Our Favorites
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Our Favorite shows
Cruelty of Children.. This show gets off to a fast start, followed by one of David Sedaris's funniest stories, and then two other equally strong stories that counter-balance David's story with two very different moods and conclusions.
Sinatra. This show was produced back when Frank Sinatra was still alive, and it's a favorite because the chemical mix of its stories is sort of kicky and irresistable. These include Gay Talese reading from a classic piece of reporting he did about Sinatra's life back during Sinatra's heyday, and Sarah Vowell's plea to television producers about what song they should not play during Sinatra's obituary.
Notes on Camp. One of the shows where nearly the entire program is devoted to stories from one location. Producer Julie Snyder and Ira Glass document life at one summer camp, including the counselor everyone's in love with, the little boys cabin chanting "Bloody Mary" into a mirror in the middle of the night, and adolescent girls consulting a Ouiji board to find out who'll be named captain of the camp's color wars. Also in this show: how to become the most popular boy at Israeli Army Summer Camp--among the toughest, most macho boys possible--while wearing a dress.
Other favorites:
Superpowers. It's pure pleasure from start to finish. During the prologue, Chris Ware tells perhaps the most amusing tale of childhood humiliation ever. John Hodgman's story about flight vs. invisibilty blends humor with clues into the human condition. And Jonathan Morris answers, in the wittiest, most sophisticated way imaginable, the defining question: why do some superheroes fail in the marketplace, while others succeed?
Hoaxing Yourself. A solid, well-rounded show featuring everything from real-life "stealing from grandma" con artists to Rent groupies (as in the musical Rent). Plus, it's damn funny. Sean Cole and Joel Lovell's segment about taking on false identities as teenagers is, for lack of more creative phrasing, an instant classic. It's done two-way style, cutting between them both, and gradually builds and builds into a totally hilarious, and of course, infinitely relatable (known as the"it's funny because it's true" genre) story.
The Fix is In. This is one of the most riveting shows we've ever done, about seemingly one of the most boring topics: international price-fixing in the feed additives market. It's the story of the FBI sting of food giant Archer Daniels Midland, and its pleasure is two-fold: one, you get to hear powerful men, conspiring in ways you often suspect they might, but never know for sure. We play cuts from the FBI surveillance tapes, in which super-rich executives casually divide world markets, call customers "the enemy," and in general, sneer at the notion of competitive free trade. The second pleasure is equally great: the improbable story of the actual FBI investigation. It's a rollicking tale of unlikely twists and lucky accidents, all brought about by one strange man: Marc Whitacre, whiz-kid ADM executive, and simultaneously one of the best and worst cooperating witnesses in FBI history.
Babysitting. The last story, where Myron Jone and Carol Bove explain what happened when they were teenagers, and they ended up babysitting children who didn't exist, got more response than almost anything we've ever done.
Music Lessons. David Sedaris, Sarah Vowell and Anne Lamott read live, before a cheering audience in San Francisco. Sarah rocked the crowd so hard that afterwards, David announced to anyone who'd listen: "She must be destroyed."
Accidental Documentaries. This show is made of stories in which all the tape was found in attics and junk stores. These "accidental documentaries" include the portrait of life in one Midwestern family, documented through recordings they sent the son who was off in medical school in California.
Valentine's Day '98. Usually when we hear stories about love, they're stories about the moment people fall in love. In this show we set out to create an hour of love stories that all take place decades after that moment... love stories about love that's lasted.
Pray. Alix Spiegel tells the story of travelling to Colorado Springs, where Christians are coming together to form a "prayer shield" over their city. During her days there doing her reporting, they try to convert her into a believer. Alix finds she can't sleep at night until finally one of her interviewees admits that he's been praying that she won't be able to sleep, so she'll be more open to their attempts to make her a Christian.
Simulated Worlds. What's special about this show is the subject matter itself --- the notion of doing a full hour about all the simulations of life around us in America... fake Oval Offices, fake ethnic restaurants, fake colonial towns, and more. In one story, Ira Glass takes a distinguished medieval scholar from the University of Chicago to Medieval Times, the chain of dinner-and-jousting arenas that's strung across the U.S., to find out how authentic their recreation of the past is.
Telephone. This show has a story that's simply perfect for radio: a man suspects his teenage son is doing drugs. He starts taping his son's phonecalls and finds out the son is dealing drugs in his ritzy high school. From there, things unfold in a surprising way, in a story told without narration--using only the voices of the son, his father, and the recordings the father made of the son's phone calls.
Shoulda Been Dead. This show includes some of the stories from the very first episode of This American Life, reworked slightly once the program's style and tone was more firmly established. Kevin Kelly tells the story of how he came to believe he had just one year left to live, and what he decided to do with that year. The stories around this one comment on it and offset it. All the stories are about people who thought they were going to die, and then didn't.
Fiasco! Jack Hitt's opening story--about a school production of Peter Pan gone horribly awry--is so funny that in the middle of the taping, host Ira Glass had to turn off his microphone because of all the embarassing snorting sounds he was making. We've gotten at least a dozen emails and letters from listeners who said they nearly wrecked their cars listening to this over the radio.
Conventions. This show includes one of the most commented-upon stories we've ever put on the air: John Perry Barlow talking about how he met his fiancé at a convention center as they attended two different events--and what happened to them shortly after they fell in love.
Topical shows:
Sometimes This American Life takes on current events:
Sentencing. A primer on the changes in U.S. sentences, which begins with former Chicago Congressman Daniel Rostenkowski admitting that before he was thrown into federal prison himself that he didn't really understand the tougher laws that he himself voted into place while in Congress. This show explains the ways in which the new laws are unfair, and all the ways in which they're actually as fair as anyone would want.
Harold. A parable of race and politics in America. The story of Chicago's first black mayor--and the chaos that broke loose in Chicago politics when he took office. If you've never heard the hilarious, inspiring voice of Harold Washington, you're in for big treat.
Lock-up. A set of compelling and sometimes very funny stories about the millions of Americans who are now behind bars. This show includes the story of a radio show in Texas which allows families to talk--over the radio--to inmates behind bars. In Texas, many prisoners don't have access to telephones.
Primary. Broadcast in January 2000, the weekend before the New Hampshire primary, this show includes a story by Sarah Vowell that's a little parable about how the political press works--and sometimes misfires. Alex Blumberg does a story about the punk teenaged supporters of Steve Forbes. It's political coverage, presented in the narrative style of This American Life. (See also the political shows we did covering the 1996 Presidential Election; some of the best stories were re-run as Ghosts of Elections Past.
Monogamy. A topical show, created during the early days of the Monica Lewinsky scandal, back when people were actively debating whether the Clintons might have some sort of "arrangement" which would allow them to be non-monogamous. The program is a meditation on whether in fact there are any viable alternatives to monogamy, and includes, among other surprising stories, a radio essay by writer (and CBC radio host) Ian Brown.
Guns. It's hard to do a program about guns because it's one of those subjects where everyone's made up his or her minds; either they're for gun control or they're against it. In this show, we tell stories of people trying to establish some middle ground... including Sarah Vowell flying home to Montana to try to finally understand her gunsmith father's love of firearms. One of the most memorable stories in this show: a police officer and a woman in Texas each explain how they nearly were killed by handguns... and how each of them came to opposite conclusions about guns as a result. The policeman became an advocate for gun control; the Texan lobbied to loosen Texas laws which would've allowed her to carry her own concealed weapon.
Want more?
First Day (Especially the Squirrel Cop Story)