Funny Stories
Two cops try to catch a squirrel, Tig Notaro runs into an 80s music star surprisingly often, and a phone message that’s been called the greatest phone message in the world.
Stories of what happens when you leave the normal realm of human error, fumble, mishap, and mistake and enter the territory of really huge breakdowns. Including one of the most popular stories we've ever aired ... about a police officer and a squirrel.
Famous people are supposed to be somewhere else, invisible to us. Comedian Tig Notaro tells this story about repeatedly running into 1980s pop icon Taylor Dayne.
Mike Birbiglia got used to strange things happening to him when he slept — until something happened that almost killed him. He later turned this story into a feature film Sleepwalk With Me.
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. So Jay decided to play along.
John Hodgman conducts an informal survey asking people if they’d rather have the power of flight … or invisibility. How you answer says a lot about what kind of person you are.
Jonathan Goldstein with a story about friendship, mothers and sons, and what some have called the greatest phone message in the world.
Sandra Tsing Loh discovers that a local rock band has recorded a song about her own father, wildly misinterpreting who he is.
Born in Toronto, David Rakoff believes that there must be a chip in his head — or something like it — that automatically tells him when someone or something is Canadian.
Jon Ronson tells the story of how things went awry when his parents decided to commission a family portrait.
Comedian Kyle Mizono talks about the time she met her hero, spent a week working with him every day, and it went really well. And then, she emailed him.
Anthony DeVito observed his grandmother go through a metamorphosis no one in the family ever imagined they’d see.
Sarah Vowell goes home to Montana to try and understand her gunsmith dad a little better.
Kurt Braunohler and his girlfriend had been together for 13 years. Super-happy. But neither had slept with many people. So they decided that before they got married, they’d take a month and sleep around.
David Rakoff travels to a place where everyone seems to be looking at him, a place where no one follows the customs people follow back in New York City, a place called ... New Hampshire.
Comedian Sasheer Zamata stages a radio play — complete with two sound effects guys and comedians Nicole Byer, Chris Gethard, and Frank Garcia Hejl. It’s a true story about a recent bus accident.
David Sedaris remembers working as an elf in Macy's department store. This is a half-hour version of the story you might have heard when it’s played every year on NPR’s Morning Edition.
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Stories Kids Seem to Like
We asked our listeners which stories they like to listen to as a family.