StoryNights host, David Nihill (Founder of FunnyBizz) and world-class storytellers perform 10 minute true stories. Tonight Nihill is joined by storytellers Dhaya Lakshminarayanan, Jeff Hanson, DNA, Josh Cereghino, and Torio Van Grol.
At StoryNights, talented performers, actors, comics and writers take to the mic for a night of personal stories told live. Sometimes touching, sometimes inspiring, sometimes embarrassing but always real; these stories won’t shy away from true grit.
THE STORYTELLERS
Dhaya Lakshminarayanan
Dhaya Lakshminarayanan is the 2016 winner of the Liz Carpenter Political Humor Award (previously awarded to Samantha Bee, Wanda Sykes and satirist/humorist Mark Russell) presented by the National Women’s Political Caucus. KQED named her one of the twenty “Women to Watch” a series celebrating women artists, creatives and makers in the San Francisco Bay Area who are pushing boundaries in 2016. Dhaya is also a TV host and storyteller. She hosted the premier year of the Emmy award-winning series High School Quiz Show on PBS’s WGBH. She is a frequent comedic storyteller on NPR’s Snap Judgment and has appeared live in Austin on The Risk podcast. She is currently the host of San Francisco’s monthly Moth StorySLAM after winning a Moth StorySLAM and competing in the GrandSLAM at the Castro Theater (capacity 1400). ON24 awarded her the grand prize for “Best Travel Disaster Story.”
Jeff Hanson
Jeff has won a San Francisco Moth StorySlam and was a featured storyteller for Storytelling Assoc. of California’s annual ‘Tellabration’. His storytelling style is multi-layered and contemplative. He specializes in tales of heartbreak, redemption and athletic competition against c-list celebrities. If you don’t get the point of his story, just wait. It’ll hit you next time you have a break up with the love of your life and her dog. You may have seen him at Fireside, About Last Night, Busting Out Storytelling or your local Safeway contemplating sweet potatoes.
DNA
DNA’s unique brand of comedy skewers America with a psychedelic double twist. The creator of several comedy festivals and a web series, DNA has opened up for Moshe Kasher, Janeane Garofalo, Myq Kaplan and most of the Bay Area. A BOD member of Comedy Day in Golden Gate Park, DNA has not left his activism behind and uses comedy to bridge the gap between generations, genders, religions and species. A true intergalactic performer. From his time as Timothy Leary’s chauffeur, to his opening act for Ralph Nader (as heard on NPR’s Snap Judgement http://snapjudgment.org/nudists-nader ) to his creation of one of the first crossover rap/country songs, DNA is poised to storm the castle.
David Nihill
Leaving Dublin, Ireland, where he was born and raised until the age of 22, David got drunk on travel and never quite hit the sobriety of it. A bestselling author, David has been featured in Inc, NPR, Huffington Post, Forbes, Lifehacker and the Irish Times, and was recently part of the Irish Kings of Comedy Tour, SF Sketchfest, the Ventura Comedy Festival, Ukiah Comedy Alley, and the Kansas City Irish Festival. A multiple Moth Storyslam winner, Grandslam finalist and occasional host David has also told tales at Porchlight, The Naked Truth, Fireside and Litquake. Always a funny storyteller, these days he calls San Francisco home when immigration officials permit.
Josh Cereghino
At age five, Josh Cereghino was sent home from kindergarten, for allegedly biting Mikey Duda. When Mom asked for an explanation, he told his first story, with spaceships, dragons, jetpacks and Kung Fu, explaining that he bit in self-defense when Mike Duda attacked him with nunchuks. Josh learned the value of a good story that day, and he’s been telling stories from his life ever since. Josh is a writer who lives in Berkeley and holds a BA degree in Rhetoric from the University of California. This explains his penchant for storytelling and talking a lot. He is a multiple Moth storyslam winner, grandslam finalist and NPR featured storyteller.
Torio Van Grol
Torio Van Grol was first discovered by a gentleman naturalist in 1676, causing an uproar among the clergy, who claimed that he was placed on Earth by God as a test of faith. After much careful study, Torio has been widely accepted as real, though some controversy lingers. Many people believe that early humans coexisted peacefully with him, even caring for him and riding on his back as a form of transportation. But Torio is not strong enough to carry people, instead relying on speed, cunning and a bulletproof eBay rating for survival. In 2016, he was listed as one of the Bay Area’s best stand-up comedians by SFist. He won the title, “Best Joke of 2015” by the award-winning SF blog Courting Comedy. Torio has performed at SF Sketchfest for the past three years, as well as many other comedy festivals including Comedy Central’s Cluster Fest.
