What Do You Call Folks Who Share Their Embarrassing History on Stage? Mortified

By Paul M. Davis Wed., Mar. 7 2012 at 9:30 AM

Categories: Comedy, Events, Horror, Preview, Storytelling

GJ Echternkamp

Lust, love, depression, delusions of grandeur -- this is the stuff of cringe-inducing adolescent memories. As we mature, many of us purge the journals, photos, and ornately customized LiveJournals that documented our teen years before they cause humiliation for our adult selves -- not to mention missed job opportunities or divorce. But no matter how much we try to rewrite our personal histories, those memories persist. So it's with rueful admiration that we salute the brave participants in Mortified, the performance series that compels storytellers with adamantium balls to exhume the most shameful episodes from their adolescent lives. (Think the Colosseum with more laughs and a bit less viscera.) The latest round of wholesome humiliation and fun happens Thursday at the DNA Lounge.

Bad kisses, secret desires, petty disputes, abrading blowjobs, and other such mortifying experiences fuel these laughter- and squirm-inducing tales. After a decade of communal shamings, some of which have appeared on This American Life and the Sundance Channel, Mortified is taking the experience to the silver screen with Mortified Nation, a film compiling some of the most notorious stories from the series. See one of our favorite San Francisco comedians, Mary Van Note, skewer herself at a past event in the video clip below.

For tonight's session, which will be recorded for the film, the self-assured Laurent Martini, Jessica Wassil, Patty Mayall, Chris Hambrick, Pete Morris, Lori Fowler, and Jaime Ford throw themselves to the lions to please the fickle gods of comedy and self-abasement.

Mortified starts at 7 p.m. Thursday (March 8) at DNA Lounge, 375 11th St. (at Harrison), S.F. Admission is $14-$20. The same show happens Saturday, March 10, at the Shattuck Down Low in Berkeley.

For more events in San Francisco this week and beyond, check out our calendar section. Follow us on Twitter at @ExhibitionistSF and like us on Facebook.