Doug Deason is a political donor trying to make the biggest decision people like him make every four years – which presidential candidate to back. Producer Zoe Chace follows Deason through the unpredictable primaries of the 2016 election.

Obesity in America affects a higher percentage of black people than white people. Roxane Gay talks about being black and being fat with host Ira Glass.

Lori Gottlieb's story from the prologue continues. One complication led to another and before long, the writer seemed to be lying to her.


Lulu Wang tells the story of an elaborate attempt to keep someone ignorant — her grandmother — and how her family pulled it off.

One day comic Jay Larson's phone rang. And the people on the other end of the line thought they knew who they were talking to.

Producer Nancy Updike speaks with comedian Tig Notaro about her mother-in-law, Carol. Carol came up with a joke that is only funny to one person—herself.

Comedian Mike Birbiglia, his wife and his cat take a trip together and meet some parasitic zombie mice.

After this year’s election, Republicans in North Carolina went out looking for cases of voter fraud - all over the state. It was hard to find, hard to prove—until they stumbled across what could have been the best present ever: a seemingly clear-cut case of Democrats out to rig the election.

Reporter Sara Corbett looks into what happens when a company makes this promise: if you’re not 100% satisfied by our product, bring it back. Any time, for any reason; no questions asked.

Elna Baker lost a lot of weight, 110 pounds. When she was fat, she wasn’t able to get a job or a boyfriend and sometimes thought, “I wonder if it’s my weight.” She figured no, that’s a bad attitude, paranoia.

Sigrid Fry-Revere was fed up with the kidney donation system in this country. So, she went somewhere that seemed to be doing a better job with its transplant patients— possibly one of the last places you’d expect.

One good place to see how this ad hoc response is working is at an abandoned baseball stadium in Athens. About a thousand Afghans are now living here.

Most stories of customer satisfaction are told by the customers. In this act, we ask: is the product satisfied by life with you? We get answers, from a product itself. Simon Rich reads his short story, “Unprotected.” Please note: this story does vaguely acknowledge the existence of sex.

More stories like the one in the prologue, where kids look at something going on around them, observe it carefully, think about it logically, and come to conclusions that are completely incorrect.

In this election year we look at the story of one small ballot initiative, in one state. We heard this referendum would gut Georgia's Judicial Qualifications Commission (JQC), an independent organization that investigates ethics complaints about judges.

Senior Producer Brian Reed tells Ira about a book entitled “Now I Know Better,” where children write cautionary tales recounting horrific accidents they’ve endured. He also interviews one of the book’s contributors about his childhood mishap.

Robert had a bad reputation as a kid who didn't do his schoolwork and had little respect for adults. But his best friend, Lilly thought he was misunderstood.

There’s a seismic, historic change going on in the Republican party this year. Producer Zoe Chace tells Ira about a place you can eavesdrop on a group of Republican friends as they fret and argue about that change week after week: a podcast called Ricochet.

Alex Blumberg investigates a little-studied phenomenon: Children who get a mistaken idea in their heads about how something works or what something means, and then don't figure out until well into adulthood that they were wrong. Including the tale of a girl who received a tissue box for Christmas, allegedly painted by trained monkeys.

Ira’s conversation with Rachel Rosenthal continues. She tells the story of why it took her so long to break up with her boyfriend, even after she figured out that he had stolen from her.

Zora Bikangaga grew up in a mostly white California suburb, the son of Ugandan immigrants. But when he went to college, someone thought he himself was Ugandan.

We go to Lynnwood, Washington to retrace the steps of a rape investigation gone undeniably wrong. Producer Robyn Semien and investigative reporter Ken Armstrong of the Marshall Project tell the story.