Maria Liza Basket
An Arcadia native who uses complex metaphors and studied abroad in Paris despite being bad at French.
Highlight Bits & Quotes
7The Branded Story Challenge
Trey Mount challenges the panel to tell 'branded stories' where the product is hidden deep within a narrative, leading to a series of increasingly absurd and inappropriate commercial pitches.
"I told a story about hot Cheetos."
"I like to hide my branded stories pretty deep."
"If you could do a good job, you'll just sell the product on its own."
The Ascension of Ira Glass
Maria Liza Basket begins to disintegrate into dust, transforming into public radio icon Ira Glass for a final sign-off that merges the podcast with 'This American Life'.
"Oh my god, the lady. She's becoming dust."
"I've obtained another storyteller for the Moth universe. It's Ira Glass."
"I'm Ira Glass, and this has been This American Life."
The Cardigan Metaphor and the French Reveal
Maria Liza Basket takes an agonizingly long time to reveal her name, using a convoluted metaphor about pulling a cardigan sleeve out from under a bed to describe her journey to Paris.
"I was never good at French."
"Sometimes you have to pull it to get to where you need."
The Storytellers Struggle to Remember Eminem Lyrics
The panel attempts to recite 'Lose Yourself' by Eminem, leading to a pretentious discussion about the 'meme' of storytellers forgetting lyrics and a visual gag involving hand gestures to represent spaghetti.
"Would you mind reciting M&M's Lose Yourself just a little bit?"
"Thank god we had the second hand to visualize the spaghetti."
Maria Liza Basket's Tragic Axe-Throwing Love Story
Maria Liza Basket tells a convoluted story about falling in love at an axe-throwing bar while mourning her father, involving a confusing timeline of marbles, airports, and hospitals.
"I had seven marbles left in my purse. Marbles from his game of mankala."
"Sometimes you have to fall before you can know."
The Moth Merch Hierarchy
The storytellers bicker over the prestige of various pieces of 'The Moth' merchandise, specifically the hierarchy between the crew neck sweatshirt and the elusive zip-up fleece.
"The zip-up fleece is not earned by the amount of times. It's the amount of worthwhile time."
The Art of the Storyteller Introduction
The panel of 'storytellers' introduces themselves with extreme pretension, using abstract metaphors about disco balls and point A to point B to establish their self-importance in the industry.
"We're all looking at the same disco ball but from different beams of light."
"I don't tell stories, I tell life."