Was I In A Cult? - WIIAC LIVE! w/Special Guest: Moses Storm

Episode Date: May 5, 2025

In our first-ever live episode, your favorite mediocre cult leaders take the stage in Napa, California to indoctrinate the masses—err, entertain a crowd. Tyler and Liz welcome comedian and actor Moses Storm (HBO’s Trash White) to tell his jaw-dropping story of growing up in a failed (as he puts it) doomsday cult… started by his great uncle. A live audience, Tyler showed off an old pair of magic underwear, Liz recruited a willing participant into a fake cult, and Moses brought the house down. This is Was I In A Cult? like you’ve never heard it before.Follow Us for More Culty Content:Instagram & TikTok: @wasiinacultFollow our guest Moses Storm: @mosesstormNeed an acting coach? Tyler recommends @mikeostroski / mikeostroski.comSupport the Show:If Was I In A Cult? has impacted you, moved you, or made you laugh-uncomfortably-in-public, please rate & review—it helps new listeners find us.Want ad-free episodes + bonus content? Join our Patreon!Share Your Story:Have a cultic experience you want to share on the show? Email us at [e-mail] Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The views, information or opinions expressed by the guest appearing in this episode solely belong to the guest and do not represent or reflect the views or positions of the hosts, the show, podcast one, this network or any of their respective affiliates. Hey, everyone. Hey, everyone. She's Liz Ayacuzzi. And he is Tyler Meesum. Hey everyone! Hey everyone! She's Liz Ayacuzzi. And he is Tyler Meesum. And last weekend we were in Napa Valley, California at the Napa Valley Stream Fest where we did a live show. Our first live show of this show was in a cult show.

First off, huge kudos to the creators of this festival. It was the inaugural year. It was a blast. We had such a fun weekend. So congratulations, Furin and Juliana, whose name you will get to know quite well as we get further into this episode. Thanks to our hysterical guest, Moses Storm. Yeah, we all drove up. We drove up with our families.

True. I endured two epic toddler meltdowns on the way up, which felt like my own personal rite of passage. And that was just me. That didn't have anything to do with her child. That was me. You know, when you want to stop, you just got to stop. I endure your meltdowns every week, Tyler. Your son was hazing you.

Just hazing. Hazing you into your own cult. I, this is true. I did discover though something life changing this weekend. Okay, and what is that? Oh, I discovered that I like your wife more than I like you. She's a good, solid person.

Which it's hard now to know that and then to know I have to still deal with you every week. Yeah, it is too bad. It is too bad. She doesn't listen to the podcast though, so I can say whatever I want about her. Good or bad. Good or bad, she's smart enough not to listen to the show.

No, but I had a great time. I had a great time with you and your family. Napa was great. We did the show, We saw some chickens. We went to a nice wine tasting. My son napped during the wine tasting, which was a gift. Liz pretty much napped at the wine tasting too after her 27th tasting. Can I try? What did I say? Can I get a redo of the Sauvlonk? We did. We drank buttloads of wine.

You know, Liz is using the term buttloads of wine as a colloquialism, but actually... Actually, tell us, Tyler, actually what? The term butt is a standard of liquid measurement. It's about 126 gallons of wine. It's a buttload. So when you say you drink a buttload, you actually, that would be a lot. We drank a lot of wine. We did not drink a bottle of wine. We should talk about the show. I think. Yeah, probably. We should talk about the show and actually play the show. We're going to play the live show for you guys. No, yes, we are.

And I just want to say to you, Tyler, thank you for all your hard work that you did for this show, all the visuals, learning PowerPoint at the very last minute. Very corporate, isn't it? Very corporate. I actually use Keynote, but you know, tomato tomato. Yeah, it was such a blast doing this show and we got such a great audience response. We decided that we're going to take our live show out on the road to select cities. We're going to start in Los Angeles very soon. We'll have news for you later. Which we are very excited about.

And Rob will get to be at that one. That's right. I'm so excited to say something that I can't take back and edit around. Thank you if you were there. And because for all of you, obviously most of you weren't there, we just wanted to play you the show today. Just so you're able to visualize the setting and the stage and the setup, you can go to our Instagram page where we will put up photos of the live show. So when we entered the stage, we had this large screen behind us with the surf rolling in on a perfect sun setting beach.

And both Liz and I were wearing robes and flowers. Welcome, seekers of the divine spark. You are here. You have shed the vest worldly possessions, your doubts, and your brunch reservations. Today you are no longer of this world, you are one with, with us. Welcome to You Are in a Cult. If the program said, Was I in a Cult? Welcome to You Are In A Cult.

If the program said, Was I In A Cult? Well, that is an egregious error, and the person responsible has been excommunicated. May he rest in peace. Now, before we take you on this journey toward self-enlightenment and other things cults do we ask of you one very important thing take your third eye no it's shocker shockers not shockers they're relying their chakras shocker you don't know what a fucking chakra I

don't know what a shocker is third I don't know what a chakras third eye. It's third eye first because you can't access your chakras before your third. You know what? You know what? We can't do this anymore. We are not good cult leaders. We are terrible cult leaders. Holly Esther! How do they wear this shit? I'm Tyler Reesom. I'm Liz Ayacuzzi.

And no, this is not a cult. This is not a cult. This is the podcast, What If I Am a Cult? I look like a doctor in that room. You did look like a doctor. I looked a lot like a doctor. We give you guys the most wait what the fuck stories told firsthand by people who have been in and thankfully successfully left cults. Right. And look, cults are awful. They're horrible. They cause pain. They cause trauma.

They cause financial difficulty and issues. But they can also be quite humorous. Yeah, the shit people believe in, guys. Right. And we know this because we've done over a hundred episodes with people telling their stories about being in cults. But also it's because both Liz and I, well, we were in cults. We were in cults, okay. I, I'm not gonna believe this, I joined an acting class in Los Angeles. Yeah. Yeah, it's like the second thing you do when you move to LA, you navigate the 405. You join an acting class and I did that and it morphed into this spiritual self-help weird new agey let's go to India and deepen our bullshit cult and there I am I look really happy

though do yeah you do look I do look bliss maybe I should go back to the cult chat GPT create a picture of a cult so behind those creepy cult culty eyes, I do look enlightened. Yeah, I see that the cult didn't ban shiny lip gloss. No, we were allowed to wear that. And I was raised as a Mormon, which is a lot like an acting cult, but with a lot more food storage. And a lot less sex. I was raised as a Mormon, big Mormon family, went on a two-year Mormon mission, and I don't believe in it anymore, but I'm still kind of on the fence

as to whether or not it's a cult, to be honest with you. You are? Still a little bit. You really have not, really? Little bit, yeah. All right, can we get a picture, please? Oh, look, there's Tyler. He's wearing a jumpsuit.

