This American Life

This American Life
This American Life
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Each week we choose a theme. Then anything can happen. This American Life is true stories that unfold like little movies for radio. Personal stories with funny moments, big feelings, and surprising plot twists. Newsy stories that try to capture what it’s like to be alive right now. It’s the most popular weekly podcast in the world, and winner of the first ever Pulitzer Prize for a radio show or podcast. Hosted by Ira Glass and produced in collaboration with WBEZ Chicago.

  1. The Narrator

    6 DAYS AGO

    The Narrator

    Banias is an 8-year-old kid living in Gaza. And she has a story to tell — many stories, in fact. Prologue: While on the phone with reporter Maram Hamaid in Gaza, producer Chana Joffe-Walt gets interrupted by Maram’s daughter––Banias, eight, who grabs the phone from her mother and starts telling us about her life. The narrator arrives. (8 minutes) Part One: Banias, an 8-year-old in Gaza, tells us about her life––her friends, the games she plays, the things she cares about. Everything but the war going on around her. (25 minutes) Part Two: Banias talks about the war. (20 minutes)

    58 min
  2. Chana’s Deep Cuts

    13 DEC · BONUS • SUBSCRIBERS ONLY

    Chana’s Deep Cuts

    Producer Chana Joffe-Walt sits down with Ira Glass to listen to several stories from the vault – stories of a very particular kind, that we used to do more of. Thank you for supporting the show as our Life Partner!

    56 min
  3. The Call

    8 DEC

    The Call

    One call to a very unusual hotline and everything that followed. Prologue: Ira talks about a priest who set up what may have been the first hotline in the United States. It was just him, answering a phone, trying to help strangers who called. (2 minutes) Act One: The Never Use Alone hotline was set up so that drug users can call if they are say, using heroin by themselves. Someone will stay on the line with them in case they overdose. We hear the recording of one call, from a woman named Kimber. (13 minutes) Act Two: An EMT learns he was connected to the call, in more ways than he realized. (16 minutes) Act Three: Jessie, who took the call, explains how she discovered the hotline. She keeps in touch with Kimber. Until one day, Kimber disappears. (16 minutes) Act Four: We learn what happened to Kimber after she called the line. (10 minutes)

    1h 2m
  4. How I Learned to Shave

    1 DEC

    How I Learned to Shave

    Things our dads taught us, whether they intended to or not. Prologue: Ira talks about the time his dad taught him to shave, and how unusual that was. (5 minutes) Act One: When Jackie read the obits for the man who had invented the famous Trapper Keeper notebook, she was very surprised. As far as she knew, the inventor was very much alive. It was her dad. Not the guy in the obit. (15 minutes) Act Two: A father and son find themselves in a very traditional relationship. Until the end. (21 minutes) Act Three: Simon Rich reads his short story "History Report," in which a father explains the sex robots of the future. And other things as well. (14 minutes)

    1 hr
  5. Ask Me Anything #1

    29 NOV · BONUS • SUBSCRIBERS ONLY

    Ask Me Anything #1

    In this Life Partners bonus episode, Ira Glass answers questions sent in by listeners.

    29 min
  6. The Official Unofficial Record

    24 NOV

    The Official Unofficial Record

    How do you count almost 12 million votes if you’re not the government? This week, we bring you the extraordinary story of hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans who created the only verifiable public record of votes in their presidential election — and other stories of people trying to correct the official record with their own versions. Prologue: Host Ira Glass sets us up for Nancy Updike’s insider account of the recent presidential election in Venezuela. The story is an incredible national drama that plays out in thousands of polling stations across the country, with regular people trying to ensure a fair vote count that everyone can agree on. (2 minutes) Act One: Producer Nancy Updike tells the story of the people of Venezuela trying to prove who won their recent presidential election beyond a shadow of a doubt. (22 minutes) Act Two: Host Ira Glass spent America’s presidential election in the swing state of Michigan, where he found very little dispute over the ballot count from Republican poll challengers in Detroit now that they are doing the counting themselves. (8 minutes) Act Three: This story is about a creepy and dangerous creature that does all kinds of terrible things. It’s also about someone trying to set the record straight on those exact assumptions about this notorious creature. (9 minutes)

    1h 1m
  7. The Truly Incredible Story of Keiko the Killer Whale

    17 NOV

    The Truly Incredible Story of Keiko the Killer Whale

    Keiko was a hugely beloved adventure park attraction. He was also captured in the wild and taken away from his mother when he was just a calf. When Hollywood learned about him, a colossal effort began to un-tame him and send him back to the ocean. Prologue: Ira introduces a new series from Serial Productions and The New York Times. "The Good Whale" is about the killer whale Keiko and is reported by Daniel Alarcón. (2 minutes) Act One: Daniel Alarcón takes us back to the early 90’s when Keiko lived in an adventure park in Mexico City, swimming with human friends. (43 minutes) Act Two: Producer Diane Wu travels to Minnesota, where the turkey set to be pardoned by The President of the United States later this month is having the turkiness trained out of him. (10 minutes)

    1h 2m
  8. Top of the Tops with Zoe

    15 NOV · BONUS • SUBSCRIBERS ONLY

    Top of the Tops with Zoe

    In this Life Partners bonus episode, producer Zoe Chace sits down with Ira to talk about the stories that made her want to make radio in the first place: the opening anecdotes that start most episodes of our show.

    46 min
See All (444)

Hosts & Guests

4.6
out of 5
144 Ratings

About

Each week we choose a theme. Then anything can happen. This American Life is true stories that unfold like little movies for radio. Personal stories with funny moments, big feelings, and surprising plot twists. Newsy stories that try to capture what it’s like to be alive right now. It’s the most popular weekly podcast in the world, and winner of the first ever Pulitzer Prize for a radio show or podcast. Hosted by Ira Glass and produced in collaboration with WBEZ Chicago.

Information

  • Creator
    This American Life
  • Years Active
    2006 - 2024
  • Episodes
    444
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 1995-2024 This American Life
  • Show Website
    This American Life
  • Provider
    AMERICAN WHATEVER LLC

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