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- [00:01]
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- [01:32]
State Farm Advertiser
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- [02:05]
Kevin Allison
Hello folks, this is Risk, the show where people tell true stories they never thought they dare to share. I'm Kevin Allison and this is our 777th episode and it's also one of our new video format episodes. If you're hearing this on the podcast feed, just know that there's a link to the video version in the show notes. And if you're watching this, don't miss our audio podcast where we've been sharing boldly told, jaw dropping true stories for over 15 years. There are thousands of stories for you on Risk wherever you get your podcast or@risk show.com Today we're featuring a story by Susan Liu that she told in 2018 at a risk live show and a conversation I had with her and in 2025 about it. Susan's story is called 140 pounds. That's the weight that her mother was when she passed away. So without further ado, here is Susan Liu. Okay, I'm here with Susan again. Oh, my gosh, Susan, this is so funny. Neither of us has heard this story since, I think, 2018. Right?
- [03:27]
Susan Liu
That's right.
- [03:29]
Kevin Allison
Or at least this recording. You've done many, many, many versions of stories that include what happens in this story. But this original 2018 version, it'll be very, very fresh for us. All right, let's give it a listen and see what we think.
- [03:54]
Susan Liu
I lost my mom when I was 11. I don't have many memories about my mom, but I know that my entire family calls her the hero. She grew up in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam in this small province called Saukchang. It's known for its fermented fish noodle soup. We call it bung nuk Leo. To me, when I smell it with the shrimp and the pork and the banana flour and the citrus, I think it smells like home. But maybe most of you, when you smell it, you might think it smells like compost rot. When the bin gets too full, it's super funky, but that's what we're known for. And when my mom was 16 and she was growing up, she had to drop out of high school. She was the best student in her class. She was in ninth grade, and she had to support her 11 brothers and sisters. So she went out into the village. She'd walk down this dirt road every day, and she'd sell lotto tickets. She started selling lotto tickets to people, and she started making money. And then she found out that if she started having other people sell lotto tickets for her, she'd make more money. And then she started having dreams. And she had animals. A pig was one, A cow was two. A water buffalo was three. And then she started figuring out what the numbers were and started buying lotto tickets. And then she started winning, and she won several times. And that's how she saved up enough money to save up for six 1 ounce gold bars. And that was enough money to pay for four tickets out of Vietnam. Four tickets to try to get on a boat and get to a Malaysian refugee camp. This was after the fall of Vietnam, and everyone was frightened for their lives every day. They didn't know what was going to happen the next day to them. So she had enough money. She, my dad, my two brothers, they were planning an escape. But it wasn't an easy escape. It was risky because if any of the communists spotted them or anybody else trying to leave the docks that night, you get thrown into a labor camp, you get thrown into prison, or maybe you just disappear. So that was obstacle number one. That night. She knew it was the night to go. So each parent took a son in their hands and they walked quickly to the docks. And when they got there, the communist lighthouse, it lit up. And all of a sudden all the passengers had to run back and just run back into the jungle and run as fast as they could. And she started running and she was holding my 4 year old brother hard against her belly and her shoes started flying off, but she kept running into the darkness. She didn't know where she was going. And she ran into a thorny patch. And every step she took, more and more thorns went into her body. And then her foot became a bloody mess. And then she came back to my grandma's house and you could see all these bloody footprints coming through the house. And she'd lie down in the hammock and my grandma would cry saying, this is the last time you're gonna do this. It's not worth it and you're going to die out there, so stop doing this. And my grandma would take this needle and just take all the thorns out of her foot, take all the thorns out of her foot and wipe all the blood off her feet and say, stop doing this. And my mom did it again and again and again. And on the sixth time, they finally just made it onto a boat. And the boat made it past the communists and after three days at sea, they made it to a Malaysian refugee camp. My sister was born in that camp. And after two years we made it to America. And I was born in 85. When we were in America, it was all about the family business. Susan's Nails, named after me. My sister's so pissed about it to this day. In the family, everyone had a part to play. And I remember I was 4 years old and when all the customers were backed up and people aren't starting at the right appointment time, she'd look over at me and she'd nod. And I knew I gotta turn on the charm. And so I'd go up to the customers that were waiting and be like, oh, hi, Betty, how's your dog? Yeah, your hair looks nice. Yeah. And I'd be like taking off her nail polish. Really engaged scheduling the next appointment. It was a family business and we all had to take part in it. And I felt Like I got to take part in my mom's dream. I know some of you might be thinking, isn't that called child labor? I call it all Vietnamese refugees.
