Freedom
30 July - 1 hour 13 mins explicitFrom April 2014, five people finding a way out.
Sean Crespo signs up for a sleep deprivation study to escape the worst summer job in Boston, then spends ten days plotting one act of privacy. Kate Greathead, dumped and displaced, discovers she can cry on the subway every night and nobody will stop her.
(Content note: suicidal ideation)
Jeff Simmermon loses a testicle to cancer and gains an imaginary black bird that whispers to him at night about how the loneliness will never end. John F. O'Donnell, in the middle of a manic episode in 2008, decides he alone can stop the neoconservatives from crashing the internet.
Jean Ann Le Bec, married in 1966 to a man who naps all day, goes back to col...
Series Episodes
Almost
explicitThree people come within reach of what they want and are nearly undone grabbing for it. Karen Ibarra brings a self-described nerd's devotion to a heated Los Angeles delegate election, where bad blood between two party factions turns personal. David Zellnik spends his childhood worshipping the stage, then auditions for the bad-boy role he wants most in his high school's production of Oliver!, only for the director to pull him aside with a wounding notion about which part he should play. And thanks to EST's "Truth Be Told", the New York show and podcast where this story first appeared. Amy Sohn hits bottom and pins everything on an elderly Manhattan analyst for one ridiculous reason, a rumor that he is Woody Allen's therapist, then sinks into his Freudian world without admitting why she came. Leave your thoughts on the stories, and find details and music credits, at risk-show.com/podcast/almostĀ Be Part of RISK! š See RISK! liveā in New York City on December 8, 2026 āļø Pitch your storyā ā¤ļø Support us on Patreonā šµ Make a one-time donationā ā via PayPal or Zelle to [email protected] š Shop merch or the RISK! bookā š Take storytelling classes with usā š„ Hire Kevin as a coach or get personalized videos Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
40 mins
22 September Finished
Second Wind
explicitThis episode first surfaced back in June 2014, presenting two people whoād run out of road and somehow had to find more. Joe Mulligan, a stand-up whose marriage and career have both come apart, flies to Boulder for a peyote ceremony and finds his spirit guide is the last thing he would have chosen. And Olga Schmutz, gutted by a breakup, walks into a Philadelphia shop at 3 a.m. and walks out with a strap-on named Carlitos and a brand-new sense of purpose. Leave your comments on these stories and find episode details and music credits at risk-show.com/podcast/second-wind-cre533Ā Be Part of RISK! š See RISK! liveā on December 8, 2026 in N.Y.C. āļø Pitch your storyā ā¤ļø Support us on Patreonā šµ Make a one-time donationā ā via PayPal or Zelle to [email protected] š Shop merch or the RISK! bookā š Take storytelling classes with usā š„ Hire Kevin as a coach or get personalized videos Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
40 mins
17 September Finished
Giggles
explicitThree stories about laughing at exactly the wrong moment, and finding out it was the right one all along. Three ways of getting through it sideways. Be Part of RISK! š See RISK! liveā in NYC - Tuesday, December 8, 2026 āļø Pitch your storyā ā¤ļø Support us on Patreonā šµ Make a one-time donationā ā via PayPal or Zelle to [email protected] š Shop merch or the RISK! bookā š Take storytelling classes with usā š„ Hire Kevin as a coach or get personalized videos Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
40 mins
17 September Finished
Live from Boston!
explicitThree wildly different stories from a night RISK! recorded live in Boston at the Nameless Coffeehouse back in May of 2014, pulled from the archive and dropped back into the feed. (Content note: attempted suicide) Josh Poirier grew up as the kid every bully found, singled out for years by an older boy named Paul. At his lowest, broke and checking himself into an inpatient psychiatric ward, the nurse who comes to wake him is the one person he spent his whole childhood running from. Lillian DeVane lands the dream job: managing a plush vintage store with her three closest friends. The catch is the owner, a wealthy heiress whose generosity comes wrapped in cruelty, and whose promise to sign the store over to Lillian sits just out of reach. Will Luera adored a father who kept disappearing for years at a stretch. The reasons turn out to run through prison, cocaine, and a charming, determined man who keeps rebuilding the exact life that took him away,, and Will can feel it all starting again. Leave your comments on these stories and find episode details and music credits at risk-show.com/podcast/live-from-boston-cre532Ā Be Part of RISK! š See RISK! liveā on September 8, 2026 in New York City āļø Pitch your storyā ā¤ļø Support us on Patreonā šµ Make a one-time donationā ā via PayPal or Zelle to [email protected] š Shop merch or the RISK! bookā š Take storytelling classes with usā š„ Hire Kevin as a coach or get personalized videos Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
1 hour 9 mins
10 September Finished
No Harm, No Foul
explicitAt twenty-four, Allen Fetters is blindsided by the worst gallstone attack of his life. Too stubborn to call 911 or even a friend, he decides to drive himself to the ER, floors it down an empty road of green lights, on a collision course with a man on a bicycle crossing the intersection ahead of him. Then Richard Velazquez rewinds to Christmas Eve, 1989, eighteen and riding shotgun in his mentor's prized 1964 Mercedes after a night of cocaine, rum, and reggaeton on repeat. On the snowy New Jersey Turnpike, with three other people in the car, he hears a whooshing sound and a ātremendous bang. Thanks to So Say We All in San Diego, whose live show is where Richard first brought this story to an audience. Leave your comments on the stories and find episode details and music credits at risk-show.com/podcast/no-harm-no-foulĀ Be Part of RISK! š See RISK! liveā tonight (September 8, 2026) in New York City! āļø Pitch your storyā ā¤ļø Support us on Patreonā šµ Make a one-time donationā ā via PayPal or Zelle to [email protected] š Shop merch or the RISK! bookā š Take storytelling classes with usā š„ Hire Kevin as a coach or get personalized videos Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
36 mins
8 September Finished
The Best of RISK! Inanity
explicitBack from November 2021, this episode is just bonkers: original songs, sound collages, audio easter eggs, and other inanities stacked one on top of another. Weāve got stamps.com jingles, a goth lament about needing a public toilet, TS Madison hollering about a good dick, a Cinderella scene that curdles into filth, and a thank-you number built entirely out of Kevinās orgasm noises. Bits by and from Jeff Barr, Soce the Elemental Wizard, Brian Babylon, David Crabb, John LaSala, Detox, Alaska, and a stray Tom Brady sample wander through too. For nearly an hour, RISK! sets the stories aside and just plays. Leave your reactions and find the exhaustive list of credits at risk-show.com/podcast/the-best-of-risk-inanity-cre1304Ā Be Part of RISK! š See RISK! liveā in 09/08/2026 in New York City āļø Pitch your storyā ā¤ļø Support us on Patreonā šµ Make a one-time donationā ā via PayPal or Zelle to [email protected] š Shop merch or the RISK! bookā š Take storytelling classes with usā š„ Hire Kevin as a coach or get personalized videos Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
1 hour 2 mins
3 September Finished
