LIFE PARTNERS

We need your support! Bonus episodes + ad-free

129 kr/mån eller 1 295 kr/år efter provperioden

This American Life

This American Life

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

    −1 D

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

    The tiny thing that unravels your world. Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription. 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)Transcripts are available at thisamericanlife.org This American Life privacy policy. Learn more about sponsor message choices.

    1 tim 6 min
  2. Must Be Rats on the Brain

    2025-12-28

    Must Be Rats on the Brain

    The one animal we can’t seem to live without, even when we really, really want to. Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription Prologue: At the announcement of New York City’s inaugural rat czar, we meet Darneice Foster, who despises the rats outside her apartment. And host Ira Glass introduces two special co-hosts for today’s show. (11 minutes)Act One: Producer Elna Baker meets Todd Sklar, a man who can’t quit rats. (22 minutes)Act Two: Fifty years ago, New York City started to put garbage out in plastic bags. This has become the number one food source for rats. Producer Ike Sriskandarajah investigates the decision that led to the city’s rat baby boom. (10 minutes)Act Three: How did Alberta, Canada pull off a feat that has eluded the rest of human civilization? Ira visits the largest rat-less land in the world. (15 minutes)Act Four: We drop a hot mic into a hot mess of a rats’ nest. You’ll never believe what happens next. (3 minutes)Transcripts are available at thisamericanlife.org This American Life privacy policy. Learn more about sponsor message choices.

    1 tim 12 min
  3. The Secrets of Scoring

    2025-12-26 · BONUSINNEHÅLL • ENDAST FÖR ABONNENTER

    The Secrets of Scoring

    Katherine Rae Mondo - who’s one of the people who mixes our show - sits down with Ira to talk about the sometimes puzzling decisions she faces when adding music to This American Life stories. We’ve wanted to do a bonus episode about the music on our show for a while, but hadn’t figured out how, and Rae walked into the studio loaded for bear: she plays examples, digs up old arguments over music cues, and more.

    50 min
  4. Christmas and Commerce

    2025-12-24

    Christmas and Commerce

    Stories about the intersection of Christmas and retail, originally broadcast in 1996 when our show was only a year old. Including David Sedaris's "Santaland Diaries" about the seasons he spent working as an elf at Macy's.

    1 tim 2 min
  5. The Making Of

    2025-12-21

    The Making Of

    How one block in Portland, Oregon became a movie-set war zone that lots of people think is a real war zone. Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription — or to give one as a gift! Prologue: What the movie Hearts of Darkness and right-wing influencers have in common. (8 minutes)Act One: Producers Zoe Chace and Suzanne Gaber follow a bunch of right-wing influencers as they search for Antifa in Portland. (31 minutes)Act Two: We meet the so-called leader of Antifa in Portland. (16 minutes)Transcripts are available at thisamericanlife.org This American Life privacy policy. Learn more about sponsor message choices.

    1 tim 1 min
  6. Our Holiday Gift-Giving Guide

    2025-12-14

    Our Holiday Gift-Giving Guide

    The vexing difficulty of finding the perfect gift. Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription. Prologue: Host Ira Glass goes to a busy Target store one week before Christmas. Most shoppers he talks to don't think any of their gifts will be returned. (3 minutes)Act One: Ian Brown tries, after decades of failure, to give his mother the perfect Christmas gift. He and his brother attempt something they haven't done since they were kids: Rehearse and sing her a program of Christmas carols. (19 minutes)Act Two: We play a 1959 original recording of Truman Capote reading his holiday story A Christmas Memory. (18 minutes)Act Three: Caitlin Shetterly reports on a true-life holiday fable from rural Maine, complete with a misunderstood recluse with a heart of gold, a deserving family in need, and a very special Christmas tree farm with secrets of its own. (16 minutes)Transcripts are available at thisamericanlife.org This American Life privacy policy. Learn more about sponsor message choices.

    1 tim 1 min
  7. Mind the Gap

    2025-12-10 · BONUSINNEHÅLL • ENDAST FÖR ABONNENTER

    Mind the Gap

    We try something new in this bonus episode: Ira brings you a story that’s not done yet, still in draft form. A personal story, with some jokes in it. This was recorded on stage in Evanston, IL.

    21 min
  8. Bigger Than Me

    2025-12-07

    Bigger Than Me

    When history comes knocking, you have to figure out what to do. Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription. Prologue: Brittany’s job is to answer anonymous calls and texts from people in the military. This year, she’s gotten more than usual–most of them are wondering about what to do with orders they’ve been given. Or orders they’re afraid they’ll get someday in the future. (9 minutes)Act One: Jad Abumrad tells the story of the "ideological genealogy” of Fela Kuti’s anti-colonial politics–his mother. In late 1940s Nigeria, Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti found herself at the center of a big, historical moment: an uprising led by thousands of women selling goods in Nigeria’s markets. Jad goes searching for who she really was, and how she became the person who galvanized a movement when history demanded it of her. (45 minutes)Transcripts are available at thisamericanlife.org This American Life privacy policy. Learn more about sponsor message choices.

    1 tim
Visa alla (482)

Värdar och gäster

4,7
av 5
477 betyg

Om

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

  • Skapad av
    This American Life
  • Aktiva år
    2006 - 2026
  • Avsnitt
    482
  • Åldersgräns
    Vuxet innehåll
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 1995-2026 This American Life
  • Programmets webbplats
    This American Life
  • Leverantör

Du kanske också gillar