On today's show we talk to New York-based writer and performer Elna Baker. Raised internationally, Elna moved to New York to study performance at NYU and soon became enmeshed in the stand-up and improv scene. Since then, she's co-founded the variety show The Talent Show and become a sought-after storyteller, contributing to places like This American Life. Her first book, The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance, which chronicles her dating life as a Mormon in New York City, was published in 2009.A few weeks ago, Elna came over to the Wrestling Team apartment to discuss her painful childhood shyness, faith and creativity, and her father's meat-cleaver wielding attacker.

Subscribe on iTunes and see us live at UCB East on Jan. 8th at 8pm with artist Molly Crabapple (Dr. Sketchy's Anti-Art School) and more or at the NYC Podfest with Halley Feiffer (The Squid and the Whale, Bored to Death), Julieanne Smolinski (Rolling Stone's 25 Funniest People on Twitter) and musical guest Mike Pace (Oxford Collapse, Worst Gig Ever podcast)!