Radio Archive by Contributor

Fred Armisen worked up an imitation of Ira and put it into a skit on Saturday Night Live a ...Funny

Ira asks Washington-insider Norman Ornstein if we actually need to be paying attention to all ...Economics

Ira admits there is a question he’s wanted to know the answer to since he was a kid in Hebrew ...Animals • Religion

A teenage girl gets bitten by a shark, rushed to the doctor's office, stitched up, and told ...Health Care/Medicine • Parents

Months ago, in preparing for this show, we started reaching out to Americans living in China and ...Television

Host Ira Glass and producer Robyn Semien get a blackjack lesson from Andy Bloch, who played for ...Gambling

Ira and Robyn go to the casino to try out their newfound card counting skills. (5 minutes)Gambling

Ira tells the story of how Oscar Ramirez, a Guatemalan immigrant living near Boston, got a phone ...Immigration • War

Host Ira Glass speaks with various people who regularly eat foods that give them severe allergic ...Health Care/Medicine

For a generation of baseball fans, when a pitcher suddenly stops being able to perform, it's ...Sports

Host Ira Glass plays a voicemail containing something very common but very rare to hear: an ...Government • Politics

Host Ira Glass tells listeners we can no longer stand behind the reporting in the recently aired ...Business • Journalism

In the town of Nowthen, MN, residents held meetings to debate whether a police force is worth ...Economics • Government

Perhaps the biggest proponent of smaller government in the United States is lobbyist and ...Economics • Government • Politics

Ira speaks with a reality TV producer named Bill Langworthy, who has noticed that people do ...Television

Host Ira Glass speaks with musician Kristy Kruger about the unique way she dealt with a recent ...Heartbreak • Music • Pranks

Kurt Braunohler and his girlfriend had been together for thirteen years, and they were only ...Heartbreak • Marriage

Host Ira Glass speaks with an Apple device about its origin. (2 minutes)Technology

Host Ira Glass speaks with Columbia University professor Peter Coleman, who shares some ...Politics

Ira Glass talks with Scharlette Holdman, who works with defense teams on high profile death row ...Animals

Scharlette Holdman's story continues, in which she and the rest of a legal defense team try to ...Animals • Criminal Justice

Host Ira Glass revisits some interviews done with Penn State students in 2009, long before the ...College • Neighbors/Neighborhoods • Sports

We hear excerpts from our 2009 episode that was recorded at Penn State. Though the focus of ...College • Sports

Host Ira Glass talks with science writer Paul Hoffman about a mathematician named Frank Nelson ...Technology

Host Ira Glass interviews a 14-year old named Annie, who emailed us asking if we would do a show ...Education • Teenagers

In an effort to understand the physical and emotional changes middle school kids experience, Ira ...Education • Teenagers

We sent several correspondents straight to the epicenters of middle school awkwardness: School ...Teenagers

We sent a reporter named Dan Grech to the Hundred Year Starship Public Symposium, which aims to ...Science • Technology

It's hard to give things up. Host Ira Glass tells the story of Walter, a three-year-old boy who ...Alcohol • Children

Ira with former baseball player Bobby Morris, on leaving baseball. (7 minutes)Jobs/Employment • Sports

Host Ira Glass talks to someone who escaped from the twin towers with a minute to spare and ...9/11 • Death • Terrorism

Marian Fontana, whose husband was a firefighter who died on 9/11, originally appeared on our ...9/11 • Death • Funny

The podcast and stream versions of the show include a story here that is not included in ...Iraq • War

On 9/11, Lynn Simpson escaped from the 89th floor of the World Trade Center. Ira talks with her ...9/11

Host Ira Glass walks through a Kansas City Missouri amusement park called Worlds of Fun with ...Jobs/Employment • Teenagers

Ira continues with Cole Lindbergh and the hundred teenagers who work for him in the games ...Business • Jobs/Employment

We asked for your stories about amusement parks. Three hundred of you called in, with stories ...Children • Funny

Host Ira Glass tells the story of Florencia de Benito Juarez, a small town in Mexico where a new ...Crime • Drugs

There's a derogatory term in Silicon Valley for companies that amass huge troves of patents and ...Business • Legal System • Technology

Host Ira Glass tells the stories of two professors, each making a calculation that no one had ...Education • Environment • Jobs/Employment

A few years back, when he and his family were driving home from a vacation in Texas, John Nova ...Family • Funny • Police

Host Ira Glass plays clips of interviews with several people whose dads have tried reach out to ...Automobiles • Childhood • Fathers

Host Ira Glass speaks with former FBI agent Bill Tobin about police collusion with organized ...Crime • Police

