Live, in-person storytelling is kind of a new thing for CBC’s Wiretap host Jonathan Goldstein, but it’s a challenge that he feels up to...sort of. Sure, why not?
The notoriously droll and over-analytical radio host will be coming to Max Cameron Theatre on Saturday, March 19 at 7 pm for a free storytelling event. The performance is the third and last event of Powell River Public Library’s Whoopdidoo storytelling evenings for the season.
This will be Goldstein’s first trip to Powell River. Getting up on stage in front of a live audience is a relatively new venture for the essayist and idiosyncratic radio personality and one he is still wrapping his head around.
When writing a story to perform live Goldstein said there is a far greater focus on his part to get laughs. Without the tricks of radio at his disposal, and with the pressure of having a live audience in front of him reacting instantly, Goldstein said he feels a lot more pressure to “bring the funny.” It can be stressful but in a good way, said Goldstein, and it keeps him on his toes.
“It’s always nice and it keeps things real to actually meet people who listen to the show and see how they react,” said Goldstein. “It’s gratifying because otherwise it’s just a little theoretical....It’s a lot of guesswork so it’s really cool to have the response of any actual audience in real time.”
Goldstein said he’s ironing out the kinks of converting a radio show to a live performance. The radio show frequently uses the medium of phone calls between Goldstein’s on-air persona and his gang of misguided friends, something that Goldstein said doesn’t necessarily work live.
For the performance Goldstein will be telling a number of stories and will also be joined by frequent Wiretap guest Howard Chackowicz. One of Goldstein’s stories, about his nephew’s bris, the Jewish circumcision ceremony, will be accompanied by projected illustrations from Arthur Jones, who draws on Post-it Notes. Goldstein also plans to tell a story about the 10 years he worked as a telemarketer before starting in radio, and another on retracing his parents’ honeymoon.
The tradition of oral storytelling, and especially live oral storytelling, is one that Goldstein believes is important and becoming rarer to see. It’s uncommon nowadays to see and hear a prolonged story from one person, with no technical medium acting as middle man.
“Except when you’re watching something on Sunday morning like televangelists, you don’t normally see just a long shot of standing and just talking or reading,” said Goldstein. “It is a nice fit when you’re live and you’re together.”
Goldstein said he often feels like apologizing to fans of the radio show when he meets them because he knows that he probably isn’t anything like they pictured him to be. Just being a voice and letting his audience “fill in the blanks” is a gratifying experience. Listening live and in a group does change the dynamic, something that Goldstein is aware of, but different can be a good thing.
“If you’re on the radio then every so often you’ve got to creep out of the darkness of the studio like a rat and face the light and the audience,” said Goldstein. “Every time I do it I feel like ‘man, I should do this more often.’”
