Welcome to the Moth Podcast.
I'm your host this week, Michelle Jalasky.
It's hard to remember a time before Netflix and Hulu and On Demand TV.
Even though I grew up without all those things,
I'm one of those millennials on the cusp who had a pretty analog childhood.
It's been a long time since I watched TV on an actual TV.
In this episode, we have two stories about old-fashioned television magic.
Our first story is a blast from the past and put me right back to childhood,
on the couch in front of the TV.
Jessica Lee Williamson told this story at an LA story slam where the theme of the night was respect.
Here's Jessica live at the mall When I was 18 my little sister for my birthday for my birthday She gave me this journal that she had written in the front cover.
It said to Jessica
if you don't make it as a talk show host Maybe you'll make it as a writer instead Happy birthday And when I was 18,
that's like the only thing I wanted to do with my life.
I was obsessed with the idea of being a talk show host.
I would just come home from school and just like sit on the sofa and go through Rosie O'Donnell,
Maury Povich, Geraldo, just down the line.
And it wasn't my personality that squashed those dreams.
It was Geraldo Rivera and his live studio audience.
I lived in Maryland which was like three hours away from New York City and they would always show on the talk show they'd say