it's totally possible for someone to just sit down in front of a mic and tell a story without having anything written down

I've actually heard people do this in conversation. It's awesome and one of the reasons I love spending time with fannish people when I can. And I totally wish I could have whipped out my mic one of those times and made a recording, because it would have been perfect to share.

Oh man, now I am plotting a little about if I could get those same people in a room at one point and turn on the mic and just be like OKAY GO. Because that would be beautiful.