I think there's some magic underwear under that. What are you off on? A mission to go convert the lost souls of the day in hopes you would what get your own planet and multiple wives in the afterlife? Yeah, you get your own planet and multiple wives. Yeah. Okay. So fine. It's a cult. It's a cult. And it's far more culty than my cult. At least I got to wear color. Yeah, but I don't regret the jumpsuit. It's very breathable. And slimming. Quite slimming. You were 20 though. We've got a great show for you guys today. This is our first live show, so we appreciate you being here. If we fuck up, it's your fault. That's a cult tactic. It's a cult tactic. We always blame you. No, if you don't know the show, does anybody know our podcast? Be honest. Oh, wow. Hooray. Okay. So you know our weirdness already. Fantastic. If you don't, we're sorry.

But you'll get to know it soon enough. And we've got a great guest. We're very excited about our guest. But first we want to tell you, talk a little bit more about cults. Yeah, a little bit more about cults. Cults, cults, cults. So look, there's a popular misconception that cults happened in the 60s and 70s, right? That they were on communes. But you might be surprised to learn that there are actually more cults in America today than ever.

And they come in all shapes and sizes. Of course you have your religious cults. Those will never go anywhere. There are political cults. There are fitness cults. Self-help cults. Polygamy cults. Sex cults.

MLMs, your Rodan and Fields, your Arbonne, or however you say that. Yeah. Amway, all the cults. Read the fine print, those are cults. We've also done crazy episodes about like a pole dancing cult or Kung Fu cults, true. It's true, it's true.

Basically anybody who claims that they alone have the truth and pay them for it is probably a cult, you guys. What you need to know though is no one joins a cult, right? Who would willingly sign up for a cult? What you do is you sign up and you join a movement or you join a community. People think that people in cults are all lost, gullible, losers, weak-minded individuals, right? That's the stereotype for people in cults. That's not true. The fact of the matter is anybody is susceptible to winding up in a cult.

And it's usually just somebody who's just wanting to better themselves or better the world or lose weight or get their own planet. Yeah, your own Mormon planet, apparently. You get to be your own God if you're a Mormon. I can't even keep a house plant alive, but apparently I'm supposed to have my own planet. Right. What you're also going to know is that when people join cults typically they're in a vulnerable life transition. They lost a partner,

they just got divorced, they just moved to a new community. People always ask us how does this happen, right? How do you one day just look at Tyler and think oh he's a cool dude and then How do you one day just look at Tyler and think, oh, he's a cool dude, and then two weeks later, you think he's the Messiah, right? It's the hair. But how does it happen? Well, we're going to find out. So cults usually use certain techniques and tactics

in order to get people into their culty clutches, and we have those for you tonight, but what we do need is a volunteer, someone who maybe wants to join a quick cult. We need a little one. One person. Come on. That person right there. Anybody. This girl. Who wants to be? Yes. Woo! Give her a round of applause. The brave lost soul. Nice. She volunteered rather quickly. Welcome. There you go. Okay, what's your name?

Alicia. Alicia, where are you from? I grew up here. You grew up here? Yeah. Until I moved to Sacramento to join a cult. Did you really join a cult? Seriously?

We've got a veteran. Well. Maybe you should. You wanna do the next segment? What cult was it? It was called Church of the Harvest in Citrus Heights. Yeah, that sounds like a cult. Church of the Harvest?

Yeah. I love the names to all these. Yeah, that sounds like a cult. Church of the Harvest? I love the names, Tal. These are always so creative. What did you harvest? Souls. That makes sense. That lines up. Well, do you want to play a little game with us? Okay, great. Do you want to join another cult? Great. So people asked us if she was a plant,

and no, she wasn't. She volunteered, and she was in a cult. Guess what? She's actually a listener of the show and has reached out to be on the show. So Alicia we will be in touch soon to make that happen. I thought she was very sweet. This get you into a cult. Step one, invitation. Casual, non-threatening, and usually comes from an appointment.

Hello, what was your name again? Of course, my good friend Alicia. Alicia, it's so good to see you. I'm so sorry about your recent life transition. That sucks. But I go to this Bible study, yoga class, life coaching event, and guess what, it's free on Fridays, and it has snacks, you should come.

Great, stop right there, great. Step two, love bombing, the practice of overwhelming a new recruit with excessive flattery. Alicia, you are so pretty, oh my God, and you are like special, one of a kind. Were you overlooked by your parents growing up? Yeah, I see that. But guess what?

We see you and I love your shoes. Holy shit, amazing! Step three. Community, a curated group of people that reinforce the idea that you found your people. Alicia we get you we see you everything that you believe in we believe in too you know like you're your real family they don't understand you yeah welcome to your new family Alicia. Step four truth. The leader is always right. Oh, all hail Todd.

Todd is all knowing. Todd is never wrong. And Todd is not here right now because he's on his yacht. Step five. Isolation. When a cult separates you from outside influences to make you more dependent upon the leader. So, Alicia, you see all those people in the audience? you from outside influences to make you more dependent upon the leader. So Alicia, you see all those people in the audience?

Look at them. They don't understand you, right? They don't get it. And they never will. So for your energy, it's best just to cut them off. Never talk to them again. And judge them, Alicia. Judge them. You're now much better than them.

You're now much better than them. Did you know that? Step 6. Blind obedience. Once they've got your trust, well it's a short walk from devotion to exploitation. Well it's a short walk from devotion to exploitation. So we wake up at 5,

we recruit new members, we repeat the mantra, we wear the jumpsuit, we don't look taut in the eye. You know what, Alicia, give us your money. Oh, give us more of your money. Sell your car and give us that money too. Oh, do free labor, rename yourself Moonsage, don't talk to your mom anymore.

