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596
September 9, 2016

Becoming a Badger

This week, stories about people trying their best to turn themselves into something else—like a badger. Or a professional comedian, in a language they didn’t grow up speaking.

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Gary Tymon Artwork

Prologue

Charles Foster has always been obsessed with trying to figure out how animals see the world. So he decides to find out—by living life as a badger. His book about this is called Being a Beast. (8 1/2 minutes)




By

Ira Glass
Act One

Je Suis Ici Toute La Semaine

French comedian Gad Elmaleh is known as the Jerry Seinfeld of France. He sells out arenas. Gets recognized on the street. But he’s deciding to give all of that up to try to make it big in America. In English, which he hasn’t totally mastered. And what’s funny in French, to French people, is not the same as what’s funny in English, to Americans. Zack McDermott tells the story. (28 minutes)

Song:

“Famous in France” by John McDermott/Michael P. Smith & “The 5th Quarter” by The MadHatters
Act Extra

French vs. American Comedy: Gad Elmaleh on Stage

Act Two

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime

Terriers have been bred for hundreds of years to kill rats. Ray Ray is a terrier, but he lives in a comfy apartment in New York City. His owner, Judy, isn’t sure about whether he still has his rat hunting instincts. So producers Zoe Chace and Emmanuel Dzotsi follow along as Ray goes on his first NYC rat hunt with the Ryders Alley Trencher-fed Society. (16 1/2 minutes)

By

Zoe Chace
Emmanuel Dzotsi

Song:

“I Smell A Rat” by Big Mama Thornton & “Badger Song” by The Dead Milkmen

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