As we all sit around dipping crudités in barbeque sauce, drinking room-temperature Asti Spumante out of a coffee mug (well, what are YOU doing, then?), we reflect on our New Year’s resolutions for 2012. Which makes this a nice time to look back on all the things we got done in the last calendar...

Excremental (poop) and bacchanalian (drunk) stories seem to be perennially popular, regardless of how original they are.

One should use artifice wisely so that it does not detract from authenticity. Both have their power, but they need to balance each other. Too much authenticity and you get a transcript of a life rather than a shaped tale. Too much artifice and you lose the feeling that the story is true and...

"I think I've learned a lot about telling stories to adults by teaching kids. In both cases, keeping information concise and simple, making your presence fill the room, and if you start to lose them, shout something about diarrhea. The difference is that some adults will feign disapproval at the diarrhea joke, every kid...

"I get nervous but I just accept those nerves as part of living and doing creative things. I heard once that 'Fear is just excitement with a bad attitude,' so I try to remember when I'm fearful that maybe I'm just totally psyched. I lie to myself a lot."

"I see the two genres as the difference between setting up a tent and building a house. In stand-up, you want to get to the point as quickly as you can, and like building a tent, you want a temporary structure. In storytelling, you're building a house. The audience wants more detail and foundation...