Do things you would never do, say things you would never say, basically lose your entire sense of self and identity and wake up one day going, who the fuck am I and what the fuck happened to my life and voila! Oh, Becky, you're... How do you feel? How do you feel?

Like I'm wearing a lot of things. Yes, good, you are. You're blissed? Do you feel enlightened? Do you feel exploited of things. Yes. Good. You are. You're blistered. Do you feel enlightened? Do you feel exploited? Deeply violated? Good. Welcome. Thank you. Thank you so much.

Moon stage, everybody. Moon stage. Pause the tape, Rob. Tyler, did you call her Becky? Uh, hmm. Oh, Becky. You're... Seems like I did. Okay, I did. I called her Becky? Oh, Becky. Seems like I did. Okay, I did.

I called her Becky. And the reason for that is in our rehearsal, Liz and I overprepared for this. We rehearsed quite well. Our recruit was always named Becky. So I was just going back to the lines. There was no room for improv. I do apologize, Alicia. No, that's her new name now.

And this cult, you are now Becky. Becky it is. Alicia is your past. Becky is your new self reborn. We'll be right back, Becky. To quote the great Ferris Bueller, life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you can miss it. Even if stopping and looking around has helped Vaya Vaya.

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over $100, and if you're new to VIA, you get a free gift of your choice. That's V-I-I-A-H-E-M-P.com, code INACULT at checkout. And when they ask you where you heard about them, well, tell them it was from your favorite X-Cult hosts. Enhance your everyday with Viahemp. Okay, now we are back on stage. How are you feeling at this point, Tyler? Well, I gotta say, this was fun. It was fun doing a live show. It was also terrifying.

I don't usually do on stage things such as this. And I was nervous. On stage things. Such as of the like. And I was nervous for a bit. For weeks leading up to this. Now Liz, on the other hand, she has acting chops. I don't know if you've heard, but she was an acting class that turned into a cult for 28 years.

It was 35. It was 35 years. It taught her memorization, characterization, and how to move objects with her mind. Telekinetically, of course. Obviously. But me, look, I don't like messing up, right? I don't like being embarrassed. It's my thing. So I actually enlisted an acting coach.

That's the cutest thing I've ever heard. Yeah, I get that was cute. That's so sweet. You were a natural. You were a natural. You were a natural. You just had to be you. I prepared very well. I prepared very well.

And this gentleman was very amazing. He's a good friend. He taught me how to remember lines, how to visualize, how to relax. He's a legit actor. He's very smart. And he does Zoom lessons if you need help with acting, public speaking, or just not sweating through your shirt in public. His name is Mike Ostrovsky.

His website is mikeostrovsky.com. Instagram Mike Ostrovsky. We'll link it in the show notes. I suggest you hire him. He's not a cult leader. Nah, as far as I know. How did he teach you how to remember lines? Well, when I called him, I was just like, hey, Mike, I need to just remember lines.

And he goes, the best way you can remember lines is just not rote memorization, but to put something behind it, to put visualization behind it, to put a story behind it and not just you saying the lines because there's nothing there. You're giving me PTSD flashbacks. From your acting coach, cult leader. All right. All right, back to the show. All right, look, usually it doesn't take that long,

but those are the steps that cults can take to get you into their cult. So now you know, so if you do find yourself in a cult, well, don't blame us. But if you do, if it happens, please call us. We'd love to have you as a guest on the show. As a guest. Uh, speaking of guests. Oh, a nice segue there. We have a great guest today. Uh, he is a actor. He's a comedian. You've seen him in his HBO special Trash White. Um, he's been on Conan millions of times. He acted in Arrested Development, This

Is Us, basically all things that sound vaguely like his fucked up childhood. Right, that is because he claims to have been raised in a failed doomsday cult. Yes, he calls it a failed doomsday cult, which is quite funny. And he has a name that sounds like it could be a cult leader himself. Welcome to the show, Moses Storm.

Moses Storm. You must have looked at me and said, listen to me. I'll let you with the color that'll get on your mind. You're educated, and you're prayed and militated, you're concentrated, and you're getting elevated. Thank you so much. Sold out. Don't look behind you. Those are just souls that are in the empty seeds. No, thank you so much for having me, because this is a podcast I actually do listen to, and it does help me. I've been trying to write about my cult experience and the fact that you have people on this show that have been through similar things. It just makes it more possible, it feels less weird.

But is it weird? It's still weird. Your cult. The fuck you say to me? You heard me, your cult, it's weird. Yeah, yes. I was raised in a doomsday cult, as Liz said. Well, how did you get your name?

Moses. Oh, so my parents chose all Bible names. So Faith, Noah, David, Moses, and Abigail, which is odd because Abigail is actually David's wife in the Bible. So, nothing's off limits, but yeah. I grew up very, very religious in what people would consider a cult.

Right, and you was kept in the family, because it was started by your great uncle, correct? Family is still a part, yeah. It was my great uncle who started it. His name is Michael, last name redacted. And he started this, what people would consider a cult. It was a mixture of Judaism and Catholicism. Sort of like a greatest hits of those two.

The good old book of Revelation. Yeah, like a now that's what I call religion volume two CD. What was the name of the cult? Okay, so we were called The Way, and then two years later, a way more successful cult came along. They called themselves The Way, doubled my parents' numbers, they had four.

And my parents dropped the name, and they never renamed it, which is insane. They just decided not to rename it. Was it just laziness? They never renamed it. I guess this religion was so extreme that it wasn't seen as a religion. So not only was the ideology a mixture of Catholicism and Judaism, but it was anti-establishment. There's no rabbi, no priest, there's no preacher, there's no government. We weren't allowed to go to the hospital,

even when I broke my shin at 11 years old. I've never been to school in my life, like a public school, I've never been to school in my life, like a public school, I've never been. Everything was building up because God was gonna end the world. And there's no reason to work on yourself and get an education who gives a shit because God is going to end the world

exactly as the King James Bible version of doom today. The world is going to end any day now. So yeah without exaggerating and like hyperbole of like I'm being dramatic but we were made to feel like God was going to come back destroy all these people in a matter of like maybe like 38 days from right now. So you're always living in that. Did you think about that every night you went to sleep? Oh absolutely. Were you constantly living in fear?

