Anyone else see Ira Glass's one man show?

Cafe Society
1

I went to see Ira Glass (creator of NPR’s This American Life radio show) speak last night in his “Reinventing Radio” show. What an amazing show! I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I love This American Life, so that alone sold the show for me.

He talked a lot about storytelling and how to craft a compelling story. At one point he compared CNN’s treatment of part of the Gulf War with This American Life’s. It was eye-opening. I never really thought about what stylistic choices journalists make when they report on a story, but it was so interesting.

There was another great part about words you can and can’t say on the radio. He said that if just one person complains, each radio station can be fined $250,00, so it’s a big deal. As Ira said, “That’s a lot of tote bags.”

Ira himself is very personable and so funny! I did not expect to laugh so much. I kinda had this mental picture of him being fairly introverted but he was very comfortable up on the stage in front of hundreds of people.

If his show comes to town near you, I highly recommend it. I expected to enjoy it but did not expect it to be so awesome.

2

I’m jealous! I hadn’t even heard he was doing this - I hope he records it and releases it to those of us unable to see it in person!

3

I saw him (and those two fantastic dancers) when they were in Portland a few months ago. What a treat! The combination of him telling stories and the women interpretively dancing was riveting and very moving.

4

That sounds a bit strange but after seeing him I am sure that anything he does is excellent and worth seeing.:slight_smile:

Rodgers01, they did tell us no recording so maybe they are planning to release it at some point?

5

Bah! We had tickets, but it was a blizzard night (one of many this year) in Boston and we decided not to drive in from the suburbs. Glad to hear you enjoyed it though.

6

Wowee. Sounds exciting.
I see they are coming to Cobb Hall here in Michigan April 18.
Booking tickets and room for the weekend.

7

At first I wasn’t sure if you were being sarcastic or not, but since you bought tickets, I’m thinking not. Come back and tell us how it was!

I see the Michigan show is at Michigan State. The show I went to was at a university as well, Cal Poly. Ira seemed very interested in the journalism students in the audience - I wonder if he makes an effort to perform at universities in order to interact with the journalism students.

I’m still having occasional giggles thinking about the show. At one point Ira was talking about the “serious” on-air journalists: “You know…your Wolf Blitzers…your George Stephanopoli.…”