Host Ira Glass describes the thing that we all do at some point: Talk expertly about something we don't actually know anything about. It's so common, explains This American Life contributing editor Nancy Updike, that some friends of hers invented an imaginary magazine devoted to such blathering.

Show host Nancy Updike also hosts a radio movie night.

We end our program with an original song by comedian Dave Hill. Dave is backed up on guitar by Doug Gillard of the bands Guided by Voices and Nada Surf.

Julia Lillis talks to Ira about the huge, romantic move she made after a break up, and how it was both crazy and worth doing.

The story of a White House scandal from the year 1881. President James Garfield lay dying of a gunshot wound during that summer.

So if, in fact, 100,000 Iraqis died because of the war—and that number is a year old—what do we do with that number? It instantly brings you to all these imponderable questions about what's worth 100,000 dead. In a way, this doesn't seem like a helpful question to think about.

Producer Jane Feltes talks with her parents about staying up at night with a sick child—specifically, after Jane had a serious injury when she was six.

As a teenager he saw himself as an historical figure, then that ended up becoming true. Producer Zoe Chace tells the story of Newt Gingrich, the man who either reinvented politics or broke it.

The story of a prank that the family was building up to for years. But when the youngest sister executes it—perfectly—her mother can't forgive her.

Eleven adult siblings need to divide their dead parents' stuff. But they don’t all get along.

A woman, who got in a car accident and was in a coma for 52 days, woke up having forgotten the last two years of her life — during which she'd divorced her husband. Producer Miki Meek spent a week with this family, in the midst of their difficult situation.  (14 minutes)

Ira talks with Ed Ryder, who was wrongly imprisoned for twenty years and recently released. The whole time Ryder was in prison, he dreamt of starting up a band.

Dr. Amelia Huntsberger loves everything about her rural town in northern Idaho.

It's one thing to wonder what other people really think of you. It's quite another to go out and ask them.

Sarah Koenig attended last weekend's Penn State game, the last home game of the season, with Michael Winereb and his parents. Weinreb grew up in State College, and has written several widely circulated columns for the website Grantland about his reactions to the recent scandal.

On October 13, 2002, David MacLean woke up in India with no memory of who he was or how he got there. He had no choice but to let the people who recognized him—and even strangers—fill in his identity.

When Wells Tower started to try to fix up and save his dad's house, he knew it'd be incredibly hard. Lots of people told him not to.

In the summer of 2006, an FBI official visited a mosque in Orange County, California. His intention was to reassure the community that they weren't being spied on.

The 22-year-old woman from the beginning of the show catches up with producer Diane Wu. Things are different.

Host Ira Glass talks with Lauren Waterman, who's in the middle of a break-up right now and grappling with totally contradictory feelings. (5 minutes)

Todd Bachmann tells about the time he offered to help out a Catholic charity and ended up getting bamboozled by a nun.

Henry Dee has been locked up for most of his life, nearly 50 years. Now, he’s up for parole.

Reporter Masha Gessen talks to Russians living in America and elsewhere, about lists they’ve been put on by the Russian government in the last few years. Masha is also on one of these lists.