In 2019, comedian Dave Chappelle won the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.
A bunch of his famous friends came to honor him on the stage.
Sarah Silverman was one of them.
While honoring Dave, Sarah shared one of her early memories of their time together.
It went like this:
“I remember Dave got a part in a Mel Brooks movie, Robin Hood: Men in Tights.
And we were all like, ‘Dave’s made it!’
But he came back from L.A., and he got right on stage to talk about his trip out west.
And how he FINALLY went to Compton after hearing so much about it.
And he was stunned to see that people there had YARDS.
All the LORE of Compton and people were like, mowing their lawns.
And of course they were!
But there was just like, something about that tiny little detail…
And that’s what he does.
He lets himself be surprised by what he learns and then he takes us with him as he looks at it from every angle.
Angles that most of us don’t even see…”
🤣🤣🤣
I thought these insights from both Dave and Sarah were hilarious.
And the genius is, within the hilarity, there is a storytelling (and life) lesson for all of us:
Allow yourself to be surprised by what you observe.
That’s what the future is going to be about.
Your OWN reaction to insights and observations.
Especially in a world of AI.
Your personal, interesting observations and interpretations of moments around you.
Things that stand out to you.
Things that make you feel something.
So, write those down.
And share it with your community.
Whether it’s something funny your kids said or a random thought watching someone mow their lawn.
Jot it down.
And it doesn’t even have to be your story, per se.
You can take someone else's interesting story and include your own observations about it.
Just like in this very email.
Out of all the memories of Dave Chappelle, Sarah chose to talk about this particular memory.
And out of the many comedians who spoke at Dave's award show, the one who stood out to me was Sarah Silverman.
So that’s what I chose to talk about.
In the same show, you'll probably find something that was more interesting to you, and you can talk about that.
So my storytelling advice for 2026 is…
…jot your insights down, no matter how little and insignificant they seem.
And the bonus lesson from Sarah Silverman is to allow yourself to be surprised and share that surprise with others.
You can watch the full award show on Netflix, but here’s the Sarah Silverman clip I talk about in this email.
Enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjwQWtSe9fU
And Happy New Year!!
2026 is gonna be GREAT!
Cin🙂
