With a silly putty voice, heart-filled humor, and world-class whistling, Andy Offutt Irwin brings a one-man-show like no other ~~ equal parts mischievous schoolboy, Marx Brothers, and Southern balladeer. One of the most sought-after storytellers in the country, he’s best known for the unforgettable adventures of his 85-year-old Aunt Marguerite, a newly minted physician who embraces growth and love in the ever-changing New South.  

Andy is a favorite at the National Storytelling Festival and has appeared twenty times as Teller in Residence at the International Storytelling Center. Among other gigs, Andy has been a performer and guest teaching artist at LaGuardia High School of Art, Music, and Performing Arts in New York (The “FAME!” School); he has been a Keynote Speaker/ Performer at the Library of Congress - Viburnum Foundation Conference on Family Literacy.  Andy has held a few almost-real-jobs that include: Artist-In-Residence in Theatre at Emory University’s Oxford College from 1991 to 2012. (He continues to serve Oxford annually as Artist-in-Just-Passing-Through). A very long time ago, Andy spent five years as a performer, writer, and director with SAK Theatre at Walt Disney World.  

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For Kids 

A Parents’ Choice Award-winning children’s songster and storyteller, Andy has disrupted the day in hundreds of schools and libraries from Port Angeles, Washington to St Thomas, US Virgin Islands… from Los Angeles to New England. If asked if he would rather perform for children or adults, Andy shrugs and says:
 

“The secret is this: treat children with the respect you give adults, and treat grown-ups with the exuberance kids crave.”  _________________________

Trophies

Andy is a recipient of the National Storytelling Network’s Oracle Circle of Excellence; eleven Storytelling World Awards;  the Parents’ Choice Silver Honor Award;  a National Parenting Product Award (NAPPA); two Just Plain Folks Awards;  The Clark Award for Exemplary Teaching and Service from Oxford College of Emory University; and a Special Congressional Recognition – for outstanding and invaluable service to the community – from the late Representative John Lewis.  _________________________

 Testimonials and Blurbs

 “You laugh, then you laugh harder, then you sigh, then you listen in awe. Breathing in life.” 
 ~ Grammy®  Winners Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer  

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Kevin Kling, playwright, Emmy-winning storyteller, and regular commentator for NPR’s All Things Considered, recalled his first encounter with Andy’s work like this: 
“Andy took me on a journey…full of heart and gut-busting humor all wrapped in a hauntingly beautiful story. What separated him from any other teller was his characters. Like Charles Portis, flesh and blood people born of great imagination, visceral and nuanced, we immediately know and love his family because it’s our family…. Since then, I have had the joy to share the stage with Andy. An incredibly giving soul, he wants everyone around him to do well. Then he humbly takes the stage and blows the lid off the joint. For all his audacity, he has a giant, giant heart… When it comes to originality Andy is a piece of the American storytelling puzzle that is not shaped like any other.”  

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“You could think of him as just a singer who blends leaping,  jumping, bare-footed dragons and libraries in sixty seconds.
Or you could think,
‘now here’s a man who understands the importance of language and language acquisition as it relates to emergent literacy learning and family literacy.’ ”

 ~ Dr. Molly S. Kinney, introducing Andy as the Keynote Speaker/Performer at the Library of Congress-
Virburnum Foundation Conference on Family Literacy  

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“I’ve seen Andy Offutt Irwin work with students from rural Georgia and inner city New York – 
both were eating out of the palm of his hand!
 He has that extraordinarily remarkable ability to make people laugh
and lose themselves in the moment of his performance.
 He was a huge hit at LaGuardia!
 Not a week goes by that some student doesn’t walk up to me and say, “When’s that guy from Georgia coming back?”
Andy Offutt Irwin and young people: A magical combination…”

 ~ Jerry Ulrich , Director of Choral Studies,
LaGuardia High School of  Music, Art, and the Performing Arts
 (The ”Fame!” school) – New York City  

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“Andy’s animated performances delight and entertain in the best sense of the word, surpassing any zany teller you’ve heard before...”  
 ~  The Timpanogos Storytelling Festival  

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“Acute folk sensibility.”
 ~ The Wall Street Journal  

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“A fiendishly clever union of Tom Lehrer’s topicality ... cut with Bobby McFerrin-style mouth music. Andy Offutt Irwin’s shows are good quirky fun! ”
 ~ The Atlanta Journal-Constitution   

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"Irwin is charismatic and engaging, his voice full of expression, which he enhances with an array of impressions and self-generated sound effects. Listeners will find themselves instantly drawn in, grinning and laughing along."                                                 ~ AudioFile

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“Andy Offutt Irwin is Mr. Rogers on steroids.”
 ~ Barbara McBride Smith  

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“Andy is a favorite with our audiences. He is beloved.”
 ~ The National Storytelling Festival  

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“The Chlamydomonas song by Andy Offutt Irwin off of his Banana Seat album is the best song ever!”
 ~ Laurens Mets,
 Department of Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology, Committee on Genetics – University of Chicago