Yes absolutely. I would like sketch stuff out because the book of Revelation is very haunting. I mean there's a seven headed beast, there's the horsemen, there's all these plagues that happened because God is really like dragging it out. He's gonna send you to hell, but he's like, oh, you're gonna have a boil on your face and you're gonna suffer. I think he's just like kinky. But I remember reading that as a kid and my siblings and I were just like absolutely terrified by it. There's plagues, there's wars, there's torture, any worse disease you could imagine. And there was a heavy emphasis on, few will be saved like in the days of Noah.

So I looked up the story of Noah and it was eight people. And I started doing the math of Michael, the cult leader, his family, and then my family. And you were the youngest, so you were like, oh shit. Yeah, well maybe I'm the most pure because I'm young. But yes, exactly Liz. And then it was like, oh, there's only so many spots that God's gonna save eight people when he ends the world. Terrified by that idea.

Also didn't understand why we were going out and street preaching. Why are we spreading the word about this religion? Why are we creating competition? For ourselves. this religion? Why are we creating competition for ourselves? So we would go to like any like crowded area. So if it was like we went to like Lollapalooza, farmers market, like a movie premiere anywhere outside and we'd be outside with large neon signs and the way that street preaching works is a lot like how just like click bait works where you just say the most insane thing like does Harry Styles' new girlfriend have no torso? So we would have signs that like you're headed for

So we would have signs that like you're headed for hell, no pastor, no rabbi, you will burn. And it was all like neon signs, big block letters, and we'd have these huge poles that are like made for painting that we would hold up. And it went about as well as you would imagine. Okay, your turn for the fuck up, Liz. You said he was the youngest, but doesn't he have a little sister? Yes, I think you're right. We did learn that afterwards. I failed in my research.

I will no longer go to heaven. Which was Napa. Napa. That area is heaven. We've already been, we've already been to heaven. These are the dangers of a live show. No edits, no fixes. We'll be right back.

This episode is sponsored by Greenlight. All right, real talk. A few weeks ago, my six-year-old took all of his birthday money, plus all of the coins and crumpled bills from his piggy bank, and we took it to the bank, right? He traded in for real digital grown-up money and loaded it onto his Greenlight card. Now he knows exactly how much he has. He can set his goals. We're no longer tripping over jars of nickels in his bedroom. That's progress.

So growing up, the extent of my financial education was basically, money doesn't grow on trees. Which, yes, thanks for the horticultural tip, Dad, but that didn't exactly prepare me for budgeting, saving, or explaining compound interest to a first grader. Greenlight picks up where that conversation left off. It's a debit card and money app built for families that helps kids learn how to save, invest, and spend wisely with tools made for their age and our sanity. As a parent you can send money, track their spending, even assign chores, and pay them for completing tasks. Meanwhile, your kids get to build real-world financial skills

without, you know, ruining their credit scores at the age of seven. Honestly, I wish I had Greenlight as a kid. But now, my son's in and the piggy bank is out. Start your risk-free Greenlight trial today at greenlight.com slash cult. That's greenlight.com slash cult. To get started, greenlight.com slash cult. Okay, now back to the show where we are talking to Moses

about his days doing street preaching. Did you believe it when you were doing it? I 100% believed it, at least until I was 16. And did you ever have a memorable story of somebody spitting in your face or some, when you were out there. So it turns out that if you tell people that, like, you know, that are Catholic or Christian, that they're going to go to hell, they get very mad. Your children will burn in hell.

Yeah, no, people got so mad. They got so mad at my parents too, because I was out there as early as three years old, witnessing for God, and that means like I'm saying, you're hell for hell. You go hell for hell, you go burn. God loves you, but you're hell for hell. Adorable and creepy. How did you know what you were even talking about at three years old? I just knew what you do to not get hit. So if you say these things, you don't get boom boom on face boom boom. Did somebody hit you ever? Yeah, Tyler hit me backstage.

You deserved that. It was very, it was very, yes, it was physical and mental abuse was almost encouraged. It was seen as a way to break a child, like you would break a horse. Yes. Foolishness is bound up the heart of a child and the rod of reproof will remove it far, far away. If I get the terrible accident tonight and the Napa Valley wine trade, that's the one thing I'll remember. I was saying that any of the people you were preaching to hit you. That's what I meant. Oh, no, they would yell at my parents.

I'm like, how could you do this? These are your kids. Why aren't they in school? And they don't even know what they're saying. They're telling me I'm going to hell. Yeah, people would spit on us. They would try to like tear the signs down. We went to Panama City, Florida to Street Preach

on the beach for kids on spring break. The most receptive, intellectual minds, kids who can't afford to go to Cabo and are too drunk for the Jersey Shore. So you go to Panama City. Yeah, this guy was like mooning my dad. My dad was in the front and he was mooning him and then he fell down because he couldn't because his shorts tie his legs up. They would like pee in cups like those red solo cups and like throw that at us. But like the thing about it is what a lot of cults have and religion have is these built-in,

I think it's called a stopgap. I don't know what it is, but it's like a defense mechanism. If people are upset by you, if they lash out, if they're violent, that means you are on the right track. Right. Right? I'm sure you've talked to people before where it was like if you're getting pushed back, it just means like yeah you're getting pushed back it just means like yeah you're doing the right thing this is the Holy Path you know Jesus wasn't accepted in this day you know he's like oh Lazarus come back you'd be like folk and fake magic so like that's kind of pushed back to my parents it

didn't faze them or it was not a cause for reflection it was seen as like we're close but the best thing that could happen to you if you're street parents, it didn't phase them, or it was not a cause for reflection. It was seen as like, we're close. But the best thing that could happen to you if you're street preaching, at least in the cult leader's eyes, Michael, is that you get arrested for street preaching. That means like you're doing it. Well, Michael would get arrested all the time. He has eight children. So it's a doomsday cult, heavy emphasis on the end of the world. There was three families that are in it, were in it. And then we all lived in buses. So like a decommissioned Greyhound bus, we ripped the seats out of and tried

to make that a home. So you tried to make it like a souped up RV but made out of like a bus? Well, okay, okay. The best way to describe it is like my parents, they did it themselves. They tried to make it an RV. And if I ever tell people in life like,

hey, I grew up in a converted bus and that was my home. Hey, they're picturing like the TV version of a bus, like flip this house, like it's like, there's a cute little nook and there's a little breakfast area. This was so profoundly homemade. It's why I don't to this day brag about things that I make. Like I made, I made the overjacket that I have, but I would never tell anyone that.

