Michele Carlo, a.k.a.
@Michele_as_Shell is a native New Yorker, a Nuyorican, a natural redhead — and an author/storyteller/comedy-adjacent performer who has appeared across the U.S., including NPR with Latino U.S.A. and WNYC Radio, RISK! live shows and podcast, Story Collider, PBS’ Stories from the Stage, multiple storytelling festivals, conferences, and house concerts, and the MOTH's GrandSlams and Mainstage in NYC. Many of Michele’s early Moth stories appear in her book Fish Out Of Agua: My life on neither side of the (subway) tracks (Citadel/Kensington).
Illustration: Rick Parker
Yep, I run a Coquito "factory" from Thanksgiving till New Year's, mostly for gifts. If you don't know what Coquito is, it's the quintessential Puerto Rican holiday libation, a Caribbean vacation in a glass it's... well... you can hear all about it in this story I told for WNYC radio: https://www.wnyc.org/story/how-family-coquito-recipe-stood-test-time/
Plus, on Thursday, December 21, 2023 at 6pm, I performed LIVE with WNYC at The Greene Space telling another Coquito story in their “Family Recipe Swap” show: https://www.thegreenespace.org/event/wnyc-recipe-swap/
It’s a storytelling show, it’s a party! It’s live from Washington Heights: “NoName at WordUp’s SUPER STORY PARTY!” at WordUp Community Bookshop with me and my co-conspirator of Story Crimes, Eric Vetter. First Tuesday of every month at 7pm!!! 🎇🎆🌠😍 🎇🎆🌠
Eric also interviewed me about my artistic journey on the No Name NYC Podcast!!! Listen here: https://blubrry.com/no_name_nyc_podcast/
What does #GrowingUpLatina look like? Three storytellers—including your favorite redheaded Brookli-Rican—share how their experiences as young #Latinas shaped the way they move in the world today. Watch on Stories from the Stage: https://bit.ly/SFTS_GrowingUpLatina 🎇🎆🌠😍 🎇🎆🌠
Read my story “Exactly Like Nobody” published by Big Other as part of their Big Other’s Puerto Rican Writer’s Folio: A Hauntology.
Tuesday, September 29, 7:00 pm. SOOOOO EXCITED to be part of the Story Collider again with a brand-new story coached with the legendary Gastor Almonte! For more info, click here or on photo! 😘😘😘 🔥🔥🔥 😻😻😻 🎇🎆🌠🎇🎆🌠
So proud and thrilled to bring these TWO new iterations of my first storyshow love “It Came FROM New York” (circa 2005), to this year’s @Frigid.NYC Gotham Storytelling Festival in November! For this year’s theme: “Stranger in a Strange Land,” we present “It Came TO New York,” with an all-star cast of people who moved here, and “It Came BACK TO New York,” with an equally amazing all-star cast of people who left and came back. For tickets click here or on photo. 🎇🎆🌠😍 🎇🎆🌠🔥🔥🔥 😻😻😻🎇🎆🌠🎇🎆🌠
Check out this NY1 clip (left) from my November 2019 interview with Roger Clark a few days before I performed my solo show Fish Out Of Agua at the Kraine Theater’s Gotham Storytelling Festival. Ah, those pre-pandemic days when a crowd could gather in the dark and be as one…
(Want to book Fish Out Of Agua for your school or event? Click here. )
See Me in Upcoming Shows!
(all times are EDT until 11/01/2026)
Tuesday, September 29, 7:00 pm
“Ripple Effect” with the Story Collider
Pete’s Candy Store
709 Lorimer Street, Brooklyn, NY
MORE INFO!
Friday, October 2, 7:00pm
”How to Build a Fire”
Open Source Gallery
306 17th Street, Brooklyn, NY
MORE INFO!
Tuesday, October 6, 7:00 pm
“No Name Super Story Party!”
Word Up Community Bookshop,
2113 Amsterdam Avenue,
Washington Heights, NY
FREE!
Wednesday, October 7, 7:00 pm
“Changing the City
7 Minutes at a Time”
Fiona’s Bar
562 Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn, NY
LIVE!
Tuesday, November 3, 7:00 pm
“No Name Super Story Party!”
Word Up Community Bookshop,
2113 Amsterdam Avenue,
Washington Heights, NY
FREE!