- [08:50]
Audience Member
We call it free daycare.
- [08:53]
Susan Liu
It's very good model. You should think about it. My mom, she was tough as nails and she only prioritize education. She couldn't finish ninth grade. So when we got to America, she wanted us to focus on school. So I wanted to play trombone. I wanted to play with Todd in band class, but I was not allowed to. And I remember one morning I woke up really early and I was going.
- [09:16]
Audience Member
To gather the courage to tell her.
- [09:18]
Susan Liu
I'm going to try out for volleyball tryouts.
- [09:21]
Audience Member
Yeah.
- [09:22]
Susan Liu
And I'm getting ready to ask her and I see my mom and dad and in the kitchen shuffling about and they're moving about and it's weird because this is way too early for them to go to the nail salon. And I say, ma, where are you guys going? She said, oh, oh, we're going to be back later, it's fine. But ma, it's 6am and you guys go to the shop at 8am so where are you guys going? We're coming home late tonight. It's fine. Well, I'm coming home late tonight too. I'm not coming home at 3, I'm coming home at 5. I'm going to volleyball tryouts. And she said, oh, no you're not.
- [10:02]
Audience Member
You have school.
- [10:03]
Susan Liu
And I was like, I'm in the under minute club with the multiplication tables. I'm smart. I have school handled. I want to do tryouts. And she said, which means shut up. And I said, you can't tell me what to do. I'm going to volleyball tryouts and I'm going to make the team and I'm gonna show you and I'm gonna do whatever I want. And I hate you. The car is running. They get in the car, they close the door. I slam the garage door. I hear the car roll out, I hear the door close. That's the last time I ever talked to my mom. And I come back home from school, from tryouts and my brother says, susan, Mom's in a coma. And when I get to the hospital, I see my dad in the doorway of the room. And I walk over there and I look at the bed and that's not my mom. That's a body. That's a vegetable. And when I see her lying there, my legs turn into cement legs. And I can't move and I can't say anything. And then my dad says, go. And he pushes me behind my back and he says, go talk to her. I said, say what to her? Just go talk to her. And it feels like ages me just trying to drag my legs over and then walk and sit down and he goes, hold her hand. So then I pick up her hand and her body is this weird yellow color because all the liquid of her natural body has soaked down into this little tub next to her of all this liquid. And I'm holding her hand and it's cold. It is so cold. And the only color on her body is her red nails because she thought she'd come out of a that day with her beautiful nails. Talk to her. So finally, when I'm ready to talk to her, I said, ma, you always said that when I go to college, you move in with me. So can you come back so you can go to college with me? Can you come back to me? After five days in a coma, she flatlined. It's always hard when people ask me what my mom died of. It's not something that you can immediately feel sorry for, like cancer or getting hit on the sidewalk by a car. She died from plastic surgery. She went in for a tummy tuck, the narrowing of her nostrils and a chin implant. With Dr. Frank Thomas, a plastic surgeon in San Francisco who had 24 lawsuits against him, had been on probation for years, been sanctioned by the medical board two times, operated in an unaccredited facility. She walked into this clinic and she didn't know what she was walking into. Two hours and then the operation. Her narrowing of her nostrils goes fine. They're working on the tummy tuck, and then the siren goes off. She's lost oxygen to her brain. The nurse tells the doctor, the doctor tries to do mouth to mouth, immediately lifts her legs up, tries to figure things out, gives her extra medication, and nothing is happening. Usually after not having oxygen for four minutes, you have permanent brain damage. And it was at the 14 minute mark that he calls 911. And turns out the clinic was a block and a half away from the hospital. So I'm in my late 20s now and I'm at business school. I'm staying up late at night working on a statistics problem set. But I don't want to do it because I keep thinking about Dr. Frank and I keep thinking, how does a man like him, he kills somebody, he continues to have a track record. How do you just lose your license for a couple years and keep on practicing? Where's the justice in this system? I can't stop thinking about him. And I said, you know, I'm going to Google this motherfucker. And turns out he was still practicing and he was still on probation. So I decided because I was getting an mba, I was going to seek revenge, but with a multi prong marketing campaign. And I was going to get him because I found out a couple of things. I found out that he targeted Vietnamese women in the weekly Vietnamese newspaper. 