In this act: judge wannabes working with the old boys network. Ira talks with Chicago Sun-Times ...Legal System • Politics

Ira explains that when the radio staff decided to take a test that reveals who is a psychopath, ...Mental Health

Ira and the radio show staff get their results on the psychopath test from Dr. David Bernstein, ...Funny • Mental Health

Host Ira Glass talks to Governor Jay Nixon of Missouri on a press conference he held to announce ...Jobs/Employment • Politics

Ira tells what happened this week to Dan Curry in Odessa Texas on Wednesday, to eight-year-old ...9/11 • Children • Funny

Ira tells what happened this week to Shirley Everett-Dicko in Oakland on Sunday, to Gabe and ...Housing • Jobs/Employment • Parents

Host Ira Glass talks about the infamous line in the band Van Halen's contract insisting that the ...Business • Music

Host Ira Glass speaks with Jim McManus, whose book Positively Fifth Street inspired Ira to start ...History • Politics • Presidents

There's a part of Brazil that was almost all rainforest until the 1970s, and over the next few ...Environment

Ira speaks with Middle East specialist Michelle Dunne to answer this question: Before the ...Government • Politics

Ira reports from Glynn County Georgia on Superior Court Judge Amanda Williams and how she runs ...Drugs • Legal System • Teenagers

We hear about how Brandi Byrd and many other offenders end up in Judge Williams' drug court. ...Drugs • Legal System

The formula for Coca-Cola is one of the most jealously guarded trade secrets in the world. So we ...Business • Food/Drinks/Cooking

Thanksgiving 2002, the Ohm family's dinner conversation turned to the recent terrorist attacks. ...Family • Funny • Terrorism

Host Ira Glass spends time in perhaps the toughest room on earth, the editorial meeting at the ...Funny • Jobs/Employment • Journalism

Ira Glass explains that, like the rest of America, we at This American Life are not tired of ...Birth • Health Care/Medicine • Mental Health

Ira Glass plays clips from a documentary film called Please Vote for Me, by Weijun Chen. It ...Children • Film/Film Making • Politics

As adults battle over how climate change should be taught in school, we try an experiment. We ...Children • Education • Environment

Ira Glass speaks with several members of the Planet Money team, who all found ...Economics • History

Ira Glass plays Christmas jokes told by third graders, collected by producer Jonathan Menjivar. ...Children • Funny • Holidays

Ira Glass speaks with JoAnn Chiakulas, the only Juror on the trial of former Illinois Governor ...Criminal Justice • Legal System • Politics

Host Ira Glass Host talks to Paul Gereffi, a letter carrier in Ft. Lauderdale who helped save ...Crime • Jobs/Employment • Police

Ira Glass tells the story of how science is being used to fight the ultimate neighborhood ...Animals • Neighbors/Neighborhoods • Science

Host Ira Glass introduces the story of Steve Raucci, by way of an anecdote about a contraband ...Energy

Host Ira Glass explains how the Planet Money team spent a thousand dollars of their own money to ...Economics

Republican Bill Jerke, a very conservative former Colorado State Legislator known as a tax ...Government • Politics

Host Ira Glass speaks with reporter Larry Kaplow and producer Nancy Updike, who spent a month in ...Iraq • Politics • War

Private Contractors True Number of Iraqi Deaths Lessons Learned in the War Soldiers' ...Iraq • Milestones • War

Host Ira Glass with Dave Weigel, political reporter for Slate.com, about manufactured outrage in ...Politics • Presidents

Ira introduces this week's show, which includes two stories of people who speak up when most ...

For 17 months, New York police officer Adrian Schoolcraft recorded himself and his fellow ...Criminal Justice • Jobs/Employment • Police

Ira Glass speaks with Charles Salter, the original Georgia Rambler, about his column from the ...Journalism • Travel

Hanco's and Henry's are two restaurants in Brooklyn that sell Vietnamese sandwiches and bubble ...Business • Food/Drinks/Cooking

In the world of engineers and investors, there's something called the "elevator pitch." It's ...Education

Ira speaks with Scott Krepel—via his interpreter Marc Holmes—about what happened ...Health Care/Medicine • Milestones

Ira Glass mentions a very silly mistake he made with a girl when he was in junior high. Then ...Childhood • Funny • Live Performance

We hear recordings from all over the country—and the world—of politicians arguing ...Economics • Politics

Richard Ravitch has helped fix three governmental crises, including when New York City nearly ...Economics • Government

Ira Glass speaks with a man named Daniel Johnson, who is in the K&R business. That's the ...Business • Crime

