RISK! Podcast By RISK! cover art

RISK!

RISK!

By: RISK!
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If you like The Moth, This American Life or Snap Judgment, take a walk on the wilder side with RISK! Your colorful host Kevin Allison (of the legendary comedy group The State) helms this surprisingly uncensored show where people tell jaw-dropping true stories they never thought they'd dare to share in public. RISK! is hilarious, heart-wrenching and remarkably real. Think you've heard it all? Fasten your seatbelt.RISK! Art Biographies & Memoirs Entertainment & Performing Arts Social Sciences
Episodes
  • Fighting Back

    Fighting Back
    Apr 2 2026
    This is a classic RISK! episode from January 2014, and it holds up with a particular kind of ferocity. (Content note: sexual assault) Ellie Jackson spent 12 years convincing herself she had moved on from being raped at a college party her freshman year. She'd built a careful system for managing intimacy, or avoiding it, and mostly it held. Then a routine visit to Planned Parenthood, a persistent social worker, and an accidental encounter with a Crest commercial undid all of it at once. (Content note: physical abuse, domestic violence, child abuse) Liz Stewart grew up with a sociopathic father and a paranoid schizophrenic mother who once pinned her to the floor to perform a homemade exorcism. She had boxed for eight years and never once hit back. Until she did. Two stories. Both women fought back. Full episode details and music credits at risk-show.com/podcast/fighting-back-cre515 Support RISK! & Get Involved 🎟 See RISK! live⁠ in New York City on June 9th, 2026 ✍️ Pitch your story⁠ ❤️ Support us on Patreon⁠ or ⁠make a one-time PayPal donation⁠ 📚 Shop merch or the RISK! book⁠ 🎓 Take storytelling classes with us⁠ 🎥 Hire Kevin as a coach or get personalized videos Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    44 mins
  • The Best of RISK! #34

    The Best of RISK! #34
    Mar 31 2026
    Three stories so worth your time, from darkly funny to devastating. Our 34th compilation of some of our favorite recent stories shared on the podcast. (Content note: sexual assault) Fixxy starts a summer in Pittsburgh doing sex work for quick cash before a move to New York City. One night a client seems different, with an unusually easy request and a ride out to the suburbs. Things escalate in ways Fixxy never anticipated, leading to one of the more genuinely terrifying stories we’ve ever aired. In a completely different vibe, Kevin Allison tells the family legend he’ll never live down: a Super 8 film project, a borrowed jar of jumbo pickles, and an ADHD brain running out of options with the clock ticking. (Content note: child abuse, death) Then there’s Mishelle Roberts, who grew up believing her mother was a devoted caregiver. Years later, she started finding records, asking questions, and pulling at threads that had held her family's story together her entire life. Mishelle’s story was also the focus of Season Six of Nobody Should Believe Me. Full episode details and music credits at risk-show.com/podcast/the-best-of-risk-34 Support RISK! & Get Involved 🎟 See RISK! live⁠ in New York City on Tuesday, June 9th 2026 ✍️ Pitch your story⁠ ❤️ Support us on Patreon⁠ or ⁠make a one-time PayPal donation⁠ 📚 Shop merch or the RISK! book⁠ 🎓 Take storytelling classes with us⁠ 🎥 Hire Kevin as a coach or get personalized videos Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 41 mins
  • Impulsive

    Impulsive
    Mar 26 2026
    Three stories about snap decisions and what happens next: a classic RISK! episode from December 2013 that still hits hard. Lauren Cook found her date for a stranger's New Jersey wedding on Craigslist Casual Encounters. She showed up with a fake identity, a room full of people who knew nothing about her, and a night that kept escalating in directions she did not plan for. (Content note: gun violence) JJ grew up in 1980s Bushwick, Brooklyn, fought his way into Wesleyan and then Wall Street, but one afternoon a neighborhood confrontation pulled him back to a version of himself he thought he had left behind. He came very close to throwing everything away. Daniel Lobell sank $2,000 into a hairless cat as the foundation of a breeding empire. When the cat ended up at a friend's apartment and she stopped returning his calls, his plan to get it back got increasingly creative. Full episode details and music credits at risk-show.com/podcast/impulsive-cre510 Support RISK! & Get Involved 🎟 See RISK! live⁠ on Tuesday, June 9, 2026, in New York City ✍️ Pitch your story⁠ ❤️ Support us on Patreon⁠ or ⁠make a one-time PayPal donation⁠ 📚 Shop merch or the RISK! book⁠ 🎓 Take storytelling classes with us⁠🎥 Hire Kevin as a coach or get personalized videos Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 1 min
All stars
Most relevant
risk is my very favorite podcast. One of the things that I'd liked about it is all the stories seem authentic. this is such obvious. b******* I am very surprised that do aired it. it goes beyond horrible. who is this guy anyway? he must have had money to get this

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If you like listening to a man say, "mmmm.... yeeeah...mmmhmmmm...yeeeeahhh...wooooow...." while people tell horrible stories you'll like this. I do not.

Mmm

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