/r/ThisAmericanLife

Photograph via snooOG

This American Life is an American weekly hour-long radio program produced by WBEZ and hosted by Ira Glass. Primarily a journalistic non-fiction program, it has also featured essays, memoirs, field recordings, short fiction, and found footage.

/r/ThisAmericanLife

24,957 Subscribers

18

What happened to the numbers of each episode?

Is this somehow part of the new subscription plan?

17 Comments
2024/12/02
03:53 UTC

0

All episodes locked on Spotify???

You're telling me I need to subscribe to another subscription service to access my subscription service??

5 Comments
2024/11/30
22:48 UTC

9

Was there an extra-long version of Santaland diaries 4-5 years ago?

I've listened to the Santaland Diaries (from episode 47) every Christmas season for several years now and I know it pretty well.

I seem to remember that they re-broadcast it maybe 4-5 years ago but it seemed a little longer than the story I usually remember, but I can't find it listed anywhere, so maybe I'm just imagining things.

Does anyone else remember it being part of a show from maybe 2019-2022?

EDIT: Thank you for the help and suggestions. I'm 99% certain I just imagined a "longer" version than what was broadcast on TAL in 1996.

6 Comments
2024/11/30
20:05 UTC

4

[Oldies] #607 Didn’t We Solve This One? (2017-01-05)

We're digging through the archives! This week's episode is #607 Didn’t We Solve This One? (2017-01-05) (Download)

Why has it been so hard for us to get the tens of thousands of Iraqis and Afghans that have helped the U.S. to safety?

0 Comments
2024/11/29
13:00 UTC

1

Help find a score/ music piece.

Hello, at 26:30 in episode 846 plays a score/ music piece. I just started listening to this podcast so I apologize if they already post this stuff somewhere.

Thank you for you help.

0 Comments
2024/11/26
06:11 UTC

17

Keiko episode triggered my Alexa speaker

Am I the only one? The turkey guy said Alexa multiple times when I was listening on my Alexa speakers and it caused them to do whatever command the guy said. I had to finish listening on my phone.

11 Comments
2024/11/24
17:56 UTC

6

[Oldies] #615 The Beginning of Now (2017-04-27)

We're digging through the archives! This week's episode is #615 The Beginning of Now (2017-04-27) (Download)

Before Trump started his presidential campaign, there was a congressional race that redefined what was possible in American politics.

0 Comments
2024/11/22
13:00 UTC

5

[Oldies] #673 Left Behind (2019-04-12)

We're digging through the archives! This week's episode is #673 Left Behind (2019-04-12) (Download)

People figuring out how to move through a world in which something important has disappeared.

0 Comments
2024/11/15
13:00 UTC

104

Ep. #843 Is the story of this election

Episode #843 is about the uncommitted movement among Arab Americans in Michigan and the fight to get a Palestinian speaker at the DNC.

This week I'm reminded of that episode and the comment section as a sign of why Democrats lost this election.

You had a group of voters that was reliable democrats tell you want that they wanted and the party simply... ignored them. Didn't even give them a token bit of representation with a Tuesday morning dead slot at the DNC.

The discussion thread called these voters dumb, didn't acknowledge their concerns, and tried vague counterfactuals by saying "the other side is worse".

This is not outreach.

Dearborn, MI wasn't going to flip the election, let alone the state - but how can a party win like this?

111 Comments
2024/11/08
20:37 UTC

27

What happened?

I think I’m a bit confused by the subscription thing happening… are all episodes (new and old) behind a paywall now? I’ve been consistent with TAL for 4 years until this August, but I went back to check up on things just to see all episodes behind a paywall on Spotify. If this is what I think it is I’ll be so sad, as I’m a sophomore in college without extra money around to keep listening :(

15 Comments
2024/11/06
22:48 UTC

88

Greetings from New Hampshire

Replacing the O with the state’s outline was a bold move. I may have vited instead of voted.

1 Comment
2024/11/05
16:30 UTC

14

Election Flashback: "Seriously" - song by Leslie Odom Jr & Sara Bareilles from TAL #599 (16-10-21)

4 Comments
2024/11/04
04:59 UTC

12

Trump’s Pizza Hut Ad

Maybe I’m mixing up my cornerstone prx/npr podcasts, but does anyone remember a segment retelling the making of a 90s Pizza Hut commercial? Mainly retold by the married marketing/advertising couple who produced the ad. Remembered some interesting take aways regarding trumps fixation and mastery of branding/pr that positioned him to.. well, where he is today, and wanted to share it with a family member.

2 Comments
2024/11/04
00:04 UTC

5

Seeking episode: Welsh soccer/football player kid

I can’t remember a lot of details but it was a story about a kid in Wales whose adults thought he should be a great soccer/football player but he wasn’t.

3 Comments
2024/11/01
13:21 UTC

18

Started from the first episode about 6 months ago via the website.

So fun to hear people I've forgotten about or who are no longer with us... Sandra Tsing Loh, Dishwasher Pete, David Rakoff, etc.

14 Comments
2024/10/31
00:44 UTC

2

[Oldies] #466 Blackjack (12-06-08),

We're digging through the archives! This week's episode is #466 Blackjack (12-06-08) (Download)

Description: A woman gambles away her inheritance and then sues the casino, saying they're to blame.

4 Comments
2024/10/30
13:00 UTC

12

Help me find this episode

It's an episode of This American Life where a guy is consumed with finding and fighting back against internet scammers/Phishers.

6 Comments
2024/10/30
04:45 UTC

8

#12 - Animals - Any South Park fans in here?!

So I'm listening to the episode in the title, in act 2 an original radio play by David Sedaris titled 'Animal Court', at around the 33 minute mark a witness is introduced...a Grasshopper and this Grasshopper's voice is IDENTICAL to the character 'Butters' from South Park...so much so that I almost cannot believe it isn't performed by the same person (I don't know this yet...or even how to verify it though I'm sure Matt or Trey from SP wouldn't have done it so perhaps it's more a result of the voice pitching software they use).

Either way, when I heard it I was like "WHAT?!" and now all I can envisage whilst hearing this drama play out is Butters Stotch testifying in Animal Court.

0 Comments
2024/10/29
10:16 UTC

7

Episode 553 - The music in between the stories

I recently got around to trying to Shazam the songs in between the stories of episode 553, but Shazam just tells pulls up the episode itself. Not very helpful for what I'm trying to get at.

Do they make the in between music just for the show or is there some way of getting at the titles of theses works?

2 Comments
2024/10/28
23:52 UTC

2

Help me find this segment?

It’s a piece of fiction about an emotionally abusive relationship. The narrator wakes up in the morning and everything is beautiful and they want to savor the glory of the morning, but their partner is in a foul mood and starts a fight because the narrator hogged the covers while they were sleeping. I can’t remember the rest of it but it really stuck with me and transformed my understanding of how to treat your partner.

I remember listening to this episode in summer 2021 but it wasn’t live.

Help?

5 Comments
2024/10/28
21:24 UTC

5

The 250 hand picked episodes

Hello! Recent Life Partner via Spotify and wondered

A) on Spotify, can the 250 be found anywhere separate or are they just in the general episode feed

B) if they are in the general episode feed, is there a list available of Ira’s handpicked 250 anywhere so I can go through and listen?

Thanks!

1 Comment
2024/10/28
20:31 UTC

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