But you just did. Well, I was being sneaky and secretly hitting on the festival owner who I have a giant crush on. So you had a homemade kitchen? Yeah, get us out of this hole. Yeah, so the So you had a homemade kitchen? Yeah, get us out of this hole. Yeah, so the bus was not great. It was very homemade. My dad had zero construction experience. It was not insulated. The best, most succinct way to describe it is that we show up to a campground or trailer park.

People are like, whoa, an old like 80s bus. We and you converted it. Can we take a tour inside? People would take one step inside. They are nothing. I got it. It's good. So you didn't have friends come over to play is what you're saying.

Not only did I not have friends, if you had a friend that was seen as like an instrument of the devil, according to Michael or at least my parents. How old were you when you moved into the bus? I was two. Okay. What was like, what was your parents like, how did they explain it to the kids? Like, hey guys, that's the thing. We're gonna move into a bus. Spot on impression of my mom. I closed my eyes, I can't tell it's not her. But what was interesting about the intro you guys did is you're talking about how cults prey on people

when they're in a vulnerable spot. You're going through a divorce, you move to a new city, you know, you just lost someone you care about. I was born into this. This was never my decision, but it was my absolute reality. And it's really hard to untangle that. And as early as like the pandemic, I thought about this doomsday and the end of the world

and how close some of the circumstances felt. And I was like, well, maybe they were right. And this is like 2020. That's like now, which is embarrassing. And it was you. Sorry. You had a question about you wanted me to fix Israel Palestine? All right. I forgot the question because I was getting emotional. That's okay. That's okay. We are going to continue. We can take a little break and do a fun game if you want. I'm sensitive. We're married to a child. game if you want. I'm sensitive. We're gonna tell the child. She's married? Sorry. Should've told you that earlier. Should've told him that. Sorry Moses. Moses Storm everyone. Moses

Storm. No, no, no, no. We are gonna take a little break from Moses' story. We are gonna take a little break. No, no, no. So the way the cult disbanded is there was a huge murder trial. That's a cliffhanger that gets us through this little break where we're gonna test Moses' and the audience's culty intuition, right? It's a little fun game we call

Cult Leader or Not. Cult Leader or Not! Call Leader or Not! Let's hear your game show voice, Moses. Game show host voice. Alright guys, my name is Adam Powell. So good to be here today, sponsored by Bluechew, the first chewable viagra with cocaine. Call leader not, here are the rules. We're gonna play a few audio clips, right? These are audio clips, and you have to decide

if it's a call leader. Or just a regular charismatic narcissist. Right. So it could just be like an actor that's charismatic or it's an actual comforter. You know the rules! Right, right. Okay.

Is that it? That's it. Thank you. I'm gonna have so much of fentanyl right now. I'm sorry. The winner gets to share his fentanyl. They were passing it out in the front. Let's play the first clip.

Call it Lever Orange. The 50-dimensional, you can see the future a little bit. And that 50-dimensional, you can walk through physical walls like Jesus and these gurus would be able to manifest things. Say, oh, would you like an apple? Boom, here's one. That's fifth dimensional stuff. The ninth dimension is what God is to us.

All we can comprehend, we cannot go past the ninth dimension. Okay. Call leader? Okay, cult leader? Cult leader? No? Just get your hands up if you think it's cult leader. Cult leader, hands up. Yeah, you guys are way off because it is Sammy Hagar. Sammy Hagar, former lead singer of Van Halen and current patron of Tequila. What are those?

Jor-yes, he's wearing... What do you mean? He's 70, I'll join that cult. Who's gonna join that cult? I don't see, I thought it was a cult leader. That's insane. He does claim that aliens visited him a lot, so, but he makes great music.

He did a lot of jobs. This guy could be the mayor of Napa Valley. Not this guy, but this guy. 100%. You ever seen our geyser? Next clip. Yeah. There's no need to feel guilty. I haven't done anything I'm ashamed of. Maybe I haven't done enough. I might be ashamed of that for not doing enough, for not giving enough, for not being more perceptive, for not being aware enough, for not understanding.

What do you think? That was pretty mild. Call leader but not that abusive. It's more like in the self-help version. Call leader? Yeah, push back. Is it, what is it? Let's play more of the clip. Let's give them more of the clip.

We will give you more context. There's a second half. It's O.J. Simpson. We'll play the second half. Being aware enough for not understanding maybe I should have killed four or five hundred people, then I would have felt better. Then when I felt like

I really offered society something believe me, if I started murdering people, there'd be none of you left. Okay, okay, yeah. Yeah. What are these women that are writing letters to him if I come in love with you in prison. Yeah. How bad is your bumble profile? So I think it's Charles Manson. Yeah, you're wrong though. It's Tom Hanks. Tom Hanks. Yeah, that was Tom Hanks.

Is it really? No, of course it's not Tom Hanks. It's Charles Manson. Oh, I didn't know. It's just the audio's terrible. It's America Manson. No, it is Charles Manson. But do you know about humanity? The kids on the underground. Yeah. Charles Manson is insane. Okay, that one was too easy. It seemed like everybody knew that one. Good job, guys. You watch a lot of Netflix. Well, Charles Manson was in Vacaville, right, which is just down

the street. Yeah. Well, what's odd to me about Charles Manson and like my cult leader is that they were not hot and that's like that's like embarrassing it sounds like a joke, but like most Religious charismatic figures are usually attractive It's what you talk not then not those eyes. Not this. They're sexy eyes. Not this, Liz. Like, okay, so imagine the festival owner, Julie. No, I just mean like she just got pregnant again during this interview. She's very awkward. I'm going

to ruin her life tonight. But I just mean like you can have some sympathy for people of like why they would follow someone. We all want to be accepted by beautiful people. They just seem like they have their lives together. And our cult leader wasn't hot. So it's such an important thing for a cult leader to be hot. And it's so stupid to talk about. I don't know. Not all cult leaders need to be hot. it's so stupid to talk about? I don't know, not all cult leaders need to be hot.