30% of his clients were Vietnamese. And he also had volunteered his time during the Vietnam war doing reconstructive surgery. I couldn't put my finger on it. There was something really odd about this guy. But maybe instead of just the negligence on my mom, maybe there was a class action lawsuit. So I was going to go at it that way. But then also I was going to have a marketing campaign where he starts to feel paranoid. I was going to have targeted Facebook ads so that he'd click on Facebook and he'd see his face and it would say, I am watching you. And he'd look at him, be like, ah, that's me. But I'm watch myself. Who is watching me if I'm watching myself, right? And then. So that would start the paranoia. And then he would drive into work, and then there would be a billboard, and it would be all the women that he's hurt. And it'd say, we've got your eyes on you. And then he'd be like, what? This is so confusing. And then I would stage protests in front of the clinic so that any new patient would know who they were going under with the knife. And my final trick in all of this is I was going to schedule an appointment to get breast implants. And I would sit in front of him and he would be like, so how'd you hear about us? And I'd say, oh, I've done my research. And then he'd say, what are you here to get done? And then I'd slowly unzip my bag and say, revenge. And then I'd pull out the subpoenas and I'd put it there and I'd slide it onto the desk. And then I'd get up and walk away very slowly, just looking at him for a long time until I closed the door. That's what I was gonna do. I was up late one night, and so I was talking to my friend Amanda. She went to Harvard Law School. And I was like, amanda, I need you to do research on this. Figure out how we're gonna structure the case. Tell me how this is all gonna go down. I was so Excited about my plan. And then she said to me, susan, he's dead. And all of a sudden, my mouth, it turned sour. It was all the sour enzymes that.
- [17:15]
Audience Member
You get when you start to throw up.
- [17:16]
Susan Liu
And it got sour all over, through my mouth and through my stomach. And then I just felt like my body just slipped out onto the floor, onto the mess of all the research of my papers. And that hero that I wanted to be for my family was gone. All of that was for nothing. And I said to her, amanda, can you sue dead people? It turns out you can't. This has been a really hard journey for me because I'm a Buddhist and I should be compassionate and have loving kindness for all beings, and I should forgive people and see the good in them. And that's been hard to do, but I think I could do that if I could humanize him or get to know him. So I sent a letter to one of his kids. His son is a marriage and family therapist. And my siblings thought I was totally crazy. And they're like, what are you doing? I said, I gotta do what I need to do. And then three days later, I got a call. It's the youngest daughter, Megan. And she said, susan, I got your letter and I want you to know that I'm really, really, really, really, really, really sorry. And I can't imagine this happening to my family. And I want you to know that your mom's death impacted me the most. Call me back. So I texted her. And then three days passed. And so then I called and left a voicemail. A few more days passed. I texted her a couple more times, and that's where things stand now. My siblings think that she might have gotten spooked. Maybe she thinks I'm going to sue her or her family. So, like a nerd, I looked up if I could sue her and I can't. And so I wrote her a letter of all the statutes of limitations of why I can't do anything. I had a four year window since 1999 to do something, and so now I can't. In the letter, I also said I'd just like to know more the kind of person your father was, how you felt about his work, how he felt about his work. Maybe I'm trying to make sense of what happened or at the very least, trying to come to peace with it. By us connecting, I hope we can rewrite the narrative we pass down to future generations, that while we cannot undo the past, the human spirit is capable of forgiveness. So I'm just waiting and I'm hoping maybe she's going to hear this recording and pick up the phone and call me.
- [20:22]
Kevin Allison
Wow. Holy cow. You know, it's so funny because I just remember how emotional the story was. But to hear it again, just how many twists and turns and just like how many jaw dropping moments there are is really, really something. And it's so beautiful and almost unbelievable. I mean, you know, it's hard to believe. I mean, of course, I understand totally the effort to have compassion there at the end, but yeah, it's so much.
- [21:05]
Audience Member
It's such a trip to hear this again.
- [21:09]
Kevin Allison
I'm sure, I'm sure. All right, we're gonna take a little break and then we will really dig in to what this was like for both of us. We'll be right back.
- [21:21]
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- [21:39]
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- [22:13]
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- [22:21]
Audience Member
This season of Revisionist History, we're investigating everything from the secret behind the perfect nooks and crannies in Thomas English Muffins to the merits of Paw Patrol against its critics.
- [22:32]
Susan Liu
There's some things that really piss me off when it comes to Paw Patrol.
- [22:36]
Audience Member
It's pretty simple.
