 p.m.: We’ll pick the first name and the show will begin.
• Pre-sale tickets guarantee admission, but not seating.
• Each teller will have 5 minutes to tell his or her tale. After each story, the judges confer, and give a score. The teller with the highest score becomes our StorySLAM winner. The winner will compete with the year’s other winners in our next GrandSLAM Champions.

Be Forewarned
The Moth is for TRUE STORIES. OK, there won’t be a fact-checker there, and the FBI probably won’t dig into your files to verify the names and dates and places, but please know, emphatically, The Moth is not for fiction stories. The tiny fictions and lies we tell ourselves ARE part of our “true stories” but that one about you, Obama, Ghandi and Einstein up in a spaceship eating brownies… not so much.

The Moth is NOT a venue for readings; it is a venue for tellings. No notes, papers, or cheat sheets allowed. Contestants are judged on sticking to the five-minute time frame, sticking to the theme and having a story that sticks — one that has a conflict and a resolution.

Story Tips

• No stand-up routines please: The Moth LOVES funny people but requires that all funny people tell funny STORIES.
• Steer clear of meandering endings: your last line should be clear in your head.
• Start in the action and set up the stakes.