Let's go to a clip. I think apologizing's a great thing, but you have to be wrong. I will absolutely apologize sometime in the hopefully distant future if I'm ever wrong. Okay, so just for context, we did alter the voice of that. I'm going to play another one of those. I think that putting a wife to work is a very dangerous thing. I don't want to sound too much like a chauvinist, but when I come home and dinner's not ready, I'll go through the roof, okay? Okay, I don't know, cult leader? Cult leader or not. Cult leader. Hands up if it's a cult

leader. Ooh, politician, we got anybody? Hands up if it's a cult leader. Oh, politician, we got anybody, hands up if it's a cult leader. Just a few. That's not a lot. Let's show who it is. Yes. Yes, those are real words spoken by. Your biggest crush. No, to be fair, to be fair, to be fair, Donald Trump is a lot of things. But he's also a cult leader. Next clip. Okay, next clip. Please is a lot of things. But he's also a cult leader. Right. Next clip. Okay, next clip.

Please remember that, DeRose, you are your husband's right. He has a right to you. God's worth says so. Wives, it really doesn't take very much effort on your part. A woman can without even getting aroused. And in that case, you may have to use some added

lubrication because God has put the natural lubrication there if she's aroused. But if you haven't blubbed her up enough to get her aroused why the lubrication doesn't flow? I'm sure Adam and Eve didn't have a jar of Vicks Vapor Rub and yourself. What? What was the last line? He said I'm sure Adam and Eve didn't have Vicks Vapor Rub for lubrication. Oh yeah. So cult leader or not. Old testament, they talk about Vicks Vapor Rub. The old testament is very Jewish. My nose is clogged. Cult leader? Cult leader? Yeah, it's a Trump again. What? I know. He's everywhere. It could be. That is actually David Berg. If we just like stop caring about him or calling him out as a cult leader, I think he would actually deflate. Possible.

No, I just mean like, it's like he's doing the same Kanye thing where you just know that we live, but the greatest currency is attention versus talent versus the industrial revolution where you were able to produce something. It's a weird time, it's awkward, but it is about getting attention. Even if it's negative, it's a weird time, it's awkward, but it is about getting attention. Even if it's negative, it's positive in the world that we currently live in.

And even when I think back about my family's cult and their lack of success, versus like thinking about like, oh, this is so hard on me. I, it's so gross, but I find myself like brainstorming about how they could have been successful. Well, you say they were failed because they never made any money, right? So all the street breaching, there's three families in it, and by the time that wasn't made in the womb of an already believer. And how did the control manifest in your life?

You mean like as an adult? No, like how did they control you as kids? Oh, we were terrified. Like was there Bible study every Wednesday or like? No, we would sometimes have to go visit Michael and his kids who were like the ideal version of this religion. Michael was also like allowed to spank us. You know, we have like a two by four that we'd be spanked with. You have to like write a Bible verse that's relevant to your transgression on it and then you'd be spanked with that. But you never learned how to read

or write? I learned how to read and write at 18. When I was first doing stand-up I've got to open mics you have to like wait four hours to get on stage and I had I bought the book Hooked on Phonics, which is for children. And I would put that in between my notebook that I labeled jokes so like no one would know I was at like a fourth graders reading level. And that's how I learned how to read and write.

Still. That's how you learned? Yeah, but write. Still. That's how you learned? Yeah, but it's like, it's almost as I'm not done. I'm still learning. I go to table reads all the time for, nah, it's not so douchey, but like when I go to a table read for a comedy. Right.

Like a Mike Schurr show. It's about the writing. The writer got their joke on. It's word perfect. And if you fuck off because you are in your head about your religion, where you come from, your dyslexia, you absolutely fuck up the joke. You ruined it for that. How did your cult upbringing and your trauma, for lack of a better word, inform your sort of creative life and your comedy?

Were you always funny? I mean, you never got to even watch secular television. We were allowed to have friends watch secular television. We were allowed to watch the OJ chase. So that's right. People talk about the 90s TV, it was the OJ chase, we were allowed to watch that for some reason. But most of us like religious tapes. And we were not around kids our age. There was no one that you could bounce ideas off of, of like, I believe that

God is going to burn the world up in like 40 minutes. So it was just my reality and it wasn't even hard. What's hard is now because now I know my definition of reality and I know the things I don't have and there's a gap. There's a gulf between me and everyone I meet That I'm trying to close and I I'm just not But I don't know how to do it. But if you grow up in a cult, it's very weird We're not going to school. We live in a bus with street preaching It's just like what your parents do parents do embarrassing things, right? Oh dad's trying to play the bass but

trying to play the bass, but it was just like my reality. The hard part was leaving the cult at 16 and just like trying to be with all of you. What was the inciting incident of getting out of the cult? What was the aha moment for you? So in 2000, this is the biggest story of 2001, before the biggest story of 2001, was the Andrea Yates trial. So Andrea Yates was the third family that was in our cult, following the teachings of Michael Redacted, and she drowned her five kids in an effort to save them from the end of the world and going to hell. And it was so hauntingly understandable for me because that's how I grew up.

We were taught that like kids are born pure and as you get older, you get corrupted by Satan, and he could drag you to hell. And if you go to hell, then automatically your parents go to hell. So it's like very high stakes. So it's really humiliating and disgusting to admit this, but what I found out that five children were drowned by their

mom, I was jealous of them. I was like, they did it. And I was like wondering, does it hurt to drown? It's probably easier, but they did it, you know? They took my spot, they got saved. But I'm still, like I have so much guilt around that feeling. Because if you lose a child, that's the greatest tragedy you could ever feel. It's someone you made. Losing a kid.

