Host Ira talks with comedian Gary Gulman about his transformation from high school nobody to football star.

Host Ira talks with producer Emanuele Berry about the man who tried to find one of history’s — and literature’s — most storied cities.

Singer-songwriter Loudon Wainwright III asked his ex-partner Suzzy Roche and their daughter Lucy to perform at his wedding party.

Writer Michael Lewis takes us inside the world of NBA refereeing. He explains how protests about unfair calls have increased in recent years.

Writer Jelani Cobb travels to Missouri to talk to people in Ferguson about the troubling deaths of six activists there.

Los Angeles Times reporter Molly O’Toole talks to U.S. asylum officers—the people who end up sending migrants back to Mexico. And they don’t feel good about it.

We turn to those who are truly spineless, and I mean literally, they are creatures that have no spines. Also featured in this story: the people who study them who, like us all, could sometimes use a little more spine.

Comedian Will Weldon’s ex-wife made a movie loosely based on their marriage.  Producer Elna Baker watches the film with Will as he revisits his break-up.

New Yorker staff writer Kelefa Sanneh tells the story of exorcist Bob Larson’s trip into the world of heavy metal.

When a small town loses 100 people in just a few hours, kids come home to find their parents missing. Producer Lilly Sullivan talks to people trying to make sense of where they went and if they’ll come back.

A strongman gets hired to take over the Amsterdam Fire Department. He’s a career police officer named Leen Schaap who has zero firefighting experience.

Where do we go when we die? Producer David Kestenbaum learns that the answer's pretty bureaucratic. 

Ira follows Yankee Stadium cameraman Eric Capstick as he puts fans on the Jumbotron. (5 minutes)

Weigel and Zoe drop in on two candidates desperately trying to break out of the one percent.

After his mother passes, a man unearths her book collection… and is surprised. (6 1/2 minutes)

Parents try to shape who we are in their own image. Producer Neil Drumming spoke to Adam Mansbach, who tried to make his daughter fall in love with hip-hop.

Host Ira Glass plays recordings from the Satanic Prayer Line, and speaks to the line’s creator, Chris Allert.

Dan Taberski takes us into the world of the TV shows Cops and Live PD. And talks to people about what it’s like to be caught by the police and caught on camera at the same time.

A teenage girl decides the only way forward is to tear something down and rebuild from the ground up. Elna Baker explains.

Nadia Reiman looks into the case of a girl the U.S. government is determined to save, even though she doesn’t want them to.

One of New York’s biggest and most successful masquerade bands goes down the parade route for the last time.