The person I'd like to describe is my uncle Tunde, my father's younger brother, who's a lorry driver based in Ibadan, in Nigeria. Whenever he visits our house, the younger children in the family drop whatever they're doing and sit around him.
His stories are mostly about his journeys. Because he drives goods across Nigeria and sometimes into Benin and Ghana, he's got an endless supply of material. He'll talk about breaking down on a lonely road at night, or a market where he bargained for a goat, or a village where he was invited to a wedding just because he stopped for petrol. Some of his stories are funny, some are a little scary, and I'm fairly sure some of them get bigger every time he tells them.
He's brilliant at it for several reasons. Firstly, he uses his whole body. He changes his voice for each character, he waves his arms, and he'll suddenly go very quiet so everyone leans forward to hear. Secondly, his timing is perfect. He knows exactly when to pause before the funny line, and he never explains the joke. Thirdly, he always involves the audience. He'll stop and ask, "What do you think I did next?" and the children shout out guesses before he reveals the answer.
But I think the real reason is that he genuinely enjoys it. You can see that he loves the moment when people laugh or gasp. I'm studying journalism at the moment, and I've realised that a lot of what makes good writing is what he does naturally: details, suspense and knowing your audience.