- [22:37]
State Farm Advertiser
It sucks.
- [22:38]
Kevin Allison
My son watches Paw Patrol. I hate it.
- [22:41]
Audience Member
Everyone hates it except for me. Listen to revisionist history.
- [22:45]
Susan Liu
Wherever you get your podcasts.
- [22:49]
Nordstrom Advertiser
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- [23:16]
Ryan Reynolds
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- [23:34]
Susan Liu
Switch upfront payment of $45 for three month plan equivalent to $15 per month required intro rate first three months only, then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra. See full terms@mintmobile.com we're back.
- [23:49]
Kevin Allison
Okay. And I am back with Susan Liu today. Today, as in 2020, 25, having just listened to the story again. Oh my gosh. So yeah, what was that like for you?
- [24:04]
Audience Member
I mean, I felt so many things, man. From a technical perspective, I'm sitting there going like, Susan, you used the word and clocking in maybe 45 times.
- [24:16]
Kevin Allison
Oh, I hate that. I hate that. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [24:20]
Audience Member
I mean, part of me was just like, Susan, you were so adorable. You were so earnest, like trying to figure out what happened. Right. And remember, this is me seven years ago. Since then, I've learned so much more about my mom and the doctor and his family. And it's so interesting how everything has evolved since then, huh? But also just like the key points, the key emotional moments in the story continue to live on in my one woman show in my book. And but the way I later shaped it and what I've done with it is drastically different in the other formats that I've taken this story on.
- [25:03]
Kevin Allison
So it's fascinating.
- [25:04]
Audience Member
It's cool to see Ernest Susan just first starting out and trying to make my way and get confidence on the stage again.
- [25:14]
Kevin Allison
Yeah.
- [25:15]
Audience Member
Because it was about five years prior to this I used to do standup comedy and I loved it. And then I got heckled one day at a chairmany charity comedy show and I walk away so ashamed of like, oh my God, who did I think I was to be on stage?
- [25:32]
Kevin Allison
Oh no. Oh God.
- [25:33]
Audience Member
And so to come back to a risk Stage this was kind of like a comeback for me. Kevin, I don't think you knew the context at that time, but I was so terrified of the stage. But it drew me. It was this. It's a magnet for me to be on stage, so I can hear how much I enjoy being on stage. But at the same time, I am still really grasping for the technical beats of how to be an effective storyteller. So that's what I'm just sitting here kind of criticizing myself, but also thinking, aw, Susan, you're so cute.
- [26:05]
Kevin Allison
Well, you know, I always tell people in workshops that your brain has to kind of be three places at once. First, like you said, story structure, and then is just like, what is the audience understanding this? But third, emotionally present. And you were super emotionally present. And that is like the most important, important part.
- [26:26]
Audience Member
Yeah, I mean. I mean, I'm sitting here still going like, wow, I would have rewritten. I would rewrite it all over again. Right. But I think that's the unraveling of stories, is that we're constantly rewriting them as we get to know ourselves.
- [26:45]
Kevin Allison
Totally.
- [26:46]
Audience Member
So it's just interesting. Like, this is an artifact in time. My one woman show, 140 pounds, is, and so is my book. And each time I'm like, I'm taking things like the imagery of my mom's bloody feet, and later I turn it into a chapter, but it's really stitched together nicely because finally my family starts to open up and talk. And what we see in this piece here of this version of 140 pounds, is my fixation on the Doctor as the person who will give me my salvation. He's the one that's gonna give me closure around my family. But what it has evolved to since then is actually this is not a story about the Doctor at all, but really the story of my mother and my family's unwillingness to talk about the past and my search to have closure with them. And I think as I've evolved over the years to hone in on that.
- [27:37]
Susan Liu
Right.
- [27:37]
Audience Member
Because remember, we're not allowed to talk about in our family about her, that it becomes a more beautiful story. Right. It's not really about this evil revenge, which was very true and honest for me. Right. But it was. I could only find closure about my mom's death when I could see how I love her and how. How do I grapple with loving my family when it's hard. Right. And I think that was the heart of the story of as. As it's evolved to today, which is it's really not about the doctor at all.