Four months after the earthquake in Haiti, Ira Glass talks to Haitian reporter Joseph-Romuald ...Natural Disasters

Ira speaks with Richard Dorsay, who became famous in 2004 when police learned that for years ...Homelessness • Police

Host Ira Glass investigates two urban legends—alligators in the sewer, rats in the ...Animals

A retired millionaire tries to understand the reality of a tough, seedy, inner city ...Education • Politics

Do cell phones give people brain tumors? Ira speaks with Christopher Ketcham, who wrote an ...Cancer • Health Care/Medicine • Science

Ira talks about a friend who for years had a very trusted business partner and bookkeeper, until ...Business

Behind enemy lines, sometimes people get confused about whose side they're on...and how to fight ...

You can divide all living creatures into two camps. We humans are in one camp, along with lots ...Science

Host Ira Glass introduces the story of the New United Motor Manufacturing Inc., aka NUMMI. In ...Automobiles • Business

When Dave Hill was in his late 20s and still basically living at home, he hung out with his mom ...Mothers • Religion

Host Ira Glass talks to his dad and stepmom about a story his dad thought might be good for the ...Family • Parents

On every British nuclear submarine, there is a safe. Inside that safe is another safe. And ...Military • War

Host Ira Glass talks to Leo Paur, coach of a high school football team in Utah that hasn't won a ...Sports

Host Ira Glass goes with Ashli Lewis to a San Francisco psychic to find out if a longstanding ...Milestones

Ira with teachers Shraddha Subramaniam and Samantha Cato, and their 2010 predictions for their ...Children • Education

Host Ira Glass visits This American Life producer Sarah Koenig at her house in State College PA, ...Alcohol • Education

Most of the This American Life production staff spent the weekend at Penn State, and found that ...Alcohol • Education

Host Ira Glass remembers one of his favorite jobs, as a temp typist working at night in New York ...Automobiles • Jobs/Employment • Teenagers

A Holiday Inn comes up with a brilliant scheme to increase their roomservice orders. Former room ...Food/Drinks/Cooking

Ira talks with Jessica Pressler, who writes the Daily Intel blog for NewYork Magazine, about a ...Romance • Sexuality

Host Ira Glass talks to Rob Lamberts, a doctor and blogger in Georgia, who describes the crazy ...Business • Health Care/Medicine

Host Ira Glass talks with Susan Dentzer, editor of the journal Health Affairs, about what ...Business • Government • Health Care/Medicine

Host Ira Glass plays tape of two women who ended up as frenemies.They kept trying to be friends, ...Friendship • Mental Health

Ira talks to a woman about a childhood friend of hers who mysteriously shows up after decades, ...Childhood • Friendship

Host Ira Glass describes scenes from a rest stop on the New York State Thruway, the Plattekill ...Jobs/Employment • Travel

Host Ira Glass describes a recent terrorism case in Newburgh, N.Y., in which four men were ...Criminal Justice • Legal System • Terrorism

Ira talks to Aziz Huq about whether cases like Lahkani's will continue to be pursued under the ...Criminal Justice • Legal System • Terrorism

Ira goes to one of the nation's great manufacturers of fine print: The U.S.Congress. He reports ...Government • Legal System

Host Ira Glass describes the scene at a courthouse resource center in lower Manhattan where ...Legal System

Earlier this year, admitted drug user Jorge Cruz decided to act as his own lawyer in an Albany, ...Criminal Justice • Drugs • Legal System

Stef Willen tells Ira about a time that she took matters into her own hands, even though she was ...Film/Film Making • Jobs/Employment • Television

Host Ira Glass talks to Rich Farrell, writer and former addict, about the code of silence he ...Addiction • Crime • Friendship

Host Ira Glass talks to business professor Pino Audia and Fast Company magazine columnist Dan ...Advertising/Marketing • Business

Ira tells the story of the 1953 U.S. Supreme Court case that formed the basis for the ...Government • Legal System

Host Ira Glass talks with Michael Perrino, a law professor at St Johns University School of Law ...Business • Economics • Legal System

Ira talks with reporter My Thuan Tran of The Los Angeles Times about how San Jose City ...Activism • Development • Government

Host Ira Glass talks a veteran police officer about a time in his 20s when he gets sent to a car ...Animals • Police

There's a town in Florida where if you shoplift, and get caught, a judge will send you back to ...Criminal Justice • Legal System • Live Performance

Host Ira Glass talks to Jay Allison, who is in charge of the team at This I Believe, an essay ...Education • Radio

This past Christmas a story swept the internet about a football coach at a Christian high school ...Religion • Sports