And to have such a callous, selfish attitude towards that, to be jealous of that and wish you were included, it's disgusting. It's disgusting. It's awful. She was hearing all these voices in her head and God said that the only way to save her children before they get too old is to send them to the kingdom of heaven, which means killing them. And then she drowned her kids one by one. But like in her mind she was doing the right thing. She was being humane. She was being kind. Was that a catalyst for you leaving the cult? No, I was still in it after that, which that also sucks. But sure, I was like 12. But no, how I came out of it is like so embarrassing and basic,

but I, Michael came, well, so we first heard from Michael when the attorneys were trying to bring Michael in to testify. So they could say, like, this is a mentally ill woman, and he preyed on this woman. So for the first time we'd hear from him for a while, he moved out of a bus and into a boat, this real thing, and he called my mom to like make sure that like she wasn't gonna testify against him. And we didn't hear anything from him and then he came into our life because I think they ran out of money and he told us to get jobs for the first time, which was seen as blasphemy before. So I got a job back in groceries like any 15 year old,

16 year old, and I fell in love with a girl named Amber. Like I just, she was so smart and when I would tell her what I believed about the world, she was so kind to me and was just like, well, why would that happen? It wasn't this accusatory, it wasn't this like, intervention, you have to get out of this. It was just like a really smart, kind human being to me. And, you know, I was also 16, so it was probably And, you know, I was also 16, so it was probably so horny. But it was enough to just like, boom, break the illusion of everything that I believed. And that's how I got out.

So then from that day on, it was like the plan to get away from my parents, get away from my siblings, and try to build my own life. We have time for one quick last question. How the hell does one go from a cult to stand-up comedy? I don't know if I even chose this as a job. I have never been to school, could barely read or write. I was served as the tension breaker in our family.

Something horrible would happen. Someone gets it with a frying pan. And then you make a joke to just like stop this awful feeling. And I just kept doing that. And then I tried to go to a community college, which is mainly a bus stop. And then I did stand up.

And it was the first time. It was like a, it was, it wasn't my show, it was just a guest. It was going well, I'd never performed before. And I could see the outline of all of your heads, and then I could see like the dust in the room. We don't like see your face, your back lit, because the spotlight in the room. We don't like see your face, your back lit because the

spotlights on us. And I was able to turn off my brain for the first time, meaning you turn off all the negative thoughts of like, you suck, you're weird, you're bloated right now, people could tell you made that jacket. They know you cut your own hair, obviously. You're performing at 11 a.m. All that was able, I don't know, like it turned off. And I just felt, it just felt like, oh, I don't care what I do. If I could, I would work at Taco Bell if I could just felt like, oh, I don't care what I do, if I could,

I would work at Taco Bell if I could just feel this feeling again, where this stops. So then that's why I do stand up. But to answer your question, I don't know if it was a choice or it was just a cowardly effort to avoid pain. His work is rather funny. His HBO special, Trash White, is fantastic. What are you doing really quickly now?

Are you going back on the road? I am going back on the road. Feeling better. Yeah, I'm going to be in everyone's favorite spot. These are the dates. No dates. I think I'm going to be an Oxnard Ventura, which is, if you can't afford Napa Valley, Santa Barbara. And then I'm going to tour with my show that's called Perfect Cult,

where I, it's an interactive show where I start a cult, like wish fulfillment with you, the audience every night. My favorite bit of that is when you give the audience money. Oh yeah! So this is, it sounds like really heavy and like I'm being important. It's not, it's a very dumb show. I have a reverse collection basket where I have a cash basket. It's the most expensive bit and I just pass it out to the audience so it's a collection plate but you take money from it. It gets that amount of laughter and it's profoundly expensive. And then

there's a documentary about my family's cult that's coming out this summer. I don't, I think I'm allowed to say what the network is, but it's not some fucking tubie shit. It's one of the big ones. Hear that Adam? Did Julia hear it? Oh, we can talk to Moses all day, but they are going to kick us off. Ladies and gentlemen, Moses Storm. Can you put the slide up? Thank you, everybody, for coming. Please subscribe to our show. You can download it right there if you want. Thank you everybody for coming. Please subscribe to our show. You can download it right there if you want. Thank you everybody. Thank you for coming. Thank you Napa Valley streaming fest. Thank you volunteers. Thank you everyone. And that dear seekers of cult content was our very first live episode of Was I in a

Cult? Yes, we did it. We indoctrinated people in person with microphones and a badass PowerPoint. I made a PowerPoint. It was actually a keynote, but I felt very corporate making it. Just a huge thank you to everyone who showed up, who laughed with us, who trauma bonded with us, and maybe got recruited into a fake cold on stage. Shout out to Becky Alicia Moonse. Special thanks to the incredible Napa Valley Stream Fest team, Farron, Juliana, the volunteers,

and the audio team who crushed the cues. And of course, to our hilarious and thoughtful guest, Moses Storm. We had a really nice time getting to know him and he will be back with us guys, so you will get his whole story soon. Okay, so if you listened to last week's episode, you participated in the boobies or gangnam style challenge, a challenge I wasn't aware of until later. And if you listened to the episode,

you know what I'm talking about. A challenge no one could have ever thought of on their own volition they shouldn't have we shouldn't have come up with it but we do have a clear winner thank you Rob boobies obviously Tyler's team boobies Rob Rob you said you're on the fence have you seen that video his dance is so funny it is very good have you seen boobies, Rob? You ever seen them? If you haven't, I can send you a picture. I saw actually something drawn on a log

out in the forest once. That's about it. They're better in real life. They're better in real life. But we did say we would announce the people, correct Rob? Yes, I did make that promise without checking with either of you. So here we are, we're going to say the numerous names. We were overwhelmed by the outpouring of people who liked boobies and Gangnam Style. But here are the names.

For Gangnam Style. Karen Wright Oliver, Lillian Rolfe, and if I don't say your name right, I apologize. That's all me. Lillian Rolfe, Robin Durst, she's torn, but I think she's leaning more gangnam. Army Cat, Always Akimbo, Velasca69, Noodle Chip, Ophelia Hamlet. Now this one's funny. It's Scoliosis, but it's spelled C-O-L-I-DASH-O-APOSTROPHE-S-Y-S. That's like an Italian Irish person. We just have to get through these, man. Let's just rattle them off. They're so fucking, it'll honestly be 10 minutes of us.

