So Sez Rick

This episode features a fine storyteller, Sean Ewert. When I heard him tell this story about his dad a couple of weeks ago, I knew I wanted him on the show. Sean is not only a top notch story teller but he teaches storytelling and co-stars in a cooking show on youtube. As a bonus on this episode, Laura and I will make an official announcement about an upcoming life changing event for us.

Christmas day 1972 I got the best gift I've ever gotten, a lesson about life from my dad.

My buddy Ty Fance is the guest storyteller on this episode. I always enjoy the way he weaves his stories. His story is about when he was young and would steal tomatoes from the neighbor's garden. When you get caught, it can be a pain in the butt, literally.

I thought getting a varsity letter on the official letterman jacket would magically make me one of the cool guys at my high school. It didn't quite work out that way.

When I was fourteen, my Baptist church youth group went to an event in St. Louis and on the bus ride home I learned to French kiss. I saw glimpse of heaven. It was a profound religious experience.

I remember when I first heard the story about the ghost in the MacMurray College Theater. I thought, what a bunch of baloney. But coming face to face with the ghost late one night made a believer out of me. Then, for an extra treat, after my story we close out the episode with a song Laura wrote about an abandon carnival. Happy Halloween everybody.

When I went back to Chicago to do a play I thought it would be a walk down memory lane. It turns out the most memorable moment happened in the park on my walk to the theater one day.

Moving from the farm to Chicago to become an actor was culture shock but living in Little Italy is where I found my people.

Our band opened for Ronny Cox once and after the show a stranger from the audience and Ronny had a conversation that turned out to be a very special moment in time, a glimpse of grace. Every now and then you get to be in the right place at the right time.

Laura is launching an online video class to teach musicians how to do what she does on Whose Line is it Anyway. We tell some stories about touring together with the Second City and then Laura will give us the scoop on her class, A Musician's Guide to Improv Comedy. There's nothing like this out there.