Martin Dockery’s distinctive storytelling style is marked by his scratchy voice, wild hand gestures, entertaining digressions, and, most of all, intimacy.

Dockery likes to dial down the intensity of his stories from time to time to prepare us for their impact, but his racing mind is frequently hilarious: in a declaration of long-term love, he qualifies, “I don’t wanna actually watch you grow old, but if you’re gonna grow old anyway, I’ll watch.”

And he packs a lot in: while you’re hearing tales of a tense airport border crossing, an unexpected encounter at the Burning Man Festival, and the loss of a beloved pet, you’ll also learn about the life cycle of the monarch butterfly, reflect on how much everyone loves moving sidewalks, and be let in on a fundamental rule of comedy: “For it to be funny, you need to have someone there who thinks it’s funny.” Works for me.