Tom Shillue is a storyteller that is largely responsible for making storytelling shows hip in New York City. He’s been on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, had his own Comedy Central Presents, and has wowed audiences with his one man show “Supernormal”, but on March 4th, he brings his storytelling clout to Tell: Worlds Collide.

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Q: But the second trilogy certainly had a built-in audience.

GL: Yeah, everyone says the second trilogy was a slam dunk. But there was a lot of controversy around here about the fact that I wasn’t doing the obvious — I wasn’t doing the commercial version of what people expected. People expected Episode III, which is where Anakin turns into Darth Vader, to be Episode I. And then they expected Episodes II and III to be Darth Vader going around cutting people’s heads off and terrorizing the universe. But how did he get to be Darth Vader? You have to explore him in relationships, and you have to see where he started. He was a sweet kid, helpful, just like most people imagine themselves to be. Most people said, “This guy must have been a horrible little brat — a demon child.” But the point is, he wasn’t born that way — he became that way and thought he was doing the right thing. He eventually realizes he’s going down the dark path, but he thinks it’s justifiable. The idea is to see how a democracy becomes a dictatorship, and how a good person goes bad — and still, in the end, thinks he’s doing the right thing.

OK, so he admits that he realized we all wanted to see Darth Vader cutting peoples heads off, and he does just the opposite, forcing everyone to “explore relationships.” You know who likes to explore relationships? My wife. And she walked out of Star Wars, when she was in junior high school! I love that Lucas reported that most people said “This guy must have been a horrible little brat — a demon child.” Really? What people, all the parents at your local PTA meeting?

The whole interview at Wired.

Tom Shillue

Who he is
A seasoned stand-up, Comedy Central staple and total pro; an unashamedly white-bread, self-described “pathologically positive” Norman Rockwell–kid–look-alike.

What he does
Tours, records albums and specials, yet still focuses on what hasn’t earned him money, i.e., storytelling; makes mountains out of molehills, turning small memories from his Catholic Massachusetts childhood into beautifully crafted tales.

Why we love him
His stories are both sidesplitting and touching, deliciously specific and universally true. He’s the only conservative Republican comedian who’s actually funny. He was in an a cappella group—and isn’t ashamed.

[TONY Approved in Time Out New York]

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“The Moth recently paid a visit to Portland and we were totally on board to participate with NW Documentary for the after show party! Their audio booth was set up as a comfy living room plucked straight out of 1952. I’m sure it put their story tellers at ease. Among the folks who stopped by for a photo was the shows host Tom Shillue! I must say this was another great event!”

[The Original Photo Booth]

The ghost of Garrison Keillor, indeed, hung over the preternaturally easy nature of host Tom Shillue, although he looked a bit more like a cross between a slender Dick Gephardt and Conan O’Brien. Shillue’s humor was broad Caucasian-ethnic: peppered with jokes about how Jews don’t know the difference between Protestants and Catholics, how Italians talk close and funny. I liked him. He was, like Bill Cosby and Ellen DeGeneres and very few others, a humanist comedian un-full of anger. He also reminded me of mid-century Hollywood’s idea of a virtuous small-town mayor, albeit a Catholic one.

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