Giggles
RISK!
Three true stories explore moments of laughter at seemingly inappropriate times—during intimacy, grief, and public embarrassment—revealing h
Key takeaways
- Laughter in intense or sacred moments isn't failure—it's human resilience.
Main topics
- Emotional release through laughter
Notable quotes
"Why should I?" — a moment of quiet humor that reveals emotional depth.
Conclusion
These stories show that laughter at the wrong moment can be the right
Transcript preview
Speaker 3 (0:00) On this episode of Risk, you'll hear Reba Sparrow. Speaker 5 (0:04) Because it's hump day. Speaker 3 (0:06) And Glenn Dungan. You sound like two fornicating cats. And Lindsay Mallard. Bitch, Speaker 2 (0:15) no. Okay? Speaker 3 (0:17) And me, Kevin Allison, on the show where people tell true stories they never thought they'd dare to share. Speaker 1 (0:39) I'm Vincent Cunningham. I'm Nomi Frye. I'm Alex Schwartz, and we host Critics at Large from The New Yorker. Each week, we pick a starting point. The new novel you can't stop thinking about, the movie everybody's seeing this weekend, and we kind of go galaxy brand with it. Right. We take the ideas at the center of these things and trace them across history, across mediums, all to get to the bottom of why this particular text is important right now in politics and culture and also in your everyday life. We go highbrow, we go lowbrow, we go everything in between. Food culture to meme culture. Charlie XCX to Toni Morrison. K-pop to the Kennedys. From horror movies to heated rivalry. From the Oscars to the Met Gala. The Golden Bachelor to Wuthering Heights. Great expectations to desperate housewives. That's what we're talking about over here. We're having fun. It's Critics at Large from The New Yorker. Every Thursday, wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 1 (1:35) How We Made Your Mother is the How I Met Your Mother rewatch podcast with me, Josh Radner, and series co-creator Craig Thomas. Well, our guest today is the great Bob Odenkirk. I want to tell you, that cast, Allison and Kobe and Neil and Jason and you, you were so upbeat and gung-ho. The spirit that you guys had was like, I actually thought it was like, are you being, are you mocking this? Are you being sarcastic? Follow How We Made Your Mother wherever you get your podcasts. I've been having a hard time trying to explain what Midnight Burger is. How about I let them give it a shot? Your Speaker 3 (2:11) podcast is amazing. It's Speaker 1 (2:13) such an amazing show altogether. You guys have actively ruined all other audio dramas for me. You can't get people to understand the humaning that happens in this damn show. Keep doing what you're doing because it's awesome. You might not think it, but you are far more important than you realize. Thank you. At the nexus of all things. There is a diner. Look for Midnight Burger on your favorite podcasting app, or just go to weopenat6.com. Welcome to the Strata. Speaker 6 (2:39) There's two of them following me. I know that for sure. Speaker 2 (2:43) Let you go! Speaker 6 (2:46) You'll let me go? Oh, that's cute. Speaker 6 (2:52) The first bullet hits me in the chest. Sends me staggering back a step. The Strata. In Speaker 1 (2:57) a dystopian city, a struggling courier is forced to go into business with an underworld ganglord in order to pay for the treatment that keeps him alive. Check out The Strata anywhere you listen to podcasts. Speaker 3 (3:19) Okie doke, folks. This is Roy Spigler behind me now. And this episode is called Giggles. Speaker 8 (3:26) One Speaker 3 (3:27) of my favorite story prompts of all time is what was a time you just couldn't help but laugh? Speaker 8 (3:42) In Speaker 3 (3:43) a little bit, we're going to hear a lovely story by Glenn Dungan. We still have that thing on our website at wristassshow.com slash submissions slash anecdotes, where if you have a story that's about four minutes long, you know, a shorter one, you can just record it on voice memo on your phone. and send it to me, and maybe we can work with it. You'll see what a beautiful job Glenn did with exactly that in just a bit. But before Glenn, we are going to hear a story that was recorded at the great The Mystery Box show in Portland, which has a phenomenal YouTube channel of all their stories, the entire history. of their show, and all of it is so damn good because it's all been so well curated by Reba and Eric, and this first story comes from Reba Sparrow herself. Now, the audio quality on this one is a little funky. One of the microphones not quite working the way it should, but you'll still get the giggles, I think, from a story we call Giggle Sex. Speaker 5 (5:20) feel like a chore for me. Two businesses and I freelance for two others and I have a family. I'm sure some of you can relate to this. So by the end of the evening when my son is actually asleep, we're able to have some alone time. I just wanted to make sweet, sweet love to my pillow and bed. Speaker 5 (6:08) conundrum to schedule our sexy time. I'll take it. It's spontaneous. And the way that we've come to do this is we've developed a code. Oh, yes. Plays like we're in public or like in my son's classroom or something. Just like, hey, you want to do it tonight? No. So we've developed, we call it Code Wednesday. Speaker 5 (7:03) invitation, you know, to do it tonight after the sun goes to sleep. So a couple weeks ago, we're at the dinner table, which we both get really horny at dinner for some reason. 630 at night, and Eric calls in a code Wednesday. 630 at night, so that means I have like three hours to sort of think about it and anticipate it, and that's like our scheduled foreplay. Speaker 5 (7:34) thinking about it. And so at 9.30 comes around, we've got our son in bed and he's sleeping finally. And Eric's like, hey, it's time. My God, I'm so tired. Speaker 5 (7:51) anticipating it, deciding for it, but, like, by the time it comes around, I'm just so tired. I don't want to have sex, but I feel guilty. There's, like, this whole thing going on. So being the gentleman that he is, Eric decides to sort of take charge. And he does this really wonderful, he's really good at his hands, and he starts doing this, like, vulvic massage. That's what you call it? I'm not sure. And the thing you should know about me, is that when I'm really, really tired, I get really giggly. Like, I don't know if the oxygen's just not making it to my brain. Speaker 5 (8:34) uncontrollable laughter and you start getting to like the dry heaves. And I'll stop laughing but like two minutes later start laughing again even though nobody said anything kind of laughter. And so he's massaging me and I'm giggling which is like a playful giggle and it doesn't take me very long to come. It's pretty good stuff what he's got going on there. Speaker 2 (8:58) I have Speaker 5 (8:59) this orgasm and I'm pretty vocal with my orgasm which is why we have to make sure that my son's asleep. But instead of moaning or traditional orgasm sounds, I'm cracking. Unamused. I just can't stop. I think I see a look of defeat. He starts stroking himself. Sorry honey backstage. I'm gonna do it myself. She's gone. Speaker 5 (10:12) I was so tired, I was so giggly. And so I turn to him and I say, do you want to come in? He's next to me because he's given up. So he can actually get on top of me and I say, well, what are you waiting for? I'm still laughing. And I'm like, oh shit. It would be totally out of character for him to be upset with me in any kind of sexual situation. He's just like stone-faced and not having it. And then he says, why should I? Speaker 4 (12:45) So a couple days before New Year's, I reopened up a conversation I had with a family member about the abuse that I experienced while living under the roof. It did not go well. What I had hoped would have been a healing experience for us turned into an unexpected and emotional whiplash. I was told that it was my fault for not speaking up more. I felt betrayed. I felt very,