I know that I can't be the first to mention that audiences are more accepting of song than they are of the spoken word. We can listen to and sing the same song over and over but just try telling the same story twice or, God forbid, the same joke. I am not certain why that is but, as a singer, I am not ungrateful.
Storytellers, unless their audience is very young, must come up with new material every time. Except in academic venues, the stories had better be entertaining, relevant and short. The agents who book senior facilities sell me as a singer/storyteller, which, to these customers, means humor and nostagia. I have had some success weaving story into song, thus, avoiding that awkward moment when the story ends and the audience is unsure of the applause cue. This requires a little thought on the art of the segue but a little thought is all that is needed. Here is the segue I use for the romantic story of "Believe Me, If All Those Endearing Young Charms".

....He read the note and he cried. In reply, he wrote a poem and someone put the poem to music and it became a song, and someone taught us the song when we were in grade school. He said, "Believe me....