Frigid NYC & the Gotham Storytelling Festival present
“It Came TO New York”
Saturday, November 7, 9:30pm
&
“It Came BACK TO New York”
Tuesday, November 10, 7:00pm
Under St. Marks Theater
94 St. Marks Place, NYC
Live & Livestream Tickets for
both shows here!
Saturday, November 21, 5:00pm
“How Was It?”
Q.E.D.
27-16 23rd Avenue, Astoria, NY
Ticket link TBC
Hear Me on PODCASTS!
“The Volume Knob: Songs That Saved Me”
where I tell one of my most-requested stories “Kill Whitey Day.”
“Death & the Puerto Rican”
a story on the Story Collider Podcast for Diabetes Awareness (also featuring the fabulous Gastor Almonte).
“45 Years,” one of the stories from my 2021 solo show What a Difference A Year Makes, on the RISK Podcast episode: “Make This Right”
“NO, YOU TELL IT!”
Kelly Jean Fitzsimmon’s great live show and podcast: Click here.
“BIG OTHER: A HAUNTOLOGY”
John Madera’s literary folio featuring Puerto Rican writers.
Click here.
“Circling the Drain”
Julia Granacki and Ellie’s Dunn’s hilarious podcast by and for Gen-X.
Click here.
“No Name NYC”
Eric Vetter and Gary Hardcastle talk to performing artists of all kinds!
Click here.
”Love Hurts”
Bryan Berlin’s popular storytelling podcast about love—lost and found.
Click here.
I’m on the World Channel/WGBH Stories from the Stage series. My episode: Season 1, Ep. 11, “Make It Or Break It!”
So proud and thrilled to bring these TWO new iterations of my first storyshow love “It Came FROM New York” (circa 2005), to this year’s @Frigid.NYC Gotham Storytelling Festival in November! For this year’s theme: “Stranger in a Strange Land,” we present “It Came TO New York,” with an all-star cast of people who moved here, and “It Came BACK TO New York,” with an equally amazing all-star cast of people who left and came back. For tickets and streaming info click on photo or here 🎇🎆🌠😍 🎇🎆🌠🔥🔥🔥 😻😻😻🎇🎆🌠🎇🎆🌠
Your favorite Brookli-Rican redhead is featured on this unique podcast about the “Songs That Saved Or Lives.” Hosted by Keith Serry. Click here or on image for more info. 🎇🎆🌠😍 🎇🎆🌠
“45 Years,” one of the stories from my solo show, What a Difference A Year Makes, is now available on the RISK Podcast episode: “Make This Right” https://www.risk-show.com/podcast/make-this-right/
A still from Page to Stage, a documentary short about my journey to becoming a writer and performer, streamed September 22–October 2 as part of the 2020 Coney Island Film Festival.
Friday, October 2, 7:00pm, “How to Build a Fire,” at Park Slope’s Open Source Gallery!
Click here or on photo for more info.
Vintage pic of my “Coquito Factory” ©2012
I Wrote a Book!
Fish Out Of Agua:
My Life On Neither Side Of
The (Subway) Tracks
is about my growing up as a redheaded freckle-faced Puerto Rican in an Italian/Irish neighborhood in 1970s NYC — and a family secret that impacted the relationship between my mother and me for many years.
I’m in a Movie!
Don’t I make a lovely Bruja? 🔥💥😍🎆
I’m in “La Bruja,” a short film written/directed by Eliza Cossio, which won awards at several film festivals and was written up by Vulture (New York Magazine). Learn more about “La Bruja” here: https://labrujafilm.com 🔥💥😍🎆
I’m in Another Book!
One of my RISK! podcast (and MOTH MainStage) stories is included here along with many other amazing stories.
Available Now!
Photo: Fay Hauser-Price
Story Coaching with Michele Carlo!
Have a story you're working on for a solo show, a story festival or any other show/ performance?
Reworking an old story? Polishing a new one?
I can help! Learn more and contact me here!
All 101 episodes of my podcast “Fish Out of Agua with Michele Carlo” are available for sharing, streaming & subscribing on Radio Free Brooklyn, Podomatic & iTunes!
Like our stories? Our Noo Yawk Ax-Sent? Tell us about it!