- [28:12]
Kevin Allison
Yeah. Yeah. That's incredible. You know, it's so funny. I. The first thing that really struck me about listening this time was that I remembered the first part of the story, but had not remembered. I had remembered that as maybe being someone else's story or someone else's mom. You know, I thought the story started in the United States. And I was like, oh, my gosh. Wait, the bloody feet situation is this same story. So that was kind of weird the way our memory can do that. And as I was listening this time, I was like, oh, I can see where Susan gets so much goddamn gumption and balls. And, like, you know, just, like, you've got so much, like, drive. And listening to, you know, all the way back to Vietnam as. After the war, I was like, oh, wow. You know, able to put two and two together then that, you know, you are so much your mother's daughter.
- [29:20]
Audience Member
Yeah. You know, I mean. Okay, let me be honest about this one. I totally forgot my plan to schedule an appointment and get plastic surgery from him and deliver a subpoena. Like, I'm sitting here, I was listening to that going, like, the. The fuck that was. I did that.
- [29:37]
Susan Liu
What?
- [29:37]
Audience Member
Did I really plan that? And I'm sitting there going, like, well, you know what? That's just how fickle memory is, right? I was like, did I really plan that? Like, I don't even remember thinking about that. And then now that when I hear the recording, I'm like, yeah, that still checks out. Like, I probably would have done that, but that was a trip, because I was like, oh, I don't even remember that. Like, I didn't even fold that into my future work. And I was like, huh. Oh, that's interesting.
- [30:02]
Kevin Allison
Totally. Totally. Yeah. There are times when I'm telling a story, and I come to the next beat of something, and it just flows out of me. And then I start to think, wait, did that really happen? It's like, because the brain needs to be connecting things narratively.
- [30:21]
Susan Liu
Yeah.
- [30:22]
Audience Member
So crazy. Okay, so then I'm listening to the story, and then it's talk, and I'm talking about how he. The doctor didn't have medical malpractice insurance. And what happened is he actually walked away. Never paid my family anything. Two years after he lost his license, he went back to practice, and he was on probation for the rest of his life. What, 2018. Susan doesn't realize is that I will. Because the medical system is so unfair and not really towards protecting patients, but really towards Protecting doctors. What I would go on to do is address the medical malpractice caps. So like, in California, your life is worth a quarter million dollars if you die from medical malpractice. That amount has not changed since 1975. It never adjusted to inflation.
- [31:15]
Kevin Allison
Right.
- [31:16]
Audience Member
And so when I started investigating about the doctor and writing my story, I'm like, how does that still exist? You know? And I think because I was not able to avenge my mother's death with the doctor, I eventually said, well, how can we do that with patient advocacy? How can we do that with changing a law? And so in 2023, I worked with Consumer Watchdog, based in Santa Monica, so that we would change it the law, so it would adjust to inflation to $1.3 million. So what I didn't realize, I started as a storyteller and then I started to evolve into an activist, right? Like, I was just like, if I can't help my mom, if I can't reclaim any money for my dad, what can I do for other people, right? So it's just kind of funny. Like, looking back on it now, I didn't realize me returning to this stage would also be this beautiful union of all parts of me. Creative Susan, business entrepreneur Susan, and also social justice Susan.
- [32:17]
Kevin Allison
Amazing.
- [32:18]
Audience Member
And so it's kind of like I'm sitting here listening to this young woman who I'm like, oh, she's so adorable. Listening to her and then like, I don't even know what's ahead of me, you know, Like, I don't even know that I'm gonna go on to do another part of my life's work as related to my mom. And that I eventually will go on a 10 city national tour when I'm pregnant and also eventually get a book deal.
- [32:41]
Susan Liu
Like, right?
- [32:42]
Audience Member
Like, me returning to the stage that night in Seattle at the Vera Project. It was. It was a coming home to me, right? Of like, trying to feed that part of me that is so important. But I was just so lost. And so it's just so beautiful that, like, it still sounds like a cluster of a story to me. Like, I'm sitting there going like, oh, God, Susan. Oh, like, like it's. It's too scrambled. Like, I'm sitting there going like it is so all over the place. Even though that was like probably like eight drafts. I probably wrote eight drafts to get to there. But the adrenaline of being on stage in front of other people, it's like, okay, Susan, you know your keywords, you know your key beats. Like, now just tell the story.
- [33:23]
Kevin Allison
Right, right.
- [33:23]
Audience Member
But still, like, the perfectionist to me was like, hit all the lines. And then to the point where it's just like, I'm sitting here. And maybe what I'm trying to tell you, Kevin, is instead of me just being my inner critic out loud, it's more like, hey, I feel like I've really evolved as a storyteller, and that's beautiful. I'm proud of the progress, you know?