Scoliosis claims Gangnam Style and a boobies, and is sure their dog will feel this way too. Katzen Enners, Jill from Minneapolis, QT, CD, NJ but also said boobies, Redbird 57, Mad Marks 333, Vulture 77, Daff 1156, Aaron Arsenault Galant, Mind Fixation, Chitown, Doon Lady, Carrie Kitchen, Bill Gannon, Laura L.G. Gonzalez. And that's all for Gangnam now for boobies. And Tilia Kilizobit, what a great name, Janelopes, Scott Pakiditis, Candice Hinesman,

Sarah Kawee, Holly Anne, Casey August wrote, I can't spell Gangnam Style, so she might be boobies by default. Bias with boobies wrote boobies. There's also XBodeDragonX, JJ O Jordan, Chris Whack likes boobies a little too much. Respect Chris. Sarah Sue, Krabby Nicky but only because she can't spell Gangnam Style. Chicago618, Jen Cook, Lord Zoltan, Mokohato, cooker 242, Sammy Stang poses the very wise question,

what about boobies doing Gangnam Style? Whoa! Yep, it's these kind of thought provoking questions that I deeply appreciate. Dustin in Austin, Charizard11, Amazon FlowerChild, Kelsey Miller, What is this cheese? EmHale85, Phoenix, Courtney Turnbull said boobies while listening to Gang of Style. Respect. Jessica Rabby, CNUT, KVStello, DR6128. CNUT, not NUT!

It is. CNUB, CNUP, CNUP, KVStello, DCR61288. Are these robots? What are we? What are these? These are the Russian bots I paid for. Mad Week Shit, Rookie Trout, Kelsey Marie, I actually think I know her. She's at FOMO, eC for 73. Debbie Wilfang Riley.

Jaden Rose. Caroline Gagnet. Okay, Shredder203 said they always thought the words were open condom style. Which is incredible. Rob, give it to us. As if this isn't going long enough, we have to play more music through it. Open condom style. Condom style. We do have a lot more boobies, so let's continue. The boobies fans are Orfwumpfledger.

That's unpronounceable. You can skip that one. Orfwump fludger. Satan's Girl, Matt Morton, Brit, Christopher King, Ayanna Ait, Anycar. Matt Morton, that's a Chicago Cubs, former third baseman. Probably not the same. Abigail Beth, Safi, Laura Roeldveld, Miss Kitty Fantastico, which is a Fantastico name, wants both. Beck, Cash, Mom, Anna Kay, Ashley, Nate, Alkeen,

Sophia Giardello. Monica Partita, Tracy J. 1S, MJ, Scoffing Mermaid, Justin Stitches, Bo, Lucy Morales, Whitney Calloway-Nexon. Lizeth George, Janet, Lauren O'Rourke Jarrett oh come on Lauren O'Rourke Royselyn Behrara SSS leaving in the light Nicole Nicole Emily Morrow Kate Rinti Zoe Finlay Amy MmmWalkin3 Is anybody still listening?

I can't believe this. No. I don't blame them. We do have four that split the middle with Gangum Boobies Player 4616 Christy L. Feehan, Sophia Hunt, and last but never least, Malibu's Stacey. Wow. I don't know what the poll says about our life, or our society, or our show, or our listeners. It says nothing about anything.

It's like the very first episode of Seinfeld. This is a poll about nothing. About boobies. But you know what's funny is now when people sign our show and want to know what people say about it, they will just read boobies, boobies, boobies. Write new reviews, bo about it. They will just read boobies boobies Right new reviews boobies boobies boobies, which is fantastic on all the levels that tickles my boobies. Okay Thank you for doing that. It took me over an hour to compile all of your beautiful names So we're grateful to you listeners who took Rob up on his very bizarre challenge

And if you're still listening this far, you are my best friend. We have a great story next week with an incredible woman who endured harrowing sexist treatment in her time in a cult. Thankfully, today she is free. I'm in a group of people. We're supposed to be brothers and sisters. I'm a mom with six children and a husband. I am so lonely. I feel lonely. And that's what that isolation does to you as a woman. In your mind, you're isolated, you're nothing, you're the dirt on the ground. You're lower than the sheep. This is a hierarchy. It's the husband, the children, those beautiful sheep, and then me.

["Were You a Wretch?" by Robert Perra plays in background.] Was in a Cult is made more difficult by Rob Perra. That's it. That's all there is to these credits. The rest of them you know because the two people that are listening after this. Also, Gretta Stromquist. Thank you, Gretta, for your hard work. And Tyler, you did a good job.

Same with you, Liz. Thank you, everybody. Thank you. This was really fun. We'll be, we'll give you, if you're still here, we'll give you information on our live show soon. And- Thank you again to Moses. Yeah, Moses, you crushed it.

We love you. Ciao for now. Is this butt load thing working? Whose butt? Yeah, whose butt did they model the number after? Yeah, whose butt was this after? Well, like the measurement of foot, wasn't that the king's foot? So was this the king's butt?

Possible, that's how much. You're full of a half fact. You're not giving us the full fact, Tyler. I need it all. I need it all. You'll get what you get. Let us know by writing a review that just says butts, butts, butts. Don't.

Butts or wine. That's a tough one. Butts or wine. Oh, that is a hard one. That's the next challenge. I just want all of our reviews to say butts, wine, boobies, and Gangnam Style, and then nobody knows what the fuck this show is about. This is a story that begins with a dying wish.

One thing I would like you to do, my mother's last request that my sister and I finish writing the memoir she'd started about her German childhood when her father designed a secret super weapon for Adolf Hitler. My grandfather, Robert Lusser, headed the Nazi project to build the world's first cruise missile, which terrorized millions and left a legacy that dogged my mother like a curse. She had some secrets. Mom had some secrets. I'm Suzanne Rico.

Join my sister and me as we search for the truth behind our grandfather's work. And for the first time face the ghosts of our past. Jeez, who is he? Listen to the man who calculated death. Available now wherever you get your podcasts. Watch CSI New York, Criminal Minds, Blue Bloods, Tracker, FBI and SWAT all for free. You can't outrun this. Someone's gonna pay for all this crime, but it's not gonna be you. Take care of business, fellas. Watch all the cases all for free from all your favorite devices.

We got you. Feel the free. Pluto TV. Stream now. Pay never.