Ophira Eisenberg
Comedian, author, host of NPR's Ask Me Another and The Moth
Discussion
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Ophira Eisenberg
@ophirae · Host, NPR's Ask Me Another
Hello! It’s Ophira – stand up comic, host of NPR’s Ask Me Another (a trivia comedy show that is on over 300 stations and of course a very popular podcast), frequent host and teller with the storytelling organization The Moth (I’ve been featured on both their award winning radio show and podcast) and I’m the author of the comedic memoir, Screw Everyone: Sleeping My Way to Monogamy. I still curse Facebook for connecting me to all of my exes. I’m originally from Canada (sorry!) – more specifically Calgary, Alberta, but I’ve also lived in Montreal, Vancouver, and Toronto – but now I’m in New York, living in Brooklyn with my husband Jonathan and Boston Terrier Mocha (they are both rescues) and both embrace artisanal culture the surrounds me and endlessly make fun of it. Since I work at night and in bars often performing, most people don’t assume I have hobbies – but I raise orchids and love action movies.
As far as topics – it’s tough as I’m really not up on books or movies right now –but I could talk about food, or maybe relationship advice??
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Erik Torenberg
@eriktorenberg · Former Product Hunt
Relationship advice! When do open relationships work and when do they not?
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Ophira Eisenberg
@ophirae · Host, NPR's Ask Me Another
I think relationships work when you're both looking for the same thing and it happens to be each other - nothing worse than being with someone half invested - ugh.
Barry Graubart
@graubart
Any advice for a teen girl (my daughter) to engage with storytelling? Are there appropriate venues for that age?
(The Accident was one of the most profound stories ever on the Moth - thank you for sharing)
Alex Carter
@alexcartaz · Operations @ 60dB. Ex-PH Podcasts 😻
@graubart for anyone interested, here is a clip of the story Barry mentioned:
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Ophira Eisenberg
@ophirae · Host, NPR's Ask Me Another
@graubart Thank you so so much - I know that a lot of teenagers come to the Moth live shows - some of the subject matter is definitely mature but it really depends on your tolerance. I think most of it your teenage daughter probably knows about from having the internet!!
Ben Tossell
@bentossell · Community Lead, Product Hunt
Do many people ask you to 'tell them a joke' coldly/out of the blue? What do you think the best responses are? one joke and one shut down ;)
Andrew Ettinger
@andrewett · Product Marketing, Twitter (ex-PH)
@bentossell Ben really just wants to know if you think you can out-cat-pun him...let's see if you're feline up to the challenge!
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Ophira Eisenberg
@ophirae · Host, NPR's Ask Me Another
@bentossell It's definitely happened - although it's getting better. It's more what I expect to encounter at a bar mitzvah or something. But I never tell them a joke. Never! I have just yelled curses at them in the past. That's feels good. I've also asked - what do you do? And they say I'm an architect or something. Then you just turn it around on them - can you draw me up some blueprints for a house?
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Ophira Eisenberg
@ophirae · Host, NPR's Ask Me Another
@bentossell basically I try to shame.
Ben Tossell
@bentossell · Community Lead, Product Hunt
@ophirae @bentossell haha love it
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Ophira Eisenberg
@ophirae · Host, NPR's Ask Me Another
@wiredmau5 god I loved Mitch Hedberg. Makes me sad. I saw him live as much as I could. But you can't live in the past forever. Louis CK and he do entirely different comedy - I love Louis CK's storytelling style and I love his show - I actually remember him headlining the club I started at in Toronto a long time ago and he was always amazing and killing
Aparna Mukherjee
@aparnamuk · Director of Ops, Grand Central Tech
@ophirae what's the best way to apologize for breaching house guest etiquette, in word and deed/gift?
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Ophira Eisenberg
@ophirae · Host, NPR's Ask Me Another
@aparnamuk yes all of them! But let me know if you want to be specific - we can get real here.
Ed Chao
@echao2 · Houston Escape Room
@ophirae 1. Have you heard of an escape room before? 2. If yes, would you be interested in doing one with my friends and me in NYC sometime?
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Ophira Eisenberg
@ophirae · Host, NPR's Ask Me Another
@echao2 yes - sort of. I don't really know what they entail but I think there are a few in NY. I'd totally do it - although I warn you - I once played paint ball, hated it so much that I hid and waited for it to be over. Yup.
Emily Hodgins
@ems_hodge · Community and Marketing, Product Hunt
Hi Ophira, what has been the most exciting thing about hosting NPR"s Ask Me Another?
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Ophira Eisenberg
@ophirae · Host, NPR's Ask Me Another
So many great AMA moments Emily - last night we had Bruce Campbell and Lucy Lawless on (will air the weekend of Halloween) and they were like a comedy duo in action.
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Ophira Eisenberg
@ophirae · Host, NPR's Ask Me Another
But a recent great moment was with Sir Patrick Stewart where he agreed to do dramatic readings of Taylor Swift and AC DC lyrics for a game - standing beside him doing that on stage was wildly surreal!
Emily Hodgins
@ems_hodge · Community and Marketing, Product Hunt
@ophirae @ems_hodge amazing! I'd love to see that.
Alex Carter
@alexcartaz · Operations @ 60dB. Ex-PH Podcasts 😻
Thanks for joining us @ophirae! Do you listen to (or read) Dan Savage and did his views ever influence your views on relationships or your book? If so, what are your thoughts on Monoga-mish relationships?
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Ophira Eisenberg
@ophirae · Host, NPR's Ask Me Another
Alex - I love Dan Savage - we were lucky enough to have him on our show and I even was a guest "advice giver" on his. I think everything he says is so sane and thought provoking - although, I follow his logic on non-monogamy - but I don't think I could do it! Too jealous I think!!
Alex Carter
@alexcartaz · Operations @ 60dB. Ex-PH Podcasts 😻
@ophirae what are your favorite podcasts?
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Ophira Eisenberg
@ophirae · Host, NPR's Ask Me Another
Alex! I'm always looking for more podcasts but currently enjoying.... Ask Me Another. Ha - but I finally had a chance to listen to Invisibilia - loved that - even though I do get a chance to work with them often - The Moth podcast makes me howl with laughter and drop to my knees
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Ophira Eisenberg
@ophirae · Host, NPR's Ask Me Another
For comedy I go all over the place - Marc Maron, How was Your Week, In the Casa with Sara Benincasa...
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Ophira Eisenberg
@ophirae · Host, NPR's Ask Me Another
Sporkful - especially when Dan makes Jad Abumrad of Radiolab eat pot brownies!
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Ophira Eisenberg
@ophirae · Host, NPR's Ask Me Another
Also, a side note - I just did a podcast called #HardCopy that is distributed on cassette tapes. I swear.