The Moth Tickets

I'm a longtime listener of The Moth but this was my first time at a live event. Two friends and I went to the Bell House on 8/27. This was in part a research expedition because I am thinking of putting my name in the hat next time. The audience was very encouraging to everyone, the emcee was very funny and set a positive and upbeat tone. The stories and storytellers represented a wide range of stories, from the sad to the funny to the poignant. Some presented better than others but all were welcomed with enthusiasm. The rating system was fair and kind to all. A nice touch was inviting those who were not able to tell their stories to tell the first line. I left feeling ready to take a shot at participating next time.

Great stories, fun competition, and an enthusiastic audience. Fun night!

I did enjoy a few of the stories, but I felt that most of them were too raunchy and were not on the topic which was given. There was a bit of uncomfortable moment with some heckling from the audience and I was very impressed with how Julien the host handled it.

I've heard amazing things about these events, but unfortunately, it wasn't the best night in terms of the storytellers. Most of the stories were pretty underwhelming. I can live with this, it happens. It's like stand-up comedy shows, some nights are better than others, but what I CANNOT live with is this venue! They sell more tickets than they have seats, so you must come really early to get a chair. At best, you will be lucky if you can sit on the steps or on some of the bar stools. At a certain point, there will be no seats left and you will feel the anxiety in the air from people searching for somewhere to sit. Eventually there are more people standing than sitting, to the point where there are rows of people standing in the back. Luckily I was at least able to sit on the steps to the side of the stage (I arrived 7:30pm), but I cannot imagine taking the time to come here, paying, only to have to stand the entire night. People grew tired and it was felt. They need to be better about this. During the intermission, people rearranged and a woman stood right in front of me blocking my view. I had to ask to please move to the side. These are the small inconveniences you may have to deal with. In addition to security being very strict about where you sit and stand. I almost forgot--- the line outside. I wonder if they do this on purpose to look more in demand, but the line could've moved way faster. Pros are that the host was really funny and entertaining- he saved the show. You also get free soda and popcorn refills. If you plan to go, get there super early and secure your seat and hope that it is a good story-telling night.

A great evening of sharp and numerous storytelling. Moments of controversy were brilliantly moderated and we left feeling uplifted.

Al is a brilliant host and we love the entire team at The Moth/Atlanta!

I’ve been to regular Moth experiences a couple of times in the past. I remembered them fondly. So I was excited for this one because it was the grand slam, the storytellers are supposed to be the best of the best. We left feeling letdown. First off this venue is really showing its age. I couldn’t tell if it was the people around me who smelled kind of bad or if it was baked into the old seating. At intermission, I realized that basically every person in the venue was trying to use one of the only two bathrooms, so the lines were stretched all around the entire venue. I just said forget it, and held it. I also found it very weird that in a sold out supposedly general admission show, there were many blocks of seats that had reserved signs on them, and the worst part is that so many of these were never taken the entire time. They just sat there empty with that reserve sign on them. These were way better seats than what we could get as two attendees - why were they reserved? And why couldn’t someone else take them eventually so the people actually attending could have better seats? No bueno. They started the show by telling us they were going to get into the stories quickly. Then, without any prior explanation, a saxophone player steps up and begins playing… and he played for quite awhile, as we in the audience sort of looked around confused and eventually gave obligatory clapping the the rhythm. His role made sense later, but it was strange because they had just told us they were going to get right into the storytelling and then a random saxophone player comes up. It was a very slow start in general. We looked down at our watch and an hour after we arrived, they had only finished two of the total of nine stories. Part of what was taking so much time is that the emcee - who is adorable by the way - took way too much time between storytellers. He was reading funny anecdotes from the audience, but every single time he would reread the really long premise to lead up to the anecdotes, but the premise itself was often longer than the anecdotes from the audience. We kept thinking we already know the premise, just get to it. It took a lot of time. Regarding the storytellers, for all but one or two of the nine, their adherence to theme (as required) was tenuous at best. I found this annoying and we kept looking at each other going “what in the world did this have to do with the theme again?” Lastly - while I did laugh a lot at the person who was voted winner - I felt bad for the other storytellers. His story definitely veered way too close to being stand-up comedy (which is against the rules) and at the end of the day was literally a poop joke. Pretty tough when you think about the topics of the other people who shared their hearts on stage. I think this Atlanta chapter is in need of some revamping. Get a better venue, run the show at a faster clip, and either do reserved seating or don’t allow swaths of “reserved” seating go to waste, and vet the stories to ensure they follow the rules.

THIS WAS AN AMAZING EVENT WITH WONDERFUL STORY TELLERS!! I TREMENDOUSLY ENJOYED MYSELF GOING ON THE VARIOUS JOURNEY'S OF THE STORY TELLERS!! PLEASE CONTINUE TO KEEP THIS ART ALIVE! I LOOK FORWARD TO BECOMING MORE ENGAGED AND INVOLVED WITH THE MOTH!

The Grandslam was lots of fun. I appreciated the moderator explaining the rules of the story and how the judges score. The gentleman who won clearly met all perimeters and hit every storytelling mark. Very enjoyable.

The Moth is always amazing. A chance to be reassured in humanity by hearing beautiful, personal stories.