Joel and Kate were both working in a psychiatric hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts. They both ...Funny • Romance

Host Ira Glass notes the sub-industry in journalism right now of reporting anything that looks ...Economics • Journalism

Ira goes to Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood to talk to some condo owners who are in a ...Economics • Housing

We hear 5 employees of different Circuit City store locations read their accounts of what it was ...Jobs/Employment • Retail/Commerce

Host Ira Glass speaks with Harold Wilshinsky about a piece of advice he gave to his daughter and ...Fathers • Personal Finance

Host Ira Glass plays clips from TV in a recent senate hearing and talks about how confusing the ...Economics

Back in November, two weeks after he was elected president, Barack Obama delivered a pre-taped ...Energy • Environment • Milestones

When Barack Obama chose Rick Warren of Saddleback Church to give a prayer at his inauguration, ...Politics • Religion

We asked reporters all over the country to go out and talk to people about what they're thinking ...Government • Presidents • Radio

Most media stories set in shopping malls don't really tell you much about what it feels like ...Retail/Commerce • Teenagers

We meet Russell, 19, the best mobile phone salesman in the mall -- and possibly anywhere. His ...Jobs/Employment • Retail/Commerce • Romance

Yes, some stores are going out of business in the Cool Springs Galleria, but it's just two ...Jobs/Employment • Retail/Commerce

In a part of the mall no shoppers ever see, there's a snug, dark little room with 43 TV screens, ...Jobs/Employment • Retail/Commerce

A bad apple, at least at work, can spoil the whole barrel. And there's research to prove it. ...Jobs/Employment • Science

Host Ira Glass point out that it's not enough this time of year that we eat millions of turkeys. ...Animals • Music

Host Ira Glass talks to Kathy from Hoboken, NJ, who has become obsessed with people who get away ...Criminal Justice

Ira talks to Rev. Donald Sharp, of Faith Tabernacle Church in Chicago. Reverend Sharp, who is ...History • Race

Host Ira Glass goes to a McCain rally in Lehigh, PA, outside of Allentown. Obama has ...Government • Politics • Presidents

Host Ira Glass talks with Andy Woolworth, an executive vice president in charge of new product ...Business • Technology

Looked at one way, the current flailing economy is a victim of invention—Wall Street invention. ...Advertising/Marketing • Business • Economics

Host Ira Glass goes to Union Square, a 15-minute subway ride from Wall Street, where it doesn't ...Business • Economics

Ira talks with Michael Greenberger, a former commodities regulator, who tells the story of when ...Business • Economics

Ira and Adam answer the question: Was the $700 billion bailout bill signed into law today a ...

Host Ira Glass introduces a story on the most ambitious and hopeful solution to urban poverty in ...Activism • Children • City

Musician David Berkeley has gotten a lot of requests in his life, but none quite like the offer ...Music • Romance

Three guys who go by the names Professor So and So, Jojobean and YeaWhatever spend part of each ...Crime • Criminal Justice • Technology

Amy Roberts thought it was obvious that she was an adult, not a kid, and she assumed the ...Education

Host Ira Glass talks about his fear of sleep, and reports on other people who have very strong ...Health Care/Medicine

For some people, the fear of sleep is linked to the fear of death. We hear from some of them. In ...Death • Health Care/Medicine • Poetry

Host Ira Glass introduces four characters: Kay McDonald, who raised a daughter named Sue, and ...Family • History

One day at church camp, David Maxon challenged the devil to show himself. Just then, a huge ...Death • Natural Disasters • Religion

Host Ira Glass recalls the case of the so-called Detroit Sleeper Cell—four men, arrested in the ...Criminal Justice • Legal System • Terrorism

Host Ira Glass talks with an NPR business and economics correspondent about two gatherings he ...Business • Economics • Housing

Host Ira Glass talks about the way most political apologies go, and chats with a man named Derek ...Funny • Government • Religion

Host Ira Glass talks with Yale law professor Jack Balkin about what he calls the Bush ...Government • Legal System • Politics

Ira Glass tells the story of a little-known treaty dispute with far-reaching ramifications for ...Government • Legal System • Politics

Ira Glass interviews Charlie Savage, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for the Boston Globe, ...Government • Legal System • Politics

Host Ira Glass talks with Kayla Hernandez, a seventh-grader who likes to reminisce about when ...Childhood • Education • Teenagers

A mortgage broker named David Philp discovers that his old punk band from the 1970s is hot in ...Music • Teenagers

Thanksgiving 2002, the Ohm family's dinner conversation turned to the recent terrorist attacks. ...Family • Funny • Holidays