- [33:42]
Kevin Allison
Absolutely. Absolutely. Instead of thinking critically, I mean, because it was super, super duper powerful for me to hear it again. And as far as, like, the narrative arc and everything went, it also, like, completely worked for me in that way, too. So it's great to know, because I do that all the time, too. Like, I have to sometimes listen to old episodes of Risk. And like you said, that's one of the things, like, a repeated word. And I noticed. I did it recently. I told a story on stage and then had to listen to it back. And I said, write a bunch of times, like, right, right. You know, And I'm like, where the fuck did this one come from? So, yeah. Like, oh, my gosh. But that's beautiful to be able to see it as a work in progress and. Yeah. The way that stories are always evolving along with us. Yeah.
- [34:41]
Audience Member
Yeah. And I learned so much. I've learned so much about my mom and me since then. So it's really interesting how I go on stage and I try to tell everyone everything I know, and that's it. That's everything I know. And it's through more years of more research, and then my family realizing I'm not gonna stop, that they start to share more information with me. Oh, w. And you can really see the family story emerge instead of it being about the doctor.
- [35:10]
Kevin Allison
Yeah. Yeah. For sure. For sure. And now the book is in paperback.
- [35:16]
Susan Liu
Yeah.
- [35:17]
Audience Member
The Manicurist Daughter. It's my memoir, and it's so interesting. Like, it's like. It's an artifact for my son and all of his cousins and my siblings.
- [35:29]
Kevin Allison
Right.
- [35:29]
Audience Member
Because there's so much that everyone has learned when they do attend my shows or read the book, because no one. I think there's so much shame and silence in families that no one is gonna make the effort to piece it all together and make sure they get it historically accurate and chronologically, you know, right there.
- [35:46]
Kevin Allison
That's huge.
- [35:48]
Audience Member
And so I'm. It was exhausting writing the memoir. It took two years. It was exhausting. But now it's so beautiful to have this artifact just like the Risk recording You know, it's just. It's a snapshot in time of what I do know. And it's important to have those snapshots and times because memory's fickle.
- [36:07]
Kevin Allison
Totally, totally. And there's an audiobook version too, right?
- [36:10]
Susan Liu
Yes.
- [36:10]
Audience Member
I got to record it.
- [36:12]
Kevin Allison
I love it.
- [36:12]
Audience Member
It was so much fun. It was so much fun.
- [36:14]
Kevin Allison
Yeah. Well, that's the thing. Like, you have such a great voice and you're so emotionally present.
- [36:22]
Audience Member
Yeah.
- [36:23]
Kevin Allison
Yeah. That's amazing. Oh, my gosh. But that's so great to know that, you know, that was kind of. Well, it wasn't the first step because there were steps that came before, but that was an important step along the journey.
- [36:41]
Audience Member
Oh, my God. It was one of the first times I came back onto a stage and to feel that adrenaline with the microphone in your hand and everyone looking at you and you're realizing, like, it's up to me to go forward now. Like, I have to start. I'm gonna stop and start the entire experience. It ends with me. Here we go. And not even to know how it's gonna end. Right. Like, I never know when I'm gonna cry. I never know. And there was. I noticed a couple lines that I messed up on where I didn't know what I was supposed to say, so I just kind of fubbed it. Oh, my God. God, I'm so critical. But there is just something so powerful and cathartic about public storytelling to barrier soul. And it's this symbiotic relationship where you're receiving the audience's energy.
- [37:36]
Kevin Allison
Oh, yeah, right. Yeah, yeah.
- [37:38]
Audience Member
And it really intensifies the moment and cements it for me as like a core memory in my life.
- [37:47]
Kevin Allison
Yeah, yeah. And. And me, like, just at the Vera Project. Because that was at the Vera Project in Seattle. Oh, my gosh. Just to think of some of the moments of risk going back there and some of the extraordinary. I remember after one of. One of the shows we did there, the whole audience just stood up to, like, hug each other after the lights came back up.
- [38:12]
Susan Liu
Oh, my God, this beautiful.
- [38:15]
Kevin Allison
Yeah. But it just goes to show that, you know, Seattle's quite a town.
- [38:21]
Audience Member
Yeah, I remember one of the other storytellers that night was Ellen Acuario. And she's. Yeah, she's a stand up comic. I was just on her podcast. It's called why Reply YC Reply yo chin to your girlfriend. And it was so great to. To be there talking about motherhood, talking about the book, but also be like, wow, we shared that stage years ago. You know, that's so cool. Each of us has taken our own creative journey since then. Yeah. It was just such a special moment. Thank you so much for that.
- [38:55]
Kevin Allison
She's one of those folks who have, like, you know, Risk babies. Like, you end up befriending them on Facebook, and then you feel like, oh, my gosh, I'm watching their children grow up now. Yeah, so funny. Oh, my goodness. Well, thank you so much for, like, the honor of revisiting this. And everyone, go get the manicurist daughter. It's in paperback, it's in audiobook. Like, it's quite a bigger picture of this whole story.
- [39:30]
Audience Member
Yes. Thank you so much for having me. And, you know, being on Risk, it just planted this seed for me to really bloom. Right. To kind of nurture the storyteller in me that has always been there, but was so dormant and so afraid, terrified, anxious. And being able to share my story through your team to help produce it, but also, like, that time and space for my. The procrastinator self in me to actually.
- [40:00]
Susan Liu
Get my shit together.
- [40:04]
Audience Member
It propelled me to hear, and I'm sure you provide that opportunity for so many other storytellers, for them to bloom in their craft and for them to deeply discover who they are. So thank you. Thank you for that.
- [40:17]
Kevin Allison
Oh, thank you. That's awesome. That's amazing. All right, well, folks, that is it for this revisited look at 140 pounds, which was also the name of your solo show. Now, do you ever do the solo show again, like, these days?
- [40:37]
Audience Member
Oh, my God. In 2019, I performed it 60 times to 7,000 people.
- [40:43]
Kevin Allison
Oh, my gosh. That is a lot.
- [40:45]
Audience Member
It's 65 minutes and I play 15 characters.
- [40:48]
Kevin Allison
Oh, my gosh.
- [40:49]
Audience Member
I know. It's, like, so intense. And so now I have a 5 year old, and I'm just, like, so tired, and I. And I'm like, who was that person who took it on Intensity national tour when I was pregnant? I was like, that does not. I was like, that was super human.
- [41:06]
Kevin Allison
Yes, totally.
- [41:07]
Audience Member
I'm kind of like, y' all, please stream.
- [41:10]
Kevin Allison
Get the book.
- [41:11]
Susan Liu
You can.
- [41:11]
Audience Member
Well, you can stream 140 pounds from my website for 4.99. You can watch the whole thing. It's cut on three cameras. So, I mean, it looked all right, but because I just. I don't have the energy to do that. I am this summer going to a writer's residency, and I'm. I might be writing the third piece in the play, because that's 140 pounds. Then I did a sequel over 140 pounds. And the third one, I won't disclose the title, but I'm working on that and I'm exploring that. I don't have any plans yet to take it on tour. I actually, I kid you not, because I just turned 40. I was like, susan, you're not getting any younger. Let's keep doing things that are terrifying. And of course not usually the normal response, but. But that's my response. And I was like, ooh, like I want to do a 60 minute comedy special. You know, like I want to go back to something I loved that still terrifies me.
- [42:06]
Kevin Allison
Yeah.
- [42:07]
Audience Member
So I'm definitely thinking about that. And, you know, it's got some one woman show elements to it. Sure. And continue writing a second book and then also do a screenplay for TV show. So. Oh my God, I feel like I have, I'm like, done with my creative postpartum depression after writing the memoir. And then now I feel like I'm ready to take on a few more things. So, yeah, if you want to watch 140puns, please just stream it from my website and I'll get a small cut of that and you'll feed me to work on my next project.
- [42:43]
Kevin Allison
Great. And we will have a link in the show notes too. Awesome. Thanks, Kevin. Well, thank you so much. We'll see you soon.
- [42:52]
Audience Member
Bye.
- [42:53]
Kevin Allison
And that is that. I'll tell you, you might have been able to guess that I'm a big fan of audiobooks and Susan's reading of her beautiful memoir is beautiful in itself. The Manicurist Daughter. So let us know what you thought of this or any of these stories we've been revisiting and chatting with the storyteller in the present day. We love hearing from you. And you can go to the Risk Podcast Fans discussion group on Facebook or leave a comment on the YouTube version of this episode or post on R. Risk podcast the subreddit. And if you've got a story about a family secret or the loss of someone very dear to you that you might want to share here, just go to risk-show.com submissions and send us your pitch. Because, folks, today's the day. Take a risk.
- [44:10]
Susan Liu
It.