This American Life

668: The Long Fuse

This American Life — Sun, 06 Apr 2025 18:00:00 -0400

People tossing words out into the world impulsively to ignite and burn over decades.

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Prologue: Host Ira Glass plays a strange voicemail left by a 96-year-old surgeon about a letter that was written five decades ago. (6 minutes)
Act One: Producer Lilly Sullivan reports out that voicemail. (13 minutes)
Act Two: On his deathbed, a wealthy man in Toronto decides to make some trouble. Hundreds of babies are involved. Stephanie Foo tells the story. (25 minutes)
Act Three: Cyclist Mike Friedman said something to cyclist Ian Dille in the middle of a race that ate at both of them for years. Jared Marcelle tells the story. (12 minutes)

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857: Museum of Now

This American Life — Sun, 30 Mar 2025 18:00:00 -0400

Artifacts and exhibits of this particular moment we are living through.

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Exhibit One: Ira talks to producer Emmanuel Dzotsi, who brings the first exhibit into the studio with him: a chunk of concrete with some yellow paint on it. He got it from the demolition site in Washington, DC, where the giant Black Lives Matter letters are being dug out of the street with heavy equipment. (8 minutes)
Exhibit Two: Producer Aviva DeKornfeld talks to Ranjani Srinivasan, who tells the story of how her life was transformed over five days via a series of events that started out confusing and escalated to frightening. (25 minutes)
Exhibit Three: Producer Laura Starecheski takes us inside one dramatic court hearing on the Trump administration’s executive order and new policy banning transgender people from serving in the military. (20 minutes)

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464: Invisible Made Visible

This American Life — Sun, 23 Mar 2025 18:00:00 -0400

The radio version of an episode we did live on stage and beamed to movie theaters. David Sedaris, Tig Notaro, Ryan Knighton, and the late David Rakoff in his final performance on the show. The other half of this two-hour show was visual, including dancers, animation, and more. You can watch it on YouTube.

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Ira interviews Ryan Knighton, a blind guy who had a very peculiar experience with a hotel room telephone. (7 minutes)
Act One: Ryan Knighton tells a story about trying to get his daughter to understand his blindness. (7 minutes)
Act Two: Famous people are supposed to be somewhere else, invisible to us. Comedian Tig Notaro tells this story about repeatedly running into Taylor Dayne, who was a pop star in the late 80s and early 90s. At the end of the story, we have a little surprise for Tig. (16 minutes)
Act Three: David Rakoff tells this story, about the invisible processes that can happen inside our bodies and the visible effects they eventually have. (15 minutes)
Act Four: Ira Glass's sister once met David Sedaris, and commented that he was much nicer than she thought he would be, given his writing. David replied, "I'm not nice, just two-faced." In this story, David shares the thoughts running through his head as he attempts to buy a cup of coffee. (8 minutes)

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856: You’ve Come to the Right Person

This American Life — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 18:00:00 -0400

Sometimes, life’s biggest mysteries require one very specific person to answer them.

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Prologue: 7-year-old Miles has lots of questions. More specifically, he has questions about the famous car chase from “The Blues Brothers” movie. We arrange for him to talk to stunt coordinator Gary Powell so he can get the answers he so desperately wants. (9 minutes)
Act One: Producer Aviva DeKornfeld looks into why comedian Daniel Sloss’s comedy special has been responsible for so many couples breaking up. (17 minutes)
Act Two: We hear from Kwaneta Harris, a former nurse incarcerated in Texas, who is constantly asked for medical advice by her neighbors. (17 minutes)
Act Three: Producer Diane Wu talks to Juna, a young woman who is getting advice from someone uniquely equipped to guide her to the love life she wants. (12 minutes)

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855: That’s a Weird Thing to Lie About

This American Life — Sun, 02 Mar 2025 18:00:00 -0500

Unnecessary and outrageous lies that make you wonder — why lie about that in the first place?

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Prologue: Kasey, a woman who prides herself on her truthfulness, tries to help host Ira Glass figure out how to stop lying about one specific thing. (10 minutes)
Act One: Producer Dana Chivvis talks to reporter Liz Flock about a strange experience she had in 2011. (21 minutes)
Act Two: Host Ira Glass talks with M. Gessen about a lie they've been seeing out in the world a lot recently — the “bully lie.” (15 minutes)
Act Three: We find someone brave enough to stand up and make a case FOR lying. That person is producer Ike Sriskandarajah. (8 minutes)

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854: Ten Things I Don't Want to Hate About You

This American Life — Sun, 23 Feb 2025 18:00:00 -0500

Zach Mack and his dad try to mend a rift between them in a very unusual way.

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Prologue: Ira Glass introduces Zach Mack’s story. (1 minute)
Part One: Zach and his father enter into an agreement that could change their entire relationship. (9 minutes)
Part Two: Zach’s mother and sister weigh in on the agreement. (28 minutes)
Part Three: With the year coming to an end, someone is going to have to say, “You were right, and I was wrong.” Will it change anything? (16 minutes)

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853: Groundhog Day

This American Life — Sun, 02 Feb 2025 18:00:00 -0500

People stuck in a loop, trying to find their way out.

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Prologue: Host Ira Glass talks to B.A. Parker about her birthday tradition. (6 minutes)
Act One: Producer Aviva DeKornfeld speaks with a father and daughter who have been playing the same game for 25 years. (9 minutes)
Act Two: Talia Augustidis asks a single question over and over. (5 minutes)
Act Three: Editor David Kestenbaum speaks with Jeff Permar, who is trapped in a Groundhog Day situation — with an actual groundhog! (9 minutes)
Act Four: Parking in a big city can be a real pain. Producer Valerie Kipnis speaks with a man who has taken it upon himself to try to mitigate the weekly hassle. (14 minutes)
Act Five: Short fiction from Bess Kalb about a groundhog named Susan, who has her own opinions about the holiday named after her species. (7 minutes)

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852: Pivot Point

This American Life — Sun, 19 Jan 2025 18:00:00 -0500

People living in that in-between moment before everything changes.

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Prologue: Kirk Johnson tells Ira about a strange choice he made during his family’s evacuation from the Sunset Fire in Los Angeles. (5 minutes)
Act One: Editor Nancy Updike tries to make sense of this current moment by talking to a master of dark comedy, Armando Ianucci. (19 minutes)
Act Two: As President Trump prepares to return to the Oval Office, producer Valerie Kipnis talks to Ukrainian soldiers on the front line who wonder about what his administration could mean for them. (14 minutes)
Act Three: Editor Susan Burton reflects on the ramp-up to an era that comes for so many of us. (9 minutes)
Act Four: In the wake of the Eaton Fire in Altadena, California, producer Miki Meek talks to a woman on a very particular mission. (6 minutes)

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851: Try a Little Tenderness

This American Life — Sun, 12 Jan 2025 18:00:00 -0500

In the new year, stories of people trying a radical approach to solving their problems.

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Prologue: Ira meets two sisters who got into a fight, and then learned a lesson in turning the other cheek. (8 minutes)
Act One: A hardened PI works the toughest case of his very young life. (18 minutes)
Act Two: Producer Aviva DeKornfeld talks to a man who finds himself the target of vengeful crows. (8 minutes)
Act Three: Comedian Josh Johnson wonders if some people should’ve been spanked as kids. (10 minutes)
Act Four: Writer Etgar Keret reads his story about a bus driver who refuses to open the doors for late passengers. (9 minutes)

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850: If You Want to Destroy My Sweater, Hold This Thread as I Walk Away

This American Life — Sun, 22 Dec 2024 18:00:00 -0500

The tiny thing that unravels your world.

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Prologue: Ira talks to Chris Benderev, whose high school years were completely upended by an impromptu thing his teacher said. (8 minutes)
Act One: For Producer Lilly Sullivan, there’s one story about her parents that defines how she sees them, their family, and their history. She finds out it might be wrong. (27 minutes)
Act Two: For years, Mike Comite has replayed in his head the moment when he and his bandmate blew their shot of making it as musicians. He sets out to uncover how it all went awry. (13 minutes)
Act Three: Six million Syrians fled the country after the start of its civil war. A few weeks ago, one woman watched from afar as everything in her home country changed forever – again. (9 minutes)

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A Big Announcement

This American Life — Wed, 16 Oct 2024 00:00:00 -0400

Ira Glass has news to share about some things